Answers
1. pitch = relative highness or lowness of a sound
"Sound may be measured by the number of vibrations-per-second (cps, or Hz/Hertz) produced by the vibrating body. If the vibration is steady (for example, 440 Hz), the musical effect produced is known as pitch, tone or note (all three words are interchangeable). Faster vibrating objects have higher pitches while slower vibrating objects have lower pitches. Pitch highness and lowness is relative. Many humans are capable of hearing pitches that range from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Human hearing acuity deteriorates with age.".
2. What's the difference between mixing and mastering?
Quite simply, MIXING is just what it says: The process of taking a multi-track master, and mixing all of the audio tracks together. It also includes panning different parts throughout the stereo spectrum (left to right), and using spacing effects to get certain instruments to sound like they are closer to or farther away from the listener, etc.
Effects generally fall into two groups, pre-processing and post-processing. An example of a pre-processing effect might be a tube preamp and/or compressor that goes between the microphone and the mixing board (or, recording deck, if going direct). Reverb or delay would be a post-processing effect. Generally, I would only use a pre-processing effect during recording, not a post-processing effect. Sometimes pre-processing effects are also used for post-processing. Example: A vocal track is compressed a little at recording time, and limited to keep the signal spikes from distorting (and possibly ruining a perfectly good take). Then, during mixdown, that same compressor may be used to keep that vocal track from becoming too loud during certain parts of the mix, or from getting buried under the music.
I hear so many mixes that don't have a "pocket" created for the vocal track (you can do that with certain EQ settings), and those mixes tend to sound like someone just sung to a Karaoke CD and threw some reverb on it. Bad engineer! B-A-A-A-A-D engineer! Go to your room! Quite often a good vocal pocket can save you from having to compress the vocal track too much during mixdown, so it can still keep it's dynamic feel, and fit nice and snug into the rest of the song.
A good example of using effects incorrectly (this one is my favorite, since I'm a guitar player) is when a guitarist wheels his stack into the studio, and starts plugging in his chorus, delay and reverb pedals. SAVE YOUR BATTERIES, BRO! We put the spatial effects on during mixdown, not recording. Unless you're going for a 1967 Beatles effect, and you want the song to sound like you did it on a 4-track reel-to-reel, having to bounce the bejeezus out of all the tracks, let's just go ahead and record that dry. Yeah, use the compressor and the tube screamer, that's great...get the tone exactly where you want it. You want some delay and reverb on it in your headphones? No problemo! Now, when we mix, we add the chorus, delay and reverb so it blends into the rest of the song. Magic, huh?
MASTERING is the process of taking that final mix and getting it ready for it's final medium (vinyl, cassette, CD). This is the stage where we might (and, probably will) compress the entire stereo mix to some extent, tweak some EQ settings, limit the final level, etc. Notice how some CDs (and albums) play louder than others. Listen to WITHOUT ME from Eminem or RENEGADE from Jay-Z. Then, listen to something off of RUMOURS by Fleetwood Mac, or THE WALL from Floyd. Notice the difference? Most music today is mastered so loud (or "hot") that the dynamics are virtually non-existent. But, that's what the producers are looking for, because that's what the people want. LOUDER! LOUDER!!!!! Okay, no problem. I'll make it louder.
When mastering to CD, the overall decibel level absolutely CANNOT go over 0dB. Two main reasons. First, anything over 0dB will cause clipping, or digital distortion, and that's not pretty. Imagine a cat afflicted with Tourette's syndrome that has a fur ball. Now tie a plastic grocery bag to it's tail, and turn the volume all the way up. That's digital clipping. Nice, huh? Second, burning the CD like that will probably cause errors that will render it unplayable. So, in order to make it louder, we make it "hotter" and remove some of the dynamics. We compress the daylights out of it, and limit the final level to 0dB. There is a "happy medium" that can be reached, where it's as loud (or hot) as it needs to be while still retaining some dynamic qualities. I like to refer to that as giving it the right amount of "ass" to make it kick.
3. both. in general, it depends if you have high end headphones\speakers. as for myself - i usually mix in headphones, but i always check the sound on my loudspeakers as well.
All The Best,
Wings
