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.
(more…)
OK, I admit it, I find the bargains at this time of year just as tempting as anyone.
So I couldn't resist looking around and there are some amazing deals on offer as always – so I thought I would share them with you. These are some of my personal favourites for mastering.
They're all great deals, but also plugins I personally love using:
(And if you decide to use these links, many of them will help support my site and channels)
Wavesfactory Spectre This is a personal "secret weapon" of mine – super-flexible and intuitive saturation & distortion, in exactly (and only) the frequency ranges and amounts you choose. Even better, it's 51% off !
If you enjoyed my recent video about mastering on headphones, you might be interested to know that Sonarworks SoundID Reference is 44% off at the moment.
Newfangled Saturate As recommended by Joe Caithness in my recent podcast episode on clipping and saturation, Saturate is 56% off right now.
I recommend Leapwing Audio's stuff all the time – I use StageOne (50% off) and DynOne (40% off) regularly, and even the new LimitOne is 49% off at the moment !
Tokyo Dawn make some of the best-value products out there even at their normal price, but some are currently available with a massive 62% discount - including the highly regarded Limiter 6 !
Fabfilter's Mastering Bundle is a genuine all-in-one professional mastering solution, and contains everything you need to get great results. It's 25% off at the moment, and all the individual plugins like Pro-Q 3 and Pro-MB are also available
iZotope RX is a core element in my mastering toolset, with multiple invaluable restoration functions and is available for 40% off at the moment, along with many other iZotope deals
And of course finally I'm going to remind you that all my own plugins with MeterPlugs are available for 30% off this week ! The discount should be pre-applied but if not, use the code BLACKFRI24 at the checkout, it'll work for any MeterPlugs product, including Dynameter, Perception AB and the new Loudness Penalty Studio desktop app.
So, there you go - I hope there's something interesting for you in that list, and even if not there are a ton of other special offers on the Plugin Boutique site - to see them all, click here.
What about that incredible 79% discount I mentioned ? Well, Waves aren't often mentioned in a mastering context that often, but every so often I find that their Kramer Master Tape plugin is just the thing I need. It can be quite subtle (unlike some other tape emulations) so you can add it right at the end of the process without having to re-balance everything – and it's currently available for less than £30 !
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…)
