Craft and Process
I’ve recently been having some online conversations with Kavi Alexander, one of my recording gurus. He shared his opinion about the state of audio recording with this paraphrased statement: “This type of Master of the Guild no longer exists…no real MEN, but mere boys.” He was referring to the dedication and skill in creating high-quality [...]
Found Objects
One of the cool things about having a blog isn’t what I blabber on-and-on about, but what I learn from the information that comes in. Having Google Adwords was initially just a way to recover some of my expense (in time) of creating and maintaining the blog. But I’ve found a lot of cool stuff [...]
Warm Tape, Part 2
Since I picked up my new 1/4″ machine, I ordered some ATR master tape and got busy with a little testing. The first thing I was interested in hearing was a digital file transferred to analog and sent back, prior to mastering. Below is the result of my first test. I used a Benchmark DAC1 [...]
Abating Computer Noise
I got this e-mail recently from someone who came to ZenMastering’s web site… How should I configure my Windows PC for efficient recording without the least noise? I’ve tried everything but I still get a “shhhh” sound. I reduced the volume of the microphone, but when I gain the recording, the same noise appears again. [...]
Headroom
In my ever-growing list of non-audio analogies, here’s my latest… People always wonder (and ask) how much headroom they should leave while tracking and mixing. It’s a matter of personal preference and varies for the style of music you’re recording. Also, a lot of it depends on your equipment and skill level. But think of [...]
Opera
When I went to college I had the good fortune of studying music with Dr. Nick Reveles. At the time, he was Music Director at the University of San Diego. About the time I graduated he also left USD to pursue different facets of his career. Today is the Director of Outreach at the San [...]
Warm Tape
I recently got a very nicely refurbished 1/4″ machine off Audiogon. I don’t get that many clients with analog masters (although someone did ask recently), but I thought it would be useful for transferring final mixes for a hit of tape saturation, then back to my DAW for mastering. But then I thought of an [...]
The Unscientific Method
As silly as it sounds, I know I’m onto a good sound when my cat comes in the room and plants himself on my lap while I’m mastering. For all the analysis, metering, tape saturation, and linear phase explanations of good sound, you can’t argue with the sixth sense of a creature that has better [...]
Interesting Comparison
I mastered a band’s debut album a few years ago. Great bunch of talented musicians who made an excellent album. For their follow-up recording they decided to use another mastering studio (based in NYC). Although I was disappointed to not have the chance to master their second album, it gave me the opportunity to hear [...]
While I’m Off-Topic
Since I’ve veered away from audio briefly, I thought I’d mention a very cool web site: TED — Technology, Entertainment, Design. I saw this presentation today and felt it was very applicable to everyone, no matter what you’re doing.
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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!
