Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science

by Bob Katz

Book Overview

Mastering Audio explains leading-edge audio concepts in an easy-to-grasp, holistic manner, including an ear-opening investigation of the mysteries of jitter, dither and wordlengths, high sample rates, distortion, headroom, monitor calibration, metering, depth perception, compression and expansion, equipment interconnection and much more. Mastering Audio is for everyone who wants to increase their mastery of digital and analog audio: musicians, producers,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0240805453
• ISBN13: 9780240805450
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Focal Press
• Length: 319 Pages
• Weight: 1.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

De-mystifies Mastering!

I have been a guitar player, songwriter, and producer for many years and an engineer when I had to be. There is always a certain amount of mystery around the magic done in post production mastering. I don't say this book gets you there magically, but it gives you a real understanding of what is involved and certainly gives you all the information you need to be on your way! Most professional digital recording software contains a lot of useful post production features, but if you don't understand the basics of mastering, they are of limited use. If nothing else, this book tells you what NOT to do if you are going to have someone ELSE master your product! Very useful and easy to read and understand.

Of course it isn't for beginners...

Thank God - At least one book with a title that suggests the reader can 'master' something actually delivers the goods! As the title suggests "Mastering Audio" isn't something that you can check off the to-do list after a quick weekend read. Nor should it be. If it were that easy, everybody would be mastering engineers, and there wouldn't be a single square wave being passed off as high fidelity audio on today's digital audio products. But as many reviewers have already mentioned, for those with basic audio skills, this book is very likely to be overkill. And while there are already plenty of books in print that satisfy a basic audio learning curriculum, this book's title is dead-on accurate. Maybe it's the time we live in, where it seems more often than not the consumer is underwhelmed by boasts of expertise that ultimately doesn't satisfy, that when a book comes along with a title as explicit as this one, we're shocked when it doesn't talk down to us. Coming from someone who already owns dozens of audio engineering books and has dabbled with pro audio for 40+ years, I find it very refreshing to pick up a book without having to skip past the first few chapters of remedial topics. If you have a sincere interest or desire (amateur, professional, it doesn't matter) in learning how to make your audio sound the best it possibly can, then this book is unique and well worth the money. If you are just starting out or want to learn what audio is, how it is recorded, etc., then you should probably keep looking. This is an advanced text and targeted towards an analytical approach to the science of audio engineering.

Quality, Quality, Quality

I've acquired many books about audio over the years, but this book is definitely in my top five list. I would recommend this book to any hobbyist or professional, without hesitation.The author addresses his subject with enthusiasm, clarity, and balance. What strikes me the most about this book is its emphasis on quality. Everything, from the book's design, to the writing itself, to the principles engendered, is high quality.Too many books are thrown together (it seems to me) using a combination of notes, spec sheets, opinions, and other miscellany, without proper regard for overall cohesiveness, comprehensiveness, and quality. The results are far too often mediocre.This book, "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz is an example of a high quality effort, attention to detail, and a passion for the subject matter. This author did not settle for writing a mediocre book. After I bought it and read, I felt I got more than my money's worth!The book achieves a nice balance between theory and practice, though it is mostly about practice. The color plates, diagrams, pictures, etc, are very enjoyable and instructive. Again, quality seems to be at the heart of this work.(I can't see this guy doing anything in a mediocre way, whether it is recording, mastering, or writing. I'd love to tour his recording studio and watch him at work work).The other thing I like is the writing style, the sense of humor, and the straightforward manner the author has. He cuts through a lot of cruft and says things lucidly without pretention.The book is peppered with interesting tidbits, facts, observations, and principles, called out in side-boxes, etc.The author stresses the need for education (in this area and related areas). This is a welcome message, and something I agree with strongly, whether you're mainly a listener, a performer, or an engineer.I have many books on my shelf, but there are a few that I consider "a cut above". This book is one of those books.Highly recommended.

Black Art Mastered

Very rarely do I find a book which stimulates my interest throughout its every page, and even more to the point, very rarely do I find a "technical" book which yields the same result. Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science, delivers.Bob Katz has come to be known as "The Guru" regarding mastering audio. Bob has steadily carved a niche for himself in both his dual profession of mastering and writing. This book was inevitable in many ways as "keeping a lid" on one's knowledge of this calibre is almost impossible. Bob Katz comes across as a genuinely "open" guy, and naturally his generosity and openness is evident in his writing style.So often technical writers simply miss half their audience, or rather leave them cold and baffle them with unnecessary technicalities or bore them with verbose banalities. Even worse, writers in the audio industry can often leave little room for the reader to reflect and establish their own opinions on the text. Bob Katz is one of the few writers who are able to take a complex subject, riddled with difficult concepts and present those concepts for the layman to absorb, in a non-arrogant and cheerful manner.Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science is a paperback book of 319 pages that teaches the reader all there is to know and explore regarding mastering audio. Mastering audio is often considered a "black-art", and a visit to any number of online audio forums will indicate that it can also be considered a highly subjective Science/Art. Bob Katz reinforces that in his text and assumes the reader has a genuine interest in the subject and will therefore experiment and train herself to hear the ideas Bob has spent a lifetime nurturing. Bob has composed catch phrases that should become mantras for "newbies" such as: "Make passive ear training a lifelong activity" and "A monitor which makes everything sound beautiful must not be accurate". Phrases such as these are "gems" for any newcomer and can open a whole new approach to the subject.The text is presented in a friendly and playful manner with two columns per page interlaced with a fair amount of diagrams that really do paint a thousand words. Never will the reader find the book hard going or too tough, providing they are reading to learn. The book is not written to be a "10 quick tips for mastering your audio"; Bob Katz is way beyond that. What you will find is a textbook that will teach you and guide you through a complex area. This book is sure to become the "Industry Bible" on mastering audio. Highly recommended.

A Masterful Book on Mastering from The Master

Up until now, I've read books by authors who fall into one of the following categories: 1) musicians 2) traditional, primarily analog audio engineers 3) acoustic scientists or 4) audio computer applications specialists. Getting meaningful information from one of these authors requires my own extrapolation into the remaining areas--or at least taking the authors comments in those areas with a grain of salt. FINALLY I have in my hands a book written by someone who can put it all together into a meaningful whole. The book is a wonderful blend of descriptions of how things work that will take you to the next level along with some very valuable common sense advice-like how to effectively sequence songs into an album. I'll keep this book in my studio and refer back to it again and again. Probably the best (but also the most honest) thing I can say about the book is that I know I will sound better because of having read it.