Drum and bass Mastering

Drum and bass (also written as Drum&Bass or drum’n’bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D’n’B) is a genre of electronic music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165-185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre grew out of the UK’s jungle scene in the early 1990s.

The popularity of drum and bass at its commercial peak ran parallel to several other homegrown dance styles. A major influence was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound that influenced jungle’s bass-heavy sound. Another feature of the style is the complex syncopation of the drum tracks’ breakbeat. Drum and bass subgenres include breakcore, ragga jungle, hardstep, darkstep, techstep, neurofunk, ambient drum and bass, liquid funk (a.k.a. liquid drum and bass), jump up, drumfunk, sambass, and drill ‘n’ bass. Drum and bass has influenced many other genres like hip hop, big beat, dubstep, house, trip hop, ambient music, techno, jazz, rock and pop.

Drum and bass is dominated by a relatively small group of record labels. Major international music labels had shown very little interest in the drum and bass scene until BMG Rights Management acquired RAM in February 2016. Since then, the genre has seen a significant growth in exposure. The origin and home of drum and bass music is in the UK, with other prominent fanbases located in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States, and South Africa. There’s also a modest following in countries like Austria, Russia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, and more.

Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). In recent years digital masters have become usual, although analog masters—such as audio tapes—are still being used by the manufacturing industry, particularly by a few engineers who specialize in analog mastering.^{[citation needed]}

Mastering requires critical listening; however, software tools exist to facilitate the process. Results depend upon the intent of the engineer, the skills of the engineer, the accuracy of the speaker monitors, and the listening environment. Mastering engineers often apply equalization and dynamic range compression in order to optimize sound translation on all playback systems. It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording—known as a safety copy—in case the master is lost, damaged or stolen.