Independent Perspective
Posted on | March 28, 2008 |
I’m a mastering engineer who works almost exclusively with independent artists. And as most of my peers in the professional audio community aspire to accrue more major-label credentials, I dig deeper into the indie trenches. Why? Anyone will tell you it makes more sense go after a handful of big fish than a school of small ones. The answer is simple: working with indie artists is where I can make the biggest difference.
Each month I’m contacted by musicians all over the world who are interested in making their recordings as professional sounding as possible. They essentially fall into two categories: The first are those interested in attracting a major-label deal by creating the best sounding recording on a real-world budget. The second are intent on circumventing major labels, yet need to create a product to sonically go head-to-head with anything out there. Regardless of genre or medium, the thread that connects all these artists is the desire to effectively convey their unique message through sound. I take this desire seriously.
I take it seriously because, before starting my own mastering company, I spent years as an independent musician myself. Writing original music; setting-up residence in cities like San Diego, San Francisco, New York; recording everywhere from no-air-conditioning home studios to world-class, espresso bar-in-the-lobby facilities…and sitting through more management, record label and contractual meetings than I’ll probably ever remember. Eventually, my love for music and fascination for audio technology led me to mastering. And through all my years of artistic trials, tribulations and evolutions, I never lost my interest in the elusive, indefinable quality which only exists in an independent musician.
Now I don’t have anything against major-label artists. And I try not to put anyone’s work on a pedestal, regardless of artistic intent or success. But the truth of the matter is that the majority of top-dollar, major-label albums are so well recorded that, in many cases, the mastering aspect can be fairly mundane. Don’t get me wrong, no matter how great a recording is, mastering for major label albums—if only to objectively verify what the recording and mix engineers have done—is crucial. And the people doing the work on these recordings are some of the most talented technicians around. But usually a major label release arrives at a mastering studio in A- or A condition and the mastering engineer applies the finishing touches to bring it up to A or A+. And, in most cases, those “finishing touches” must fall in line with the record label’s expectations.
With indie recordings, however, it’s not uncommon to receive an album of C or B- sonic quality. This is not due to lack of talent, but rather the result of realistic conditions like finite resources and limited technical expertise. The songs, however, are often groundbreaking. The challenge is to turn these diamonds-in-the-rough into products that can sonically stand with major-label work. For me this is where it all comes together, as I have the opportunity to utilize my full range of mastering skills; elevating an album that might have never received a second listen at the A&R office into a disc that gets noticed. And after clients hear what professional, judicious mastering can accomplish, they trust me to apply my sonic skills to their art. In short, I’m encouraged to be creative and asked to interject my perspective. This rarely happens in the world of corporations.
The job of an independent artist is so hard that the only reason anyone writes, records, performs, and releases his/her own music is artistic belief and absolute conviction. The singles, EPs and CDs I lend my expertise to represent the culmination of months—if not years—of these artist’s lives, usually funded on their own dime. Among them are the names of tomorrow, whether they go mainstream or become underground icons. These are the artists I want to be working with.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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