IK Multimedia has announced an update to the Lurssen Mastering Console for Mac/PC and iOS that adds “Digital Delivery Mastering”, a feature that lets musicians and audio engineers prepare their mastered audio files for popular digital distribution services to comply with Apple’s “Mastered for iTunes” specifications.
For musicians and engineers mastering music for digital distribution and streaming services like iTunes, Pandora and Spotify, Lurssen Mastering Console now ensures their music is compliant with Apple’s Mastered for iTunes specification – an industry first. Lurssen Mastering Console’s new Digital Delivery Mastering (DDM) feature provides mastered audio files that comply with specifications for sample rate, bit depth and peak levels, ensuring that audio translates perfectly for compressed formats like AAC.
Apple’s Mastered for iTunes specifications state files have to comply with high-resolution sample rate and bit depth requirements and that no clipping at or over 0.0dBFS should be present in the digital master being submitted. As the tendency in contemporary digital music production is to go for super loud masters, distortion can be created as a by-product of extreme use of digital peak limiters pushing up the level. Even though the file’s maximum peak level is not exceeding 0.0 dBFS, digital overshoots can still occur when the file is de-compressed back to PCM format for playback.
This is where the new Digital Delivery Mastering option for Lurssen Mastering Console comes in. It offers an additional layer of protection against peak overshoots that could be generated when decoding the compressed format for playback. This can cause clips that may go unnoticed while mixing and mastering with regular sample peak meters. The additional layer of protection is achieved by the peak limiter at the end of the mastering chain working in a specific way. This guarantees that the compressed file is safe from distortion when played back from digital distribution services such as Apple’s iTunes, Spotify and Pandora.
The Digital Delivery Mastering option is part of the HD Engine in-app purchase, and can be enabled independently from the HD Engine in the settings menu. It is also included in the free update for Mac/PC users.
The update also includes five new style presets for Hard Rock/Heavy Metal music.
Lurssen Mastering Console provides mind-blowing results in record time through an intuitive set of controls and settings. “Styles” presets created by Gavin Lurssen, Reuben Cohen and the team at Lurssen Mastering, Inc., define the gear chain and provide the settings for virtually every genre including Rock, Country, Americana, Pop, EDM and more.
In this new release, five new styles have been added for creating Hard Rock/Heavy Metal mastered files. With these additional presets, users can now find a mastering starting point for virtually every style and genre of music.
The update is complimentary for current owners of Lurssen Mastering Console for Mac/PC, and is an included feature in the HD engine in-app purchase in the iOS release.
Lurssen Mastering Console for Mac/PC is available for purchase for 199.99 USD/EUR excl. tax. Lurssen Mastering Console for iOS is a free download, with in-app purchases available for Play / Process (49.99 USD/EUR) and HD Engine (99.99 USD/EUR).
More information: IK Multimedia
