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PNW Section's December meeting was all about mastering audio recordings for release and preparing audio for mastering, with a panel of PNW-area mixing and mastering engineers. The meeting was Zoom only as it was held in the mastering studios of Seattle's Resonant Mastering, and would not have been able to hold any number of local attendees. The panel consisted of Rachel Field, Ed Brooks and Annie Larkin of Resonant Mastering, independents Tom Hall and Chris Rahm, and Trevor Spencer of Way Out Studio. Some 103 people attended, with 46 citing AES membership.
After opening remarks from PNW Chair Dan Mortensen and PNW Committeeperson & meeting organizer Matthew Sutton, there was an overview of Resonant Mastering's operation, with a tour of their setup and gear. Several questions asked included their room construction, signal chain, mains power, as well as mastering tips such as protecting hearing, reference tracks, and their DAWs (ProTools and Pyramix).
Next, the discussion moved toward mixing with an eye toward mastering, with remarks from Tom, Chris and Trevor on a variety of topics tossed out, such as prepping your files, communication between artist, mixer and masterer, levels, rejecting projects, overdoing plugins, getting bass right, stems, and many others.
Attendee remarks rounded out the 2.5 hour session.
About Our Presenters:
Rachel Field
is a mastering engineer and owner of Resonant Mastering, a mastering studio in Seattle with a hybrid digital/analog setup. Rachel entered the audio field in 2009 and has been working specifically as a professional mastering engineer since 2012. Her credits include a wide variety of local, national and international artists such as Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam, Brandi Carlile, Whitney Mongé ,Thunderpussy, Alec Shaw, Dispatch, and many more.
Rachel works to support her community as much as she can by serving on the elected board of governors of the Recording Academy PNW Chapter, mentoring for Grammy U, and advocating for women and non-binary people in the industry. She has volunteered with a local homeless support organization to provide professional recording and mastering services to musicians living outside. She also spearheads fundraisers to support community members in need.
Ed Brooks
is a mastering engineer and owner of Resonant Mastering in Seattle. Ed started out in recording studios in the mid 80's as an engineer and maintenance technician. After 15 years as a freelance engineer Ed started working as a mastering engineer at RFI mastering. Mastering turned out to be a good fit for his engineering aesthetics and has now spent 24 years mastering records. His credits include Fleet Foxes, Death Cab For Cutie, The Head and The Heart, Pearl Jam, Minus the Bear & The Dip. Ed plays the Pedal Steel guitar with several local artists including Amanda Winterhalter, Pineola, and Peter Donovan & the Secret Orchestra. He also does session work on the Pedal Steel and has contributed steel parts to releases from Cumulus, Alec Shaw, Silver Torches, Zach Fleury and Alex Blum and the Roadside Quartet.
Tom Hall
started recording local groups as a teenager... fascinated by the magic of music and technology. After graduating from Eastern Washington University, (time spent mostly in the University recording studio), he started his professional career in 1982 at Triad Studios in Redmond, where he was a staff engineer for 15 years. He was also involved in the design and construction of a number of studios including the legendary London Bridge Studios. Tom has worked with such diverse artists as Queensryche, Randy Meisner, Heir Apparent, UB40, Kenny G, Tingstad and Rumbel, Live on KEXP, Paul Buckmaster, and The Bob James Trio.
Chris Rahm
is an integral part of the recording scene in the Seattle area. Chris frequently works at Robert Lang Studios, Studio X, Temple of the Trees, Studio Litho and many other studios around the Northwest and has engineered releases from Natalie Merchant, Allen Stone, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Biohazard, Soundgarden and others.
Trevor Spencer
owns and operates Way Out, a studio just outside of Seattle and engineers and produces artists as diverse as Beach House, Father John Misty, Valley Maker, Mary Lattimore, Kyle Craft and others.
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