Master blaster: the woman making Björk, Aphex Twin and Eno sound so good. Walk into Mandy Parnell’s studio and you might think you were on LA’s Sunset Strip, not Walthamstow, east London.
There are animal skulls and guitars on the walls, a vinyl press, an enormous 70s wicker pod. Crisp music booms out of the five enormous speakers that encircle her computer desk. Parnell is one of the country’s leading mastering engineers, and this is where the likes of the Chemical Brothers, Max Richter and Brian Eno come to hear their finished tracks. INSTANT vs. OZONE vs. REAL MASTERING. (27) Mastering GRAMMY Award winning records with Clarity M. Breaking the Mould: Mastering Engineer Emily Lazar on her recent Grammy win – Audio Media International. Emily Lazar has been working hard to promote inclusivity of women in the music industry, and earlier this year became the first ever female mastering engineer to win a Grammy for her work on Beck’s “Colors” album.
Here, AMI speaks to Lazar about making her mark in history… Unboxing Bettermaker Mastering Limiter! We've got a Bettermaker Mastering Limiter!
You might have already caught a glimpse of it in one of our previous YouTube videos, but today we're making it official! Waves pairs with Abbey Road on TG Mastering Chain plugin - Audio Media International. Waves Audio has introduced the Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain plugin.
Developed together with Abbey Road Studios, the TG Mastering Chain plugin is a modular mastering chain plugin modelled after the EMI TG12410 Transfer Console used in all of Abbey Road's mastering suites since the early '70s to this day. The distinct solid-state transistor-based sound of the TG12410 has been heard on albums like Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Nirvana’s In Utero, Radiohead’s OK Computer and Ed Sheeran’s + (“plus”). Mayfield Mastering invests in PMC's new MB3 monitors. Nashville-based facility has become one of the first studios to start using the company's MB3-XBD-A 3-way active main monitors, which were launched earlier this year at NAMM.
Nashville mastering facility Mayfield Mastering has become one of the first studios to start using PMC’s MB3-XBD-A 3-way active main monitors, which were launched earlier this year at NAMM. Mayfield Mastering was established in 1996 by recording and mix engineer John Mayfield in response to repeated requests from clients who wanted him to master their projects. “The new MB3 system has been in my room for close to two months now and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results,” said Mayfield. “With the help of Maurice Patist (PMC USA's president of sales and marketing), the room is now stunningly accurate.
HOFA-Plugins. So far burning softwares have either been complicated or limited.
But now, with HOFA CD-Burn & DDP, everything is easier – no matter if you choose the plugin or the standalone version. HOFA CD-Burn & DDP (Plugin) V1.6.10 (changelog) Finally there is the ideal burning software available as a plugin for your DAW – because that’s where you know your stuff best so you can utilize all the tonal possibilities in no time. Load the CD-Burn & DDP plugin into your master module and create perfect (master) CDs and DDP images directly from there. HOFA CD-Burn & DDP (Standalone) V1.6.10 (changelog) HOFA CD-Burn & DDP (Mac App Store) V1.6.9 Just drag & drop your mastered tracks into the burning software. Mastered for iTunes - friend or foe?
Engineer Wes Maebe on why his reaction to the arrival of Apple’s MFiT concept was one of excitement, not disapproval.
Engineer Wes Maebe on why his reaction to the arrival of Apple’s MFiT concept was one of excitement, not disapproval. Apple’s Mastered for iTunes (MFiT) came to the fore a few years back and caused quite a stir in the mastering community. I for one got quite excited. Finally, a tool for us to combat the constant requests for ridiculously loud masters. RX - tips and tricks. Disc Makers Guide to Making a Great Master.
The Science of Sample Rates (When Higher Is Better — And When It Isn’t) Image courtesy of Flickr user mikecogh One of the most hotly—and perhaps unnecessarily—debated topics in the world of audio is the one that surrounds digital sample rates.
It seems an unlikely topic for polarization, but for more than 10 years, the same tired arguments have been batted about by each side with almost unrelenting intensity. At the fringes, advocates of either side have often dug deeper trenches of faith for themselves. But as much as that’s the case, there’s also a growing consensus among designers and users who have a firm understanding of digital audio. Namely, that there are perfectly good reasons for sticking with the current professional and consumer standards of 44.1 and 48 kHz for recording and playback – and some valid arguments for moving up to slightly higher sample rates, such as 60, 88.2 or even as high as 96 kHz. United Kingdom) - iTunes - Mastered for iTunes.
Capitol Studios Presents: Ron McMaster and Ian Sefchick. Master Tracks. Instantly. Really? In The Studio: Using Multiband Compression (Includes Audio) By Jon Tidey • November 24, 2014 A multiband compressor is a powerful tool for controlling dynamics.
The signal is split into three or more frequency ranges and processed independently. This is different from a standard compressor which operates on the entire frequency range at once. Standard compressors are great, but sometimes you’ll find that with any significant amount of gain reduction you start to get a very dull sound.
With multiband compression, each frequency range has an independent compressor so a source that has a lot of mid frequencies might end up with very little compression in the high frequencies, maintaining the brightness of the source. Being able to apply different attack, release, ratio and makeup gain to low, mid and high frequencies gives enormous control. There are two ways that I approach multiband compression. Mastering on the App Store. Studio Spotlight: Alchemy Mastering. High-end London facility, which moved to Brook Green in 2013, now offers a boutique service for digital and vinyl formats.
London's Alchemy Mastering is the subject of our Studio Spotlight, in association with AllStudios, this month. Alchemy Mastering is a high-end mastering studio, founded in 1998 by mastering engineer Barry Grint. In 2003, while located on the 29th floor of London’s Centre Point building, and boasting outstanding views of the city skyline, Alchemy had become a firm favourite for clients both in the UK and internationally, eventually expanding to encompass the whole floor. Unfortunately, renovation works to the Centre Point building, combined with the creation of Crossrail, led to the closure of the facility, but in 2013 the studios were relocated to Brook Green. Multiband Compression Basics. United Recording announces new mastering division. Studio has brought back "a key element of its heritage", but as "a reimagined service operating in today's Internet world market.
" United Recording has unveiled a new mastering division in a specially designed acoustic space which was formerly the home of JVC's mastering suite. The new studio – announced by studio manager Robin Goodchild – features Lipinski L700A monitoring with JL Audio Fathom subwoofers, along with a wide selection of popular headphones and earbuds. For computer playback and recording, the studio utilises the SADiE system running Prism Sound's latest SADiE 6.1 audio recording and editing software across its mastering platform. Online mastering meets DAW in Cakewalk LANDR deal - PSNEurope. Cakewalk has announced a partnership with the cloud-based audio post-production mastering platform LANDR. As a result, Sonar users will be able to export their mix directly to LANDR and master it at any point during the production process. This marks LANDR’s first full integration with a DAW and gives Sonar users more options to finalise masters directly from the software.
“Mastering is a crucial part of music creation, so we’re always looking for ways to make the process simpler and more accessible. The goal with this partnership is not to replace manual mastering, but to complement it by providing engineers and producers with a new tool that allows them to hear instantly how their tracks will sound in a final state at any time during production. Capitol Vaults TV - Tour of the Capitol Mastering vinyl mastering process. Audio Mastering Month - Mix engineers: 8 Tips for Better Audio Mastering Results. Miles Showell: Mastering the art of 16⅔ How to Use Mid/Side Processing for Audio Mastering Lurssen Mastering Console for Mac/PC and iPad. The Mastering House Inc. - CD Mastering and Media Production Services. Upsampling Test: Test was performed using SoundForge 9.0: A 5kHz test tone was created using the synthesis tool in SoundForge at 44.1k 24 bit.
Original waveform is shown in the following graph: Figure 1: Original Test Tone Using an iZotope limiter plug-in, the tone was then highly limited in order to create harmonics. Figure 2: Limiter Settings Figure 3: Test Tone after processing at 44.1k The original test tone was then upsampled to 96kHz using SoundForge and processed with the same limiter setting as above. Figure 4: Original test tone upsampled to 96kHz and processed. The 2014 Mastering Guide to Audio Formats and Delivery Mediums. Hi, I’m Justin Perkins of Mystery Room Mastering. After writing different variations of the same email to clients over the years about what formats they need for final masters, I thought it was time put together a resource to cover as many bases as possible. There is much more to mastering than just the sonic aspects and it varies between different release formats.
It’s also gotten more complex as digital distribution evolves, CDs become the minority, and vinyl makes a comeback. I hope you find this guide useful. Feel free to share it, leave a comment or get in touch with me if you have any questions! iTunes (standard), Spotify, and other online stores — 16-bit/44.1k WAV files. The Guardian - Emily Lazar, Grammy nominated mastering engineer at The Lodge. The walls of The Lodge studio are lined with classic platinum records and music memorabilia. A David Bowie poster hangs next to a guitar signed by Lou Reed and a classic jukebox sits by a vintage eight-track player. Vampire Weekend guitarist Rostam Batmanglij strolls down the same halls that have greeted the likes of Dave Grohl, Garbage and the B-52s.
Inside this finishing school for some of the biggest albums in music history, chief engineer and founder Emily Lazar is contemplating the intricacies of the mastering process. How to Add Tape Saturation to Your Mastering Chain with Ozone 7 Advanced.