The Power of Mastering

This past year, I've been learning how to more effectively use Logic Pro, including how to master the music toward the end of the process.

What this means is after the music is recorded and prepared, you can set an overall level, add effects for richer sound, apply compressors to soften loud consonants, and so on. This is something I'm going to try with my voice in the very next video I record in a couple of weeks -- and also with a theme song I'm putting together for my "Always Be Better" series.

So, while being educated, I've started picking up some of these mastering techniques in the music we hear around us each day. It's kind of cool -- kind of like eyes being opened.

Anyways -- this strange experience happened. It starts with this sound clip from Close Encounter of the Third Kind ...

Because I've seen this movie so many times, that one song playing in the background -- "The Square Song" has stuck with me for years. And if one were to ask me, I would have said it was from Sesame Street, though I wasn't exactly sure. It could have been Electric Company for all I knew. So, I thought I would research.

I first found this ...

So yes -- definitely the same song, but something just wasn't right. The cover of the record lists some Sesame Street songs -- so I thought perhaps it was proof ... but then I also saw other non-Sesame Street songs, such as "Archie's Theme." So -- nope -- I wasn't convinced, yet.

And then I found another one ...

And immediately -- just from the sound alone -- my memory kicked in. Yes, it was definitely Sesame Street. If you listen carefully, each of the three clips above have different sound quality. The songs, themselves (the original sound file) is exactly the same, but in each case, that sound file has been mastered differently.

The top one sounds kind of tinny. As -- well -- it was a record being played while the aliens were messing with the electronics.

The middle one is probably the clearest recording, also on the bright side. It's probably the mastering done on the album itself.

And the last one sounds a little muffled -- exactly what I remember from "Sesame Street." I'm not sure -- but maybe applying a muffled mastering helps it to sound better on TV back in the 70's?

So -- give it a try. Listen to each of the three examples, and see if you can hear the difference. Do any of the recordings sound more "Sesame Street"-ish than the others to you?

Last Train Home

This week, I bring a guilty pleasure. This is a classic piece that I had somehow gone decades without hearing until I finally heard it at the end of a Jo Jo episode. It immediately caught my attention -- some kind of slow train song. At first it sounds simple -- some kind of gospel chord progression. But then it became interesting. And then I was hit by a strange sense of sadness ... I think because it seemed to be foreshadowing the death of at least one of the main characters.

And then a sense of wanting to return home.

Anyway ... if you've heard it before, you probably already know what I'm talking about. And if you've never heard it before ... enjoy!

Last Train Home by Pat Metheny ...

Oh wait ... they have a music video, too ...