Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, highly recommended
Review: An excellent book that I'm repeatedly recommending to people with an interest in the subject. The explainations of the various problems that are encountered and a full look at the technologies used are worth having all on their own however they really just act as a basis so that you have a good point of reference for the last part of the book, the interviews. I found that the interviews with a large variety of top guys who are working with a huge variety of material and styles gave you a really good idea of what can be achieved and what can be tried.Nobody is going to write a book telling you exactly how to master and reading these interviews makes you realise why, each guy has a different approach and gets different results. One of the best reads on the subject I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, highly recommended
Review: An excellent book that I'm repeatedly recommending to people with an interest in the subject. The explainations of the various problems that are encountered and a full look at the technologies used are worth having all on their own however they really just act as a basis so that you have a good point of reference for the last part of the book, the interviews. I found that the interviews with a large variety of top guys who are working with a huge variety of material and styles gave you a really good idea of what can be achieved and what can be tried. Nobody is going to write a book telling you exactly how to master and reading these interviews makes you realise why, each guy has a different approach and gets different results. One of the best reads on the subject I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever seen on the subject
Review: As Owsinski carefully points out, the most essential elements for a mastering engineer cannot be obtained in any book because they are the same as for any of the other fine arts: a great pair of ears, a refined sense of musical judgment and experience. Without those, the aspiring mastering engineer is at an extreme handicap. As far as equipment goes, Owsinski demonstrates that mastering engineers use very expensive gear because of the cleanness of its circuits and the very minute amount of adjustments they can make, as opposed to the gross knobs and dials of ordinary equipment. All that anyone could ever possibly hope to glean from the collective wisdom of the greatest mastering engineers of our day is in this book, including the most scathing indictment I have ever seen against the current industry trend toward hotter and hotter CDs. Great work from a master that includes in-depth interviews with all the top mastering engineers in the United States. Those who are looking for step-by-step instructions on how to operate specific pieces of equipment for specific situations in the studio had better look elsewhere. That's not what mastering is about. This book is what mastering is about.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Bobby Owsinski has tapped into a format that really works for this book, as well as the also excellent Mixing Engineers Handbook. Who better to teach the dual black arts of mixing and mastering than the best in the business. These books intersperse interviews with the pros throughout the well thought-out chapters. The emphasis is not on 'what to do' it's on 'what these people do' combined with some basic wisdom. It's fascinating to hear these mastering engineers gripe about how everyone wants their recordings to be as loud as possible - and then admit that they all go to work on monday and compress the bejesus out of the tape because the customer wants it anyway. This book is a very equipment agnostic - meaning it's useful for the homestudio user with a DAW or tape machine or for the pro studio user. he does, however, mention a lot of the famous eq's and compressors for the sake of completeness. this is a highly recommended book and one that i often find myself referring to.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best to learn!
Review: Is a very good book. That is what wizard made. The book give you a solid foundation. If you want to learn fast, then this is the book for you! Of course, if you want to come in deep more, included studio and live recording, synthesizer programming, mac & pc recording softwares, how to eq effexts and mastering, designing your CD covert, making your video clip, o just promoting, copyright, publishing, biggest resource and so on, try to buy "Music Technology & Live Sound" plus "Music Marketing", a pair of cheap books bilingüal (spanish and english)...I use this 3 books a lot. You must read its!!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: There is one thing I must say here in defense of this book. Most people who have not dedicated there mind to learning the real craft of mastering may find this book boring. There are no shortcuts. This book explains every single process involved in the so called "black art" of mastering, and in great detail (with the masters). What more could you want? The techniques are there and they are plainly obvious. If you are not familiar with mastering terms and technical jargon then yes, it may be over your head. If you don't understand fundamental pitches and harmonic frequencies, then you may not understand the section on EQ. I could go on but the point is this:
Familiarize yourself with terms before you purchase this book or you will remain lost.
It has helped me tremendously Earle Holder
www.hdqtrz.com
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting read, but out of date and not very helpful
Review: This book does not outline the steps involved in the mastering process. It is just some interviews with different mastering engineers. Instead of talking about how they go about mastering a project or what they listen for, they brag about their cool customized gear and how little signal processing goes between the source and the final output. Yet at the same time saying how much they are improving the sound. You get the history of mastering.
You get how they schedule their day. I was hoping for more of a real "handbook".
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read, but out of date and not very helpful
Review: This book does not outline the steps involved in the mastering process. It is just some interviews with different mastering engineers. Instead of talking about how they go about mastering a project or what they listen for, they brag about their cool customized gear and how little signal processing goes between the source and the final output. Yet at the same time saying how much they are improving the sound. You get the history of mastering.
You get how they schedule their day. I was hoping for more of a real "handbook".
Rating: 
Summary: Save your Money for a microphone cable!!!
Review: This book is $35.00 I'll never get back. Better off blind folding yourself and working your toe's.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, but not great
Review: This is the companion volume to "The Mixing Engineer's Handbook" by the same author. The format is the same, solid help for common problems and tasks, with interviews of many of mastering's top guns. However, compared to the mixing book, the advice here is a little less specific, a little more vague. It's helpful, to be sure, but there's more philosophy and less applied science. Also, I was disappointed that a significant amount of material in this book was literally cut and pasted from the mixing book. I felt like I had bought only half a book, or that I had bought some of the same book twice, or something. Despite these minor flaws, this IS a good book, and I'm not disappointed at all. And the interviews are wonderful.
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