Mastering

The least surprising thing about the 2017 release of the Giles Martin remixed version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is that its sonics – indeed, its very existence – was heavily and passionately debated. Audio engineers who work on historic recordings know they...

Not only is Gebre Waddell the CEO of Soundways [Tape Op #118], he runs Stonebridge Mastering in his hometown of Memphis, created the Refinement plug-in, and is the author of the book, Complete Audio Mastering: Practical Techniques, published by McGraw-Hill.

Mastering engineer Gavin Lurssen has been behind the console since 1991, won three Grammys and one Latin Grammy, and runs Lurssen Mastering — one of Southern California's busiest facilities. He's worked on records like Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand...

Kim Rosen built up her mastering skills and reputation at West West Side Music, before branching off in 2009 to set up her own Knack Mastering in Ringwood, NJ. Since going out on her own, she' s worked with Title Fight, Sarah Jaffe, Jeff Bridges, Braid, The Barr Brothers...

Brad Blackwood mastered the recording of my friend Brandon Herrington's band's Fast Planet at his studio Euphonic Masters. The sonic quality was incredible! His mastering production skills were clearly at work, producing a fine-sounding product that is now available on...

Here's the eighth proper album and second album with new (since 2008) singer Mollie Israel. I've been a fan of this much-overlooked band ever since meeting them and catching a show years ago, but with this album they've really gelled with Mollie's writing, as...

Why do you need this CD? Ardent Studios (issue #58) has been host to some of the best music in Memphis over the years, and this covers the mid-sixties backyard garage recordings up to the early-seventies (still their present location). Despite the fact that Ardent Studios has...

You may remember Melvin as the thoughtful bassist (with a back catalog and history to die for) whom we interviewed in issue #54. Here he unleashes an inspired mix of African music, hip-hop, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and everything else. There are some amazing grooves, with layered...

LAKE is the grand doorway to a whole kaleidoscope of minimalist downtempo music. Start with Oh, The Places We'll Go and fan outwards for more member-related projects than you can shake a mossy stick at: Swimming, Dash-A, Desolation Wilderness, Islinds, Skrill Meadow, Live...

Most MIDI-over-USB controllers follow a somewhat standard "keyboard and pots" design paradigm. There is often an attempt made to fuse the demands of performance or composition with those of software control. Many designs struggle at this crowded intersection with...

Softube is a Swedish company that develops pro audio hardware and software, with plug-in titles that include official emulations of gear from Abbey Road Studios, Tube-Tech, Trident, and more. Interestingly, Tonelux Tilt was originally created in collaboration with Tonelux's...

Produced and engineered by J. Robbins, this is Tone's most "rock" record yet. Instrumentals with massive pounding drums (two kits) and more pronounced guitar hooks and riffs (four guitarists) pull it out of the "drone rock" world of earlier releases....

Located just five minutes west of New York City, in suburban Tenafly, New Jersey, Alan Douches' West West Side Music Studios offers a quality alternative to the big name mastering facilities in New York. It's a comfortable studio in which bands can stay overnight...

Howie Weinberg got his start in the Masterdisk mailroom, believe it or not. As a huge fan of music, Howie sought a purpose to support his passion, and he had always dreamed of working in the field of audio engineering. Attracted by Masterdisk's reputation as the home of...

Even with the recent reissue of Bruce Haack's 1971 Columbia album The Electric Lucifer, his innovative approaches to home recording and electronic sound generation remain unfortunately overlooked. Haack experimented with inexpensive home recording and building synthesizers...