CLICK THE ICON ABOVE TO VISIT OUR MASTERING PAGE............. Audio mastering is one of the most important and final steps in the album making process. Mastering is the audio step that comes just before manufacturing a CD. Ideally, the engineer builds a cohesive and consistent sound for an album by tweaking various settings such as EQ, levels, compression, stereo spread and unnecessary background noise. When the recording and mixing process of a song is finished, it is then shaped, scooped, sculpted, equalized, compressed and finessed into a finished product giving depth, punch, clarity and volume to the track, and allowing it to sound consistent on all mediums. Before CDs and digital technology was invented, mastering was done using a mechanical processes involving the master recording being cut directly to a disc during the recording while still in a studio. In the 1940s, with the advent of the magnetic tape, mastering process was separated from the recording process. Mastering became a skilled craft making the sound of the songs better. The process and steps required can vary depending on the quality of the original audio