Meeting held September 30, 2003
The PNW Section's September meeting was a panel discussion with six local mastering engineers. It was held at the Shoreline Community College Music Building in Shoreline, WA, just north of Seattle.
Opening comments were made by by PNW Committeeman/moderator boB (sic) Gudgel, then came remarks by PNW Chair Dave Tosti-Lane.
As customary, brief introductions were asked of the entire audience - a lengthy process, considering the approximately 145 attendees (quite possibly a local record). Then the panel members were introduced:
boB Gudgel then directed questions to the panel. The first question thrown: What is mastering?
The responses reflected the fact that it is no longer the steps needed for preparing an LP pressing. Some representative answers:
Do they do re-mixing? Sometimes, or they may tell the client to go back and re-mix if the material is really not acceptable yet. It was noted that mastering is not like mixing.
Are they involved in the sequencing of tracks? Sometimes.
Do they use automation? The consensus was that little automation is used for mastering.
After stories of ego clashes during recording sessions, Rick Fisher remarked that mastering engineers have the wonderful advantage of not knowing where the "bodies are buried." They only have the music and work with that. They agreed they have to be non-judgmental about the music - they just shine up the music, no matter what kind or how good or bad.
Do they like to have the client on the premises during mastering? Al Swanson noted that for classical work, it was usually not so good to have them around at the editing stage (what he called the tree stage) but it's OK at the assembly stage (what he called the forest stage). Others did recommend having the client there.
What makes an album finished rather than just a group of songs? A finished product must meet the expectations of the consumers; for example, whether the volume level between songs is even - you don't have to dive for the volume knob.
What about the loudness wars of CDs? Al Swanson noted that even classical music has some issues with wanting it to be all loud. Others commented that most material that is squeezed/compressed and loud arrives at mastering like that, but it's hard to make mastering changes if there's no headroom left to work with.
Was there a preferred format to receive material? The general agreement (except Al Swanson, who said he never uses analog anymore) was that 1/2 inch stereo analog sounds the best, followed by 1/4 inch analog. Some will always use an analog tape stage somewhere during mastering, akin to a using a processor just for the sound, even when ending up digital.
What are the essential tools? Most agreed, good monitor speakers. Room and signal path path preferences were discussed next. Nearly everyone tried to steer clear of the "magic bullet" gear syndrome but everyone had something to say about the importance of the room and monitoring system. Rick Fisher mentioned that this was probably the only place where professional audio met the lunatic-fringe hi-fi gear.
How does one master for the end-user playback environments, such as headphones, cars and homes? Al Swanson noted that there is no standard in homes to shoot for. Interestingly, no one had much insight into this factor, although they noted that CDs were good for client test copies as opposed to the old LP pressing or cassette days.
A break for refreshments with cookies and soda was held, followed by the door prize drawings. Two Spirit gig bags were donated by Daniel Casado of First Choice Marketing, and were won by Mario Cruz Zagas and Brynn Colgrazier.
Several Mackie items were donated by Dave Franzwa of Loud Technologies/Mackie Designs; two T shirts won by Dave Christensen and Darrell Forsberg, and a pair of XXL Mackie "high headroom" boxer shorts won by Sheila Tompkins.
After regathering, some mastering examples were played on a Genelec system brought in for the evening.
What delivery formats were used to send to the pressing plant? Some mentioned were:
Each panel member briefly described their mastering set-up. Ed Brooks said he often converts material to analog and uses outboard processing. Panelists agreed that the material they receive needs a little headroom to work with. Normalized or clipped material is not good, and severely limits what changes can be done. This led the discussion to the loudness wars on CDs and broadcasts. One question frequently asked is, "What happens to my mix when it gets played on the radio?" Mark Guenther had a CD of examples from Orban, manufacturers of the ubiquitous Optimod signal processor used by most mid-large market stations. He played examples demonstrating different settings of the device and how they affected the music.
Do they use multiband compression? Some replies were that they did not generally, as it is hard to set up, but it depends on the source.
How does one select a mastering engineer? The general advice was that one should be comfortable with the engineer chosen.
Then, time was up. Our special thanks to the participating mastering engineers who enthusiastically gave us insight into their world. Thanks also to AES PNW Committee member boB Gudgel, who organized the meeting, Opus 4 Studios who provided the Genelec monitor system, Uneeda Audio who provided the sound reinforcement system, and First Choice Marketing and Mackie Designs who donated the door prizes.
Reported by: Gary Louie, AES PNW Section Secretary and Rick Chinn, PNW Committee
Last modified 5/4/2004.