Haiku on Mastering
Posted on | February 2, 2010 | 2 Comments
Mastering is just
having objectivity
and knowing your sh!t.
In Praise of Cheapness
Posted on | January 30, 2010 | No Comments
I transferred and restored a 35-year-old recording from a cheap analog cassette today. And although it made me glad to have great restoration software (not to mention a great cassette deck, cables, and converters), it also made me marvel at the resiliency of the analog cassette tape.
This thing — that probably sat in drawers, garages, and cars in a myriad of temperatures and humidities through the years — delivered the goods when I dropped it into my cassette deck and hit “play”.
In my profession, there’s a lot of fixation on the best and most expensive gear. But it’s heartening to grab a piece of audio history from the lower end of the scale and be able to resurrect it. And it wouldn’t be possible if the format of the analog cassette hadn’t stood the test of time.
Our First Red Cross Donation of 2010
Posted on | January 29, 2010 | No Comments
As I mentioned in a post at the beginning of the year, ZenMastering will donate 10% of its gross income each month to the American Red Cross. This decision was made prior the Haiti earthquake, so it seems prophetic looking back one month.
When I make Red Cross donations, I always choose the option on the site to channel the funds where the need is greatest. I do this because disasters of the magnitude of Haiti have a tendency to become celebrity soapboxes for fund-raising, and other, lesser-known tragedies become overlooked and/ or underfunded. So, I always feel it’s best for the Red Cross to monitor and assess their incoming funds and appropriate where they feel the money should go. They’re the experts, not me.
Sometimes, Fuzz Beats Clarity
Posted on | January 26, 2010 | No Comments
Cranesong’s Harmonically Enhanced Digital Device (H.E.D.D.) is, without question, the best digital box for emulationg analog magic; although it’s not a machine that can exactly replicate any specific tape machine or tube device. It just delivers a vibe. As the name suggests, it enhances.
I used it the other day on some electronic-based mixes to fatten up the low end and make it less sterile/ electronic sounding. Afterward, I decided to run some pink noise through the setting to see what it was doing. Below are the results.
The first image is the original pink noise and the second is the Cranesong. You’ll notice subtle boost in the sub 500Hz range, and more midrange/HF “overtone” information further up the line. But nothing so clear cut as the actual tape curve of the Neve that I showed you a few posts ago.
We Love Catch Phrases
Posted on | January 24, 2010 | No Comments
As people, we are very catch phrase oriented. Political campaigns, TV shows, and advertising pretty much run on them. If you can come up with something that people find memorable and applicable to a situation, that will form their opinion more than research or fact.
We do it in audio, too. One catch phrase that was pretty much borne out of the digital era was “analog warmth”. Before digital, do you think anyone talked about “warmth”? They were focused on getting the noise floor down and retaining clarity through numerous analog versions, from mix to master. They were focused on all the stuff about analog that bugged them, not its glorious warmth.
Yet, somehow, now all we talk about is “analog warmth”. As I’ve written before, the best analog gear is more transparent than colored…though it does still impart an intangible magic to the linearity of digital. But nobody wants to hear about “analog transparency”. That sounds like something from the Obama White House.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t want to go back to the analog days of recording. The flexibility of digital allows for so much more creativity — if even just to try an idea — that it makes it worth it. The key is to have good analog equipment to integrate into your digital gear. To take it outside the box to get the best of analog, but bring it back to digital to allow for flexibility.
Test Driving the True Tape
Posted on | January 23, 2010 | No Comments
I’ve had a chance to use the Neve True Tape on a few projects, as well some test files of a drum kit stem. One thing I noticed is that — at unity — there’s a lot of LF roll-off. I realized, as with a tape machine, the key is in driving it hard enough to get a fuller low end but not to the point of saturation.
The following screen shots were taken of pink noise as represented by Voxengo’s SPAN real-time FFT spectrum analyzer.
The first is the pink noise on its own and the second is the pink noise through the True Tape. I adjusted the tape drive (saturation) until the meters were just moving from green to orange, which seems to be the sweet spot for a bit more LF content, the 300Hz bump, and HF drop-off from 15-20kHz. This is @ 15ips, of course.
Critical Mass
Posted on | January 17, 2010 | No Comments
Something interesting happened about 6 months ago. I stopped advertising for ZenMastering. I shut off Google’s AdWords and all other forms of electronic/online advertising. Flipping the switch wasn’t the interesting part…it’s what happened next.
Business didn’t slow down. In fact it maintained its steady pace and even picked up. I started getting calls from local engineers that I’d known (but never worked with) who approached me about being their sole mastering solution. Things just seemed to fall into place.
I don’t discount the advertising I’ve done in the past…it’s what helped get me to this point, along with the magazine articles in publications like EQ, Sound on Sound, Tape Op, and Music Connection. But I always hoped the snowball would get big enough that its own inertia and mass could become all I needed. Hopefully I’ve reached that point. Time will tell.
Remembering Who We Are
Posted on | January 16, 2010 | No Comments
That was the title of a yoga workshop I went to last weekend. And although you may not think it has anything to do with mastering or making music, it does.
The teacher/lecturer remind the group that it’s easy to forget who we are, but each of us can remind the other. As an example, he said that his job — as a teacher — is validated by the students who show up at his classes and workshops. In essence, the students remind him of his job and responsibilities.
I feel the same way about mastering. It’s the musicians that make my life as a mastering engineer possible and keep me on track as far as doing good, consistent work. Ultimately, I’m accountable to them as clients.
I’ve made some recent blog posts about big label mastering facilities losing work to ZenMastering. And although I’d like to think it’s because I do better quality work, it’s probably because the big name facilities forgot who they are. They treated the clients like work instead of the entity that makes their job necessary.
It’s sort of the golden rule of business, but also one of the reasons I got into mastering: to make sure that musicians were offered a professional, affordable mastering solution.
So, thanks for reminding me who I am and what my job is.
This Was Fun
Posted on | January 15, 2010 | No Comments
Producer: Several years ago I produced a CD for a band that [famous engineer] mastered. They have asked me to remove the vocals on two tracks. I wonder if you could master ‘em to sound close to the record for us?
Me: This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Send me the no-vocal files and a copy of the original mastered version that [famous engineer] did and I’ll take care of it.
The Next Day…
Producer: Sounds cool to me!!!!
Client: Great job, Paul!
The Path of Progress
Posted on | January 13, 2010 | No Comments
Of all the traps and snares that can exist in making an audio recording, you wouldn’t think that obtaining the files would be one of them. But I’ve found that just getting my hands on finished mixes has proven challenging at times.
A few people recently sent me tracks that actually ended up being .CDA files, which are the shortcuts in a CD’s directory to refer to a file…not the file itself.
Another problem occurred when I was contacted by a musician in India. Now, I’ve mastered music for hundreds of bands in 46 states in America and 23 countries around the world. I guess I haven’t mastered anything for someone in India though, as this person can’t get an Internet connection fast enough to FTP an album.
I suggested he use a cybercafe or university connection, and this was his reply: “Unfortunately, India has the worst bandwidth. Cybercafes are substantially slower than my home connection and most universities don’t have Internet.” Isn’t this the place that’s supposed to be the technology hub of the 21st century?
Maybe it was easier back when everybody walked in the door with a DAT or open reel of tape…
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!
