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[Jerry Tubb]

You know those days, when a really terrific project comes in... reminds you why mastering can be the best gig on the planet. Over the last few weeks these projects really stand out:

1. Jazz-fusion project from 1975-76 for a local jazz label. Had two sets of the 1/4"  masters... the original mix masters, and the safety masters. Both sets had to be baked to allow playback. Chose the best sounding cuts, depending on EQ preferences, noise level, tape condition, etc. Didn't use any digital noise reduction. Repaired a couple dozen splices. A real nostalgic time warp... must be a demand for this vintage fusion stuff.

2. A Django style jazz group with vocals. Recorded live in Mono, gathered around one mic... straight to a DAW. The leader, a french guitarist that nails that 1940s Django mood.

3. A superb female vocalist, singing jazz standards, classical arias, and avant-garde tunes, accompanied by a killer quartet with a Steinway. Came in on a hard drive, 24 bit Wave files. I had the goose bumps...

4. Honky Tonk Gospel record, with a great male vocalist. Arrived on audio CD-R. Production style true to the vintage late '50s Texas Honky Tonk style... Giant steel guitar sound.

5. Surround Sound project, classic live performance by the ultimate outlaw country music icon. Mixed by an old pro audio guru at 24/48, Broadcast Wave Files. I used the Sontec on the front channels.

And to boot, we kept the levels sane, not slammed.

What a job, sure beats pickin' guitar in some wine shed somewhere... for tips.

[lowland]

That's nice, Jerry, good to hear you're winning at the moment!

I also seem to be going well so far this year, both in quantity and quality of work: did a Faith Hill-ish project a week or so back which sounded great and was recorded at home with good-but-not-stellar equipment on Cubase - it showed how important some actual talent might be

Some good Christian material coming through at the moment too - one young engineer-producer in particular is turning out mixes done fast and on a shoestring that are the equal of or superior to much in the secular world.

In the UK at least I have a definite sense of a mastering upturn in the indie sector as so many people are taking advantage of cheaper technology to record their own stuff - it does mean the quality can be somewhat variable, but there's also some excellent material out there and I suspect that many on this forum will be in a position to benefit.

[Pingu]

Good on you mate.

It must feel great for amazing artists to put there trust in your tweaking.

[compasspnt]

What, no hip hop?

[Ronny]

compasspnt wrote on Tue, 28 February 2006 11:08

What, no hip hop?

No worry, I've done enough hip-hop this past week for everyone on this forum. Going from a 13 song solo piano sonatas cd, to two hip-hop projects with N and F words on every vocal line, one a double cd, to a golden oldies band doing covers of Frankie Valli and the Drifters. My head feels like a basketball, but I'm happy to say that I've been swamped lately. February looks like it's going to be my best month regarding mastering so far, I'll know for sure when my son does the books tomorrow. Glad that you guys are keeping busy too.  

[jfrigo]

Ronny wrote on Tue, 28 February 2006 08:37

compasspnt wrote on Tue, 28 February 2006 11:08 What, no hip hop? No worry, I've done enough hip-hop this past week for everyone on this forum. Going from a 13 song solo piano sonatas cd, to two hip-hop projects with N and F words on every vocal line, one a double cd, to a golden oldies band doing covers of Frankie Valli and the Drifters. My head feels like a basketball, but I'm happy to say that I've been swamped lately. February looks like it's going to be my best month regarding mastering so far, I'll know for sure when my son does the books tomorrow. Glad that you guys are keeping busy too.

I did a great hip hop album last month. About a third of it was with a live band, the other tracks were loops and samples with some real instrruments on them, particularly a real bass player on most tracks. Many of the songs were very musical with a couple of cool soul inspired numbers. Lyrically they were quite socialy and politically minded with no bling or ho obsession. This was one of the best hip hop projects I've heard in some time.

Anyway, as to the busy thing, it's been crazy the past few months. I guess it's not just me, eh?  Is everybody just as slammed? We're booking April right now with only a handful of dates left in March. Good news and perhaps a trend? I hope so. I was lucky to get a couple days off last month to see my new baby. I'm going to have to start scheduling more down time.

[carlsaff]

Quantity and quality both up here. And 3 analog reels so far this year! Hope that trend continues.

[mcsnare]

I am totally slammed. Good to see I'm not the only one.
Dave

[Adam Dempsey]

Great to hear. Nice feeling when it not only comes together in the suite, but is already together when it comes in.

Some nice 24/88.2k strings and piano today. No EQ needed, just SRC, compile & dither to CD. (The engineer's been mic'ng this piano in that particular room now for over 10 yrs).

And, in addition to the Studer, Otari & Ampex at 15ips, recent mods to our MCI 1/4" AES EQ for a client's 30ips mixes: re-capped the repro cards (much better & cleaner at 10k, cleaner s/n) & rebuilt electronics for low freq alignment.

So, although the mixes were far from stellar, I know we've done the best transfer & mastering possible. Nice feeling.

[Thomas W. Bethel]

My five reasons are as follows.

1. I like music and there are very few jobs where you can get paid for listening to music.

2. I like people and like to work with them.

3. I am an audiophile and I get to use equipment that I could never really afford for my self but it ok to have it for business uses.

4. I like being able to help in the final stages of the production to make a perfect project.

5. I like seeing my name in print on a CD cover especially if I have done a really good job on the mastering.

and I would add that there are very few other really satisfying jobs that I can think of that even come close to being a mastering engineer.

[mcsnare]

Mixing is pretty much the same. It just takes more work!
Dave McNair

[Thomas W. Bethel]

mcsnare wrote on Thu, 02 March 2006 09:59

Mixing is pretty much the same. It just takes more work! Dave McNair

I use to do a lot of mixing when I was younger mostly in analog and mostly when I had the time to do it right.  Recently I had to do a lot of multitrack mixing on a project for a client. I had done the original recording and now had to mix it down. In the old days you had X number of tracks, X number of outboard processors and you did the best you could with what you had.

Now their is almost unlimited tracks, almost unlimited effects and the choices are so many I found the task to be daunting. I have a much GREATER appreciation for what current mix engineers have to go though to get a good mix because of my experience.

I used Samplitude for the mixdown and it took a LOT longer than I had expected. There are soooooo many choices and when you do something to correct a problem here you find that you can do a tweak here and put some polish on over here and the task increases exponentially.

So yes mixing does take a LOT longer. And a good mixer is someone who understands all of this and can still do a good job on time and on budget, My hat is off to them.

[Jerry Tubb]

Thomas W. Bethel wrote on Thu, 02 March 2006 08:45

My five reasons are as follows...

Those are indeed 5 great reasons Tom... I bet we're all in agreement on those.

It's certainly not the money.

However, my perspective on the topic refers to those certain days, when an exceptional project comes in, beyond the norm, that makes work an unusual pleasure...

e.g. mastering a great orchestral recording -vs- an average home recording.

... doing a tune up on a Jaguar XKE -vs- a sputtering '80s K car.

(although improving an average recording is also gratifying)

mcsnare wrote on Wed, 01 March 2006 14:09

I am totally slammed. Good to see I'm not the only one.

Glad to hear it Dave... BTW a long overdue Thanks for helping us... back in the day.

Peace