Mastering is simple. Not easy, but simple.
That's the message behind this series of 6 video tutorials I made recently for Sound On Sound magazine.
In them, I walk you through my entire mastering process from beginning to end, explaining how and why I work the way that I do at every stage.
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Suddenly this week everyone is talking about BlueSky, for some reason.
I signed up there ages ago as a possible alternative to Twitter (RIP), which was becoming less and less fun (for some reason).
Sadly there just weren't enough people talking about music production, audio technology, mastering and sound engineering to hold my interest back then. I tried Threads instead, which was OK but just seemed like more of the same algorithmic content that I was already seeing on Instagram and Facebork.
And now suddenly, almost overnight, everyone is trying BlueSky, for some reason...!
It's full of musicians, recording engineers, music producers, mixers, mastering engineers and more.
Honestly, it's really good fun. Loads of great people, no algorithm deciding what it thinks you're interested in, some innovative features and no aggressively promoted stuff you'd never normally choose to look at. It's great !
But because there's no algorithm, it can also be a little slow to get up to speed with. Finding people is a bit clunky, the search is often a bit hit or miss, and it's easy to get discouraged before you've even had a chance to get started.
So I'm putting this post up to try and help with that. If you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, and want to find some interesting people to follow and look at quickly while you give BluSky a try, here you go !
(more…)People are always asking me - can you master on headphones ?
And then the next question - which ones are best ?
And one name keeps on coming up - Audeze.
In this video I try out several different pairs of Audeze headphones, and let you know what I think about using them for mastering.
The results may surprise you !
Photos by Mike Banks
One of the things I love most about working in music is getting the chance to interact with some of my heroes. They say you shouldn't, but personally I've ignored that rule and the result has been almost completely positive, so far !
Monday night was no exception - I got the chance to hear the new Dolby Atmos mix of David Bowie's legendary "Ziggy Stardust" album in Trident Studios, where it was originally recorded and mixed –- but more importantly, to talk to Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu in detail afterwards about the project and it's history.
[Needless to say this was a fantastic opportunity that I want to say more about, but first I can imagine you're probably thinking how lucky I am to have been there. And I was – but if you're based in the UK, so could you have been !
The event was open to all Music Producers Guild members – and full membership only costs £11 a month. To find out more, click here - and no, I don't get a commission if you do !)]
So, first things first - how did it sound ?
(more…)Have you ever wished you could hear how 8 different pro producers would mix the same song; find out how they did it; compare the results and apply what you've learned to your own music ?
Well, that's exactly what a recent article in August's issue of Sound On Sound magazine allows you to do !
Mark Mynett asked 8 different mix engineers to work on the same metal tune, interviewed them about how (and why) they did what they did, and analysed the results.
Not just any engineers, either - the project involved some massive names like Andrew Schepps, Jens Bogren and Fredrik Nordström.
And as soon as I heard the mixes, I thought to myself - "ah, but how would they sound after mastering ?!"
So in this video, I react to hearing all those mixes for the first time, as if I were about to master them myself - and some of the results may surprise you.
Take a listen and let me know what you think in the comments !
And make sure you also check out the original article in Sound On Sound:
AND also their own video where Mark analyses different aspects of each production, and gives examples:
8 Top Mix Engineers Mix The Same Track
It's articles like this that make SOS such an amazing resource - make sure you subscribe to their channel to get much more amazing content like this !
