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RE: What does it mean?

It should mean it is the final two-track mix. The mastering process takes that mix and adjusts dynamics and EQ to achieve two objectives:

1. Adjust dynamics to be appropriate for the playback medium, and;
2. Adjust dynamics/EQ to make the songs on the album sound like a coherent whole.

#1 is the bugaboo we've dealt with for years, as releases were pretty compressed in the 60's and 70's, and got worse in the 80's despite new playback media that supported a wider dynamic range. The reasons were mostly commercial, i.e. mastering so the product would be playable by the most people, and that meant squashing it so it would sound good in cars, on subways, and while running or biking. Somewhere in the middle of this, we got the radio-driven loudness wars, which squashed dynamic range even more. Looking at the time line, it's depressing:

60's & 70's: make it sound good on the widest variety of record players
80's: gotta sound ok on CD Walkman, car CD players
90's & 00's: make it sound ok on IEMs, itunes, lossy MP3
10's: still with IEMS, but now streaming

Now we're seeing a few LPs produced for the hifi crowd, and the occasional good digital download.

BTW, the term "master" can refer to the two-track mix (tape or file) *or* to the result of the mastering process (again either a tape or file.)

While I have great admiration for mastering engineers, I do hope we see releases of "pre-mastering" two-track mixes. The songs of the album might sound different from each other, but I doubt that would bother many inmates.

WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.

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