Playing the Edge
Posted on | November 13, 2008 | No Comments
More in my series of yogic comparisons to mastering…
In yoga (asana) practice, there’s a concept called “playing your edge” where you push things as far as you think you can safely go. This changes from day-to-day depending on how you’re feeling and what’s going on in your life.
In mastering, I would equate playing the edge to what a lot of people are looking for in a “produced/ mastered” sound: pushing the song as far as it can safely go without damaging it, sonically. This, too, is a moving target, as it’s easy to get used to what you thought was the edge one day, and seems like it could be pushed further the next.
What makes it possible to determine this is objectivity and a pristine playback system. I know, I’m probably sounding like a broken record (or crashed DAW), but that is what it always comes back to. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling snake oil.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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