http://www.amazon.com/iTu...Delivery/dp/0415656850

In view of a recent thread regarding the re-release of AC/DC's catalog on iTunes, thought this might be of interest to some.

Thanks Rain for that link. I think it might be a good investment. It is an area that is becoming more and more important. I mean it is one thing to produce a great sounding master using EQ compression and limiting and all but then one often has to turn around and present these tracks in another format such as MP3 and it can be tricky sometimes to know what best to do in order to create a great final sounding result in that format as well. It is not necessarily just a matter of converting your great sounding wave file master into an MP3 file either. I think some careful prep is required first.

Looks like that book could be useful and it is also written by someone who knows a lot about mastering too. 

Before spending money on a book, you might start with reading Apples Mastered for iTunes guidelines:

http://images.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/docs/mastered_for_itunes.pdf


I think you might find that there's less rocket science here and more really basic obvious common sense (like "don't clip"). In fact in some more technical circles it's considered kind of a joke that Apple felt they actually needed to tell this kind of stuff to mastering engineers.

Isn't part of the discussion about "mastering" for "iTunes" based on the fact that you do not get to make any decisions about the mp3 compression. You only get to guess what iTunes is going to do to your hi res master.

I agree it's not rocket science... but it also seems a lot harder than it could be.


There is also the issue of tagging.

If you are 'mastering" for CD then tagging, to the limited extent of Redbook specs is part of the job.

When "mastering" for iTunes you are pretty much left out of the loop for advanced tagging and that is an area where an artist has an interest. Tagging info that can be used to more effectively connect artists with fans is being under utilized.

There may be a reason that "mastering" for iTunes discussions seem more complicated than explanations about mastering for mp3.


Random thoughts.


best regards,
mike

I'm thinking those guidelines supplied by Drew and a sufficient knowledge already gained in producing a good mix will save you the price of another Bob Katz book.
 
It isn't complicated at all, tags are not complicated, destination formats are not complicated if you know already what is required to produce final output for that format.
 
You'll notice if you read the guidlines that mp3's are old hat and Apple have been moving toward embracing higher quality and lossless file formats, with AAC being their format of choice for a good while now.  Needing to make any decisions about the mp3 compression has never been an issue because it's dependent on the encoder and one mp3 encoder is normally as bad as any other.  The best decision to make about mp3's is not to use them.
 
Tagging for iTunes offers more scope as well if you read the guidlines and see the way music is presented both on-line and off-line and I think you'll find that tagging is by no means under-utilized by artist or followers alike. 
 
 
You might realize that much Mike when you start streaming some stuff instead of clinging to the idea that a static download on a web-server is still the best way forward as far as connecting with an audience goes... 
 
It isn't rocket science to read instructions, it's what you do when you supply media to anyone that wants it in order give 'em what they are asking for.
 
Mystery and complication is usually introduced to make things seem insurmountably difficult often when somebody is trying to sell books at $30 a pop or because they like engaging in windy debates, the rest of us can just happily do what's required as laid out.
 
Good ol' Bob comes from a time when specialist skills and equipment were essential in providing quality output, these days none of it is beyond the ken of your average savvy singer songwriter. 
 
I can't blame him for writing a book though as many people like to sanctify things by making them seem more difficult, even to themselves, there's still some financial mileage to be had out of that.

Ok, you don't get to make any decision about the AAC compression. It's all out of your hands. They decide what your bitrate and you get to wait to find out if something turned in to mud in the process.

iTunes just does basic tagging for you... and once it's done if a mistake was made the entire song needs to be eradicated and you need to re submit as a new song. So, I guess it should be obvious that you want to do it all right the first time.


Good iTimes.

best regards,
mike

This is one of those things where you can either get with the programme and do the best work you can for the distribution platforms that actually exist, or you can obstinately decide to suck at working with the distribution platforms that actually exist. It's nothing new. There are loads of old guys you've never heard of who thought it was beneath them to make stuff sound good on cassette.

mike_mccue


Ok, you don't get to make any decision about the AAC compression. It's all out of your hands. They decide what your bitrate and you get to wait to find out if something turned in to mud in the process.

iTunes just does basic tagging for you... and once it's done if a mistake was made the entire song needs to be eradicated and you need to re submit as a new song. So, I guess it should be obvious that you want to do it all right the first time.


Good iTimes.

best regards,
mike

You don't get a choice what a radio station does with their compressors when you've given them professionally engineered masters either.  It's true if you are supplying media to anyone, send a magazine a photo according to their spec it doesn't mean they are not going to mess up the repro.
 
We can only do OUR best.
 
btw AAC is lossless AFAIK...

I'm totally with Dave Pensado on this. His exact words: "Get off your lazy ass and figure out how to work with what you've got instead of complaining about it".

Fact is, whatever misgivings people might have about compressed formats, that's how music is being delivered. And it can be done well or badly. I'm interested in doing it well.