The Role of CD Mastering Engineers
If a recording artist has any hopes of these songs being played on the air, it is essential that their rough mix is mastered well. Usually the best way to get this done would be to hire a CD mastering engineer. Professional CD mastering engineers could make a good mix sound good and an excellent mix sound amazing. There are many items that CD mastering engineers do. Engineers use the artist to choose what order the songs can look on the CD, plus they equalize the quantity of the various instruments in each song and over the whole CD. CD mastering engineers may also add more definition and clarity to the instruments on a song. Then they adjust the intros and ends of songs, choosing amount of time between songs and adding crossfades or other effects if you need to.
The order where songs appear on a CD can greatly affect what sort of CD progresses when played. If similar sounding songs are put consecutively on a CD it could suggest shortcomings in the songwriting or make listeners believe the artist includes a limited range. Also, some CDs can tell a narrative if sequenced correctly. Ultimately, it really is around the CD mastering engineers to utilize the recording artists and pick the song order on the CD.
It is essential that the instruments inside a song and the songs on the CD are in a proper volume level. Inside a particular song, the various elements should be mixed appropriately to ensure that the song to sound good. The mastering engineer can provide clarity and definition to the various instruments in a song. The engineer also offers the duty of assuring that volume levels across all the songs are similar, to greatly help the CD sound more cohesive while still leaving room for dynamics.
CD mastering engineers also regulate how much time there must be between songs on the CD. They fade and crossfade the intros and endings of songs to create them flow better.
CD mastering engineers have the duty of earning a rough mixture of a CD ready for public consumption by adjusting audio levels and pacing the tracks in a manner that brings out the very best in the material.