On mastering
We also master for critical listeners and not “the public.” This is because critics, reviewers, broadcast personnel and venue promoters can all dramatically increase an artist’s exposure and ultimate success if they like what they hear. Many of these folks have full range and audiophile playback systems.
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All it takes is ONE important reviewer falling in love with an album to make the difference between a multi-platinum hit and a thousand CDs sitting in the garage.
Only a fool doesn’t pay attention to audio quality.
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I currently use Duntech Sovereigns which combine the imaging and sensitivity to digital grunge of the Thiels with the natural character of the LS-3/5as.
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I´m a huge fan of some Steve Roach / Hearts of Space CDs, which you have mastered. “Suspended memories” f. e..
Which converters / dynamics / Eq´s did you use for that in the `Heart of Space Studio`? How is this studio equipped ?
These CDs have amazing depth and stereo width !
Did you use stereo enhancers / harmonizers ?
Any secrets ?
The processing was all done using one, or in some cases, two ProTools systems with WAVES Q-10 and L-1.
If I remember correctly, Roach was on an NS-10 kick when we did “Suspended memories” so we had to do some pretty radical carving on the low-end.
The “secret” was/is state-of-the-art full range monitors that are capable of extraordinary reproduction of ACOUSTIC music.
Electronic music that sounds great on such a system will sound great almost anywhere.
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A mastering engineer needs to be able to tell when to leave something alone, i.e. what the intent of the mix was so that any changes only focus the intent better rather than diluting or otherwise altering it. We generally work with the presentation of mixes and only “fix” things that were obviously unintended. I’d say a passion for listening to great music and great audio is far more important than experience as a musician. Ludwig and Sax are two of the most passionate music and audio fans that you’ll ever meet. That’s undoubtedly also why they became great players but it isn’t necessarily why a lot of people become great musicians.
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On defining mastering: I’d add adjusting the presentation of the mix to be appropriate to its position within the album, the genre, the contemporary marketplace and possibly even history.
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The presentation of a mix should never be confused with the presentation of the music and the recording which is what mixing is all about. Obviously the producer plays a key role and must approve anything that affects the mix. The presentation of the mix must always support the producer’s, artist’s and client’s goals.
It’s never a matter of homogenizing the sound to fit some genre but rather one of understanding the context within which the song is going to be listened to. You don’t treat a Broadway musical the same way you treat a hip hop record unless the musical is about hip hop. Even then I’d want to discuss the goals of that kind of special situation with the producer. Mastering to me is always a collaboration and not “playing god.”
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On Georgetown Masters
We got 8 Grammy noms this year 4 of them in album categories!
Best Female Country Vocal Performance – Gretchen Wilson
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal- Little Big Town
Best Country Song – Gretchen Wilson
Best Country Album – Little Big Town
Best Bluegrass Album – Ricky Skaggs
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album – Leeland
Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album – Israel & the New Breed
Best Short Form Music Video – Big & Rich
We also did production work on Neil Young’s project that was nominated 3 times.
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Bob Ludwig started it all at Masterdisk.
He wanted something with the balls of his Altec monitors but the merceless midrange clarity of his Quad electrostatics. After using big 24 inch subs with stacked Quad panels at both Sterling and Masterdisk, Tom Jung turned Bob on to the Duntechs during the late ’80s and the rest is history.
Georgetown used Duntechs for years but switched to the Novas in order to be able to do a surround room with all the same monitors. Duntech was going through changes at the time and was no longer distributed in the US. I’ve been amazed by how close the Novas are to the Duntechs.
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Below added 17.5.2010
Shouldn’t there be another word for Mastering, if you are self mastering…..
A huge part of mastering is one’s impression upon hearing the mix for the very first time.
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Who do you consider to be the best ME’s for Jazz today?
Mark Wilder at Sony, Vlado Meller at Universal (formerly with Sony) and Andrew Mendelson at Georgetown Masters (formerly with both Sony and Telarc) would be my first choices based on having mastered the most outstanding sounding Jazz CDs that I’ve ever heard. (Andrew is the reason why I do my attended sessions in his room at Georgetown Masters.)
