Jim was in the process of mastering for a client, Robert. This means that he was making the songs the same volume, deciding how much time there was going to be between each song, the order of the songs, adding fades, maximizing levels, and he turned up the bass in one song. I wondered why it shows the song in blue above the same in red below on the mastering program that Jim uses. I imagine that there are probably many different types of software. As an engineer, do you have to be familiar with more than one program?
Jim explained to me that he has more of a mellow song of Robert’s so he physically made it a mellower volume on the CD. Jim made Robert two masters. There is only so much that Jim can do when he is not part of the tracking or mixing process. He said that Robert recorded in a home studio so the music image was very small. The band recorded the tracks and did the mixes elsewhere. Lastly, Jim printed the name of the band, the title of the record, the date, and Allusion studios on the CD with a CD labeler.
A lot of the music industry is about image and not about the music. Even though I wish that people liked music because they actually liked the music and not just the person singing it, I know it won’t ever change. However, it is cool to think about how each city pretty much has its own music scene. In Tucson, I think it has changed negatively. I wonder what influences the changes. I also wonder how the music scene in Tucson differs from a city in California.
