Translation is one of the main goals of mastering - make the music sound great on any platform, and any delivery format.
But how is that possible ? How can we optimise the audio to sound great on both a huge PA and crappy earbuds, or via any data-encoded stream, when we don't have any control over those playback systems or streaming platforms ?
The answer to this paradox is deceptively simple - and powerful. In this episode I share:
- The common misconception of what 'translation' is
- What the term really means (to me, at least)
- Three simple suggestions to help you get your music to translate - on any playback system
- How (and why) they work
Links
TMS #2 - The Three M's of Mastering
How loud ? The simple solution to optimizing playback volume online - and everywhere else
Hello Ian
Thank you bery much for what you do for our Mastering engineers community.
I'm a little embarrassed, because I was an huge enthousiast of Leapwing plugings since DynOne, but.... I simply cannot use StageOne2, nor CenterOne any more since it brings immediate pre-ringing, rarely inaudible (depending of the material).
I bought StageOne2 and I regret it (btw leapwing is not cheap), then I couldn't buy CenterOne because after a quick test than reveals pre-ringing too, even with small tweaks. I know this is due to linear phaser filtering that must be used when parallel processing is involved, but I dreamed Leapwing could have make a miracle.
What do you think about it ?
Thank you
Have a nice day
Thank you Ian, great podcast on translation of mastering the human way. I am mainly producer and not a great technician but I think your way if explaining is fantastic.
Thanks Ian I found this very topical and useful. I have fallen fowl of the translation issue. I recently listened to one of my tracks on a friends system that had a subwoofer and it sounded far to bass heavy in an unpleasant way. For me this experience gave me some takeaways not only for the mastering but also the mix balance in the low end. My listening environment is not ideal and I am considering investing in some new headphones a topic I know you have also covered.