i have released numerous records sometimes using separate streaming masters when appropriate and sometimes using just a non-streaming master. Now matter what when I upload either streaming or non-streaming masters to YouTube the tracks lose high frequencies and sound a lot more dead. Tracks uploaded by professional artists always seem to have way more high end than my songs (as my original masters did). Do record companies have a special relationship with youtube? I uploaded my songs using the HD setting on YouTube. All the "Vevo'" tracks for example seem to sound louder and brighter. Vevo is a hi-end aggregate basically right? If not, are professional artists mastering their tracks with way more high end to compensate maybe? Any input you guys can give me would be appreciated. Thanks!

They don’t have any special relationship with YouTube... what they have is experience of working with such streaming websites and have the exact know-how of how to make the song sound the best on YouTube

IIRC, To get the exact high frequency response, you’ll need to use the MKV video format paired with an FLAC/any other uncompressed audio stream

This would upload the uncompressed lossless audio to YouTube and then, the conversion to AAC for streaming would be as good as it gets, with all the high frequencies present upto the capability of the format

I've seen something similar stated in another thread about YouTube basically lopping off anything over 15 kHz, and it being blamed on the format used for the upload.

What I don't get -- and am hoping someone can explain -- is why these codecs can't keep the high-end information. It's not as if this is 1988 and we're copying audio from a VHS tape to a cassette and losing the high end there. That I get. But even a lossy compression format should still be able to keep some of the high end, right? I know it will throw out a lot of what it thinks you don't need to hear or won't miss, but clearly that's not working here if people are noticing it.

YouTube doesn't say you have to use any particular audio or video codec to get from what I've seen, though I have seen them suggest you don't use certain ones. I just don't get why it's so difficult to get everything lined up exactly with specific audio and video codecs just to get the video to look and sound great. YouTube should make this easier, since they make money when your video is shown!

Steve

Ok great That sounds like good advice.

Also,will using iMovie to create the YouTube video do anything detrimental to the audio?

It can, but it depends on the settings you set for it, like import, export and any other things you may do to it when its in there.

IMO one of the skills of the modern, mastering engineer is creating copies of the original for different formats/publishing outlets. In the past it may have just been for vinyl or cassette of CD, etc. but now there is a greater variety of digital output formats partcularly streaming.