CD MASTERING
I offer some very nice sounds using high-end analog and digital hardware. I also offer an affordable per-song flat rate, so you know exactly what the bill will be from the start (with 3 song minimum). Getting your final mixes into another room, and having it handled with someone else's fresh perspective is an important final step of any recording project. Whether it takes a little or a lot of work to make it "sound like a record," it's always good to put it through the process. Having your project mastered in the same room you mixed in, by the same guy will likely just further emphasize the anomalies of that room and the tendencies of that engineer. Anyone trying to sell you on mastering after just mixing your record is probably missing the point.
Accepted source delivery is up to 24-bit/192k WAV, AIFF or SDII audio files on CD, DVD or FW drive. I can also use Masterlink CD-24's, standard audio CD's or DAT. I have happy clients representing just about any style of music. Tell me about your project & call or email for rates or with any questions. If possible, contact me with any questions before you do your final mixes. Scroll down for lists of equipment and recommended do's and don'ts for delivery.
****PLEASE**** If you bring in your mix masters on a CD-R, (most of you) whether its an audio CD or data, don't let them get dirty or look like they spent any time on the floor of your car. Please keep your CD-Rs in a hard jewel case.
Equipment:
D/A conversion Apogee Rosetta 200 (cleaner) or RADAR converters (warmer)
EQ Summit Audio EQ-200: Class-A solid state EQ design by Rupert Neve. Very clean & accurate, but not at all boring. Stores presets digitally for quick recall & A-B comparisons.
Manley Labs EQP-1A: Class-A tube driven, passive pultec style EQ's. When you ask for "warmer" I plug these in.
Dynamics Empirical Labs FATSO: Buss-compressor & saturator. Can run clean or driven harder for more saturated, tape-like textures.
Chandler Limited/EMI TG-1: Reissue of 60's mastering limiter at Abbey Road Studios. Good for adding attitude. Factory modified to fit with a variety of signals. Most often used without compression to just add its special tone to a mix.
ART Pro VLA: Optical tube limiter. Although it's cheap, it works great for certain things. It has a darker tone, so it's often good when a mix is too bright or thin.
Waves hardware L2: Hardware version of the plug-in. Has great A/D converters or can be used digitally after the Apogee for final peak-limiting & dither.
A/D Conversion Apogee Rosetta 200: Clean, accurate wide-open tone.
Waves hardware L2: Warmer, punchier tone. Some say almost more "tape-like."
Editing, Sequencing, Delivery Bias Peak Pro 5 on G-5 workstation: Used for more involved projects, when more editing is necessary or use of plug-ins might help (Universal Audio precision mastering suite). Song order and cross-fades are non-destructive and can be easily re-sequenced for revisions. Burns Redbook standard CD masters with CD text meta-data if desired.
Alesis Masterlink: Used on smaller projects or when no close edits or cross-fades are required. Burns Redbook standard CD masters.
Do & Don't FAQ's:
Q: I'm mixing in my computer at home. What settings should I use for my bounce to disk?
A: Since I can use about any sample rate for playback, I recommend that you use bounce to disk settings that match your session settings for sample rate & playback. This way your program isn't introducing any artifacts by up-sampling or down-sampling or truncating the bit depth. Always double check, because some programs automatically bounce to disk at 44.1/16-bit, assuming you want to burn an audio CD with the resulting file. Also, it's generally preferred to select "stereo" instead of "dual-mono" audio files, but not absolutely necessary. It's just easier to handle the files in most cases when there are single stereo files to keep track of.
Q: I'm mixing on an analog board down to digital. What resolution should I mix down to?
A: Definitely mix down at 24-bit. Pick the resolution that sounds good. I mix a lot of rock, and in most cases, you'd be hard-pressed to hear much sonic benefit to mixing at 88.2 or 96kHz or higher. 48k usually works great and takes less space, but if you're doing some highly detailed jazz or acoustic music, by all means throw it down at the high res! If you're mixing back into inputs on your workstation, (very common with Pro Tools) just export the new tracks as a stereo file with the same resolution settings as your session.
Q: I'm mixing down to 1/2" or 1/4" analog tape, can you use that?
A: Although I have an analog multi-track for recording, I don't have a 1/2" or 1/4 2-track deck. Frankly I'd love to have both of those formats, but I'm out of space for more machines around here! If you want to master directly from the analog tapes, I can recommend some other engineers in town would can handle analog masters and will do a great job.
Q: What kind of digital levels can I hit when I mix or do my bounce to disk?
A: It's ideal if you can leave a few dB of headroom above your peaks before you hit full scale. At 24-bit, around -6 dB BELOW full scale is a great place to mix, leaving plenty of room for the occasional higher peaks. You definitely DON'T want any clip indications (RED LIGHTS = BAD), and please don't normalize your mixes. The analog equipment will work better if there is some headroom and dynamic range to work with. If there are a bunch of overs, it might sound fine on your system, but they could cause problems at any stage in the mastering.
Q: When I do my mix or bounce to disk, can I use my favorite limiter plug-in on the mix buss?
A: Use it after the fact for your own copy if you want to listen to it that way, but leave your delivered mix master unprocessed. As a continuation on the above answer, I'll have way more sonic options and the analog gear will sound better if I have some dynamic range to work with. If you like, I can make your master plenty loud and with better, more musical results. Mixes that come in too loud to begin with just get turned down before processing anyway.
Q: What about using a buss compressor?
A: When using a buss compressor at a relatively gentle ratio, it can help glue things together a little in the mix. I like to use one myself. If you do use one, just don't go crazy with it. Again, I can make it plenty loud here. A general rule of thumb is to try not to hit more than a dB or two of gain reduction during the mix, and don't make the attack too fast, but you're gunna do what you do. Too much buss compression at once can shrink the overall impact and depth of the mix. In an effort to make things louder, they can get loud but often strangely smaller. Try to find the sweet spot for the unit you're using. Some work great when you just skim things a little, and some like to work a little harder before they sound cool. When in doubt, deliver two versions, with and without the buss compressor in the chain.