Audio Mastering - Service Overview

Welcome to Mike Wells Mastering

Welcome to Mike Wells Mastering

The Mastering
Experience

Tape Layback

E-CD Authoring

Preparing for
Your Session

Booking


	A modern perspective on the Mastering Experience At first glance, mastering might seem rather simple: Adjust EQ, make it LOUD, and cut a CD... However, Professional Mastering is the result of a much larger scope of skills which generate measured results, leverage experience and technique, and deliver a pleasant experience to you. These skills include: Audio Engineering Skills Customer Service Skills Technology Skills To begin, let's start with the fundamental aspects of a mastering project as viewed here at Mike Wells Mastering. A mastering project is most easily viewed at a birds-eye level in three parts, Preparation, Audio Mastering, and Master Generation: Now, let's examine each step in detail to uncover the true value of my service, and how it helps you reach your goals, save you money, and deliver the sonic results you seek in formats relevant for today's environment: 1) Preparation: An Ounce of Prevention = A Pound of Cure: I handle the Preparation stage uniquely within the mastering industry by offering a service called the Groundwork Session. A Groundwork Session occurs ahead of a scheduled Mastering Session, can be performed remotely or at the studio, and offers a wealth of measured, quantifiable value to you. Let's start with what goes into a Groundwork Session: Provide a platform for answering questions & education Opportunity to resolve potential technical pitfalls before a mastering session Perform a mix review and give feedback for mix enhance/correction before a mastering session A detailed view of the Groundwork Session input looks like this: Immediately you can see the value of performing this process up-front, ahead of the actual Mastering Session. But let's quantify the output to uncover the real value to you: Save money by resolving technical issues before the mastering session Save money by receiving mix feedback and resolving any mix issues before the mastering session Save money by mastering one song and capturing feedback before the mastering session Gain insight into post-mastering options and resources (CD Mfg, Digital Distribution, etc.) Gain increased confidence of process and results through your own direct experience A detailed view of the Groundwork Session output looks like this: "Ok, the technical stuff makes sense" you say, "But why bother with mastering one song ahead of the entire release?" you might be thinking. That answer is simple: Unclear terminology is a poor method of communicating musical emotion, whereas musical results are excellent at communicating musical emotion, and provide a bridge for us to find common terminolgy. "Explain that common terminology thing to me again" you say. Sure, consider the term "high-end". Now ask 3 musicians to define it both technically and emotionally, and you'll find that you get 3 different answers. By mastering a song ahead of the entire session, this allows us to speak through the music and find common terminology. Now we can have a conversation like "Is the high-end right?" "The low-end?" "Is the perceived loudness on-target for your goal with this release?" The results of the Groundwork Session will directly answer these questions for you when you hear it, and from the experience of hearing the pre-master (mix) and Groundwork Session results, we can now speak the same language and avoid wasted time discussing "magic", "radio ready", and other vague terms sprinkled across mastering sites and newsgroups all over the internet. After completing a Groundwork Session, your feedback surrounding the sample master is captured usually with a phone conversation, and sometimes another sample will be delivered to you if needed. The best part of performing this task is that through the Groundwork Session process, we can find words that share a common meaning which results in a deeper understanding of what you are trying to accomplish emotionally through your music. Now let's consider the cost savings: Professional Mastering is a time-based service, therefore the more time you book with your mastering engineer, the more your costs increase. By leveraging the Groundwork Session, you leverage the wealth of time-saving tools as illustrated above, and these tools directly translate to lowering your cost of mastering. Or in old-world terms, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 2) Audio Mastering: Tools + Technique = Tonal Results. By way of the Groundwork Session, we enter the Mastering Session in a known state. There is no guesswork, the sonic goal is clear. You are confident in the process and results you have witnessed and heard first-hand. Here, within the Mastering Session, you experience the skill and technique of the engineer. At the core of my system is the meticulously elegant mastering transfer console; designed and customized by Chris Muth of Dangerous Music, world-renowned for his expertise in mastering transfer consoles. At my disposal within the analog domain for EQ, Compression, Limiting, Harmonic Tailoring and Spatialization I use a combination of analog tools from proven, trusted analog innovators Manley Labs, George Massenburg Labs, API, SPL, Thermionic Culture, Pendulum Audio, and Tube Tech just to name a few. Many tools have been modified to eliminate unnecessary components or enhance design characteristics specifically at my request. Workflow and project integration are managed by a combination of the Dangerous Mastering Console, Sequoia, Lavry Engineering, and Lynx Studio Technologies. Mastering occurs within a professionally tuned environment provided by acoustician Bob Hodas, who I have worked with over the last 10 years. Bob, a world-renowned acoustician in his own right, and I have spared no expense in creating a listening environment full of detail, accuracy, and life. Monitoring is supplied by a customized set of Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-V audiophile reference monitors, powered by Pass Labs amplification. There are a few tools within the monitoring environment designed by Bob to go the "extra mile" in accuracy and clarity of the monitoring environment. This room is a treat in which to hear your mixes, and the system always brings a smile from clients with its accuracy and translation abilities. The Mastering Session also has an input and output stage. The session begins with the integration of your feedback from the Groundwork Session, and any fine-tuning of the approach to mastering that is needed for your project. Metadata and track sequencing is captured, and analog processes (including the possible addition of tape layback processing) are applied to your music to reach the sonic goals you have targeted for your release. A detailed view of the Mastering Session input looks like this: The result of the Mastering Session is typically a Reference in one or more formats (CD-R, Online Reference, etc.) for review by bandmembers, management, label reps, etc... If changes are requested they are captured and scheduled. Either another mastering session is coordinated or changes are made without attendance and another Reference is generated. This process continues until the results of mastering are approved. A detailed view of the Mastering Session output looks like this: "Change Requests?" you may be asking. Answer: Yes, change requests are a natural occurance within the mastering process. Now, having received this information on process and workflow, this is another opportunity to reflect on the value of the Groundwork Session. Common change requests fall within the category of sequencing; Re-arranging track order, modifying fades, altering metadata, etc. However, if there has been no groundwork laid, it is entirely possible to miss completely the sonic vision of the artist, requiring a re-mastering. At many studios this will incur a 2nd mastering session needing to be booked, along with a hefty cost increase. Again, by leveraging the Groundwork Session we ensure that the sonic mastering goal is achievable at the 1st Mastering Session, and subsequently change requests are usually minor and subsequent mastering costs are greatly minimized. 3) Master Generation: Creation and Delivery of your Final Masters. Upon receiving approval of your Reference materials, it's time to cut your final masters. I can generate masters in a variety of formats, ranging from 1/2" analog tape prep'd for vinyl cutting, Red Book Audio CD-R media (also called the "PMCD"), Blue Book multisession CD-R media (also called the "E-CD"), DDP 2.0 images, and any type of Digital Asset Media required for your project (.MP3, .M4A, .FLAC, .3GP, etc.). Metadata: I have been supporting Metadata integration in mastering since 2004 and my current service offering includes the submission of your project Metadata to the following systems: CD-Text Gracenote (CDDB) Musicbrainz FreeDB If you would like to learn more about Metadata, I have written an article online available here. ISRC Codes: I have been a registered ISRC Agent by the IFPI (within the RIAA) since 2003 and can generate and encode your masters with ISRC codes. If you would like to learn more about ISRC codes, I have written an article online available here. A detailed view of the Master Generation process looks like this: Various formats require different authentication and verification. Professional Mastering delivers upon this requirement. I generate loadback reports for Red Book and Blue Book formats, hkSFV and MD5 checksums are generated for DDP Image formats, and can also be generated for all Digital Asset formats upon request. In closing: To really gain something positive at the mastering stage, choosing a professional for the task will give you the best results. I hope you have found this information helpful in understanding the variables and complexity involved in this critical step of the recording process. If you seek a quality experience, with a quality engineer, to deliver quality results, please give me a call. Thanks & best, Mike Wells Last updated 09/2009