We hear how important audio mastering is, but why? For any artist or label looking to make a career out of music, mastering is essential. In short, it’s the final (and in many ways most crucial) step of music production -the stage where dull, lifeless tracks are transformed into polished masterpieces.

Why do professional recordings sound, well…professional? There are a number of reasons, including high quality microphones, pre-amps, an experienced engineer and a well-designed studio space. One of the single most important elements in a great-sounding, professional recording is the performance of the session musicians. It’s these musicians whose talent and studio experience contribute in a major way to the polished sound of a recording. In this article I’ll show you how using session musicians specifically applies to songwriting demos.

The Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light is the smallest, lightest full scale travel guitar around. It’s an ideal solution for the home studio songwriter/music producer who is pressed for space or needs an option for mobile recording. With its solid maple body and shadow piezo pickup, this tough little axe lets you write and record anywhere in the world. We took the steel version for a test drive and were very impressed with the results.

Working as a producer for the last ten years, I’ve recorded with all kinds of artists from “fresh off the boat” newbies to artists whose experience in the world of music doubles or even triples my own. In every case, my role as a producer stays essentially the same. It’s that role that I’m going to describe in this article.