With analog mastering, the mastering engineer works in audio production with external hardware (so-called analog hardware). The signal to be processed is fed to the external devices via high-quality AD converter channels. Artifacts can partially be bypassed by using analog devices. The principal disadvantage of analog technology compared to digital technology is its reproducibility (the so-called "total recall"). Due to the large number of buttons and rotary controls, which are often not rasterized, it is extremely time-consuming to restore the settings of the processed audio material in analog mastering in order to enable a uniform sound for all versions. In many cases, this only takes place with time-consuming photographs of the device settings in the mixer. “Pure” analog mastering is actually no longer done in the studio these days. Today, hybrid solutions are used here. This means that the audio material supplied is already digitally available after mixing. By means of DAW, via which the AD converter is sent to the analog devices and, after processing, is resumed in the DAW, ending up as a stereo master. This has the advantage that audio material can be digitally prepared or post-processed, regardless of the analog processing steps.