Keep Your Friends Close…and Your Inlaws Closer
My cousin-in-law is an audio enthusiast. I recently turned him on to my blog and here was a question he had…
“If most people are listening to MP3s on low-quality audio equipment or iPods, or in cars with road noise or kids, etc. in the background, what is the point behind spending a lot of money [...]
CD and DVD Recycling
As a mastering engineer, I buy a lot of CD-Rs. I also receive a lot of music on CDs and DVDs from clients as a method of file delivery. Some of the CD-Rs I buy get tossed as bad burns (too many errors after disc verification to be used for a master) and the client [...]
My Future in Radio
So, my post from the other week where a musician gave me kudos for being the only person to notice that his file was mixed down to l/r mono (as opposed to stereo) comes full circle.
After I returned from England and re-connected he informed me that, while he was grateful to have his file [...]
Mastering Isn’t the Answer to Everything
I get contacted from musicians all over the world to master their music. Now and then, I get a mix that I know can be done better and that is best served by a re-mix before mastering. It’s my policy to tell the client this, even though it might set back their schedule…or in some [...]
Musicians, Know Your Gear…
It’s sort of an accepted truth that we only use a small capacity of our brains, and I think that’s an analog to other areas of our lives as well. For musicians, it’s sort of a classic scenario to have gobs of gear and complain that we don’t have what we need.
I’m currently working on [...]
The Art of Negotiation
Just back from a week-long trip to England, which I’ll write more about that later…
While I was away, I went through an interesting negotiation with a potential client. They contacted me for mastering, but in the end decided to use a less expensive facility. I realize people work on a budget and every client has [...]
Many a Slip ‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip
I’m writing you this post on a vacation in England, and it seemed like an appopriate time to use a phrase from The Queen’s English to explain a problem I’m dealing with for a potential client. “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip” is an old English proverb. It generally means that [...]
The Story of Stuff
Want to know the story of stuff? I’ll bet you do…
The Myth of “Radio Ready”
If you’ve never read it, please check out Frank Foti and Bob Orban’s treatise on what happens to your music when it’s played on the radio, and how excessive compression (cumulatively, in recording/mixing/mastering) affects this process.
A very sobering dissertation on radio processing, and the myth of “radio ready.”
About This Blog
From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
