Paul’s End Rant
Just a little teaser…the Nov/Dec issue of Tape Op (which should be out in a few weeks) will feature an article by me on the last page. The coveted Larry’s End Rant will actually be Paul’s End Rant for this issue. Though I’m not sure if they’ll change the title on my account. I’m very [...]
Random Things Relate to Music
There are a lot of things in life that, in essence, have nothing to do with music or mastering…but have helped me become a better musician and mastering engineer. When I got out of college I moved to San Francisco and got a job at Peet’s Coffee & Tea as a barista. At the time [...]
What’s That Smell?
So, as part of my “I’ve learned from my mistakes” series, I’ll just say that if you’re going to bi-amp your speakers, make sure you removed the binding post jumpers. Otherwise, you’ll be feeding 60 cycles back into your amp and wondering what that smell is. On a related note, I suggest to speaker manufacturers [...]
Component Matching
You probably read a lot about properly matching components in audio; the right preamp for a microphone, the right direct box for a pickup, the best amplifiers for a speaker. With all the audio marketing that goes on, it’s hard to say what’s really valuable what’s hype. However, proper component matching is very important. Probably [...]
True North?
I was doing some casual listening tonight of a professionally mastered disc. At some point, I noticed that the DAW (a reputable company, but not my main mastering DAW) I was listening through showed the track had clipped. Here’s the image: I thought that was strange. Surely a reputable mastering facility wouln’t let a disc [...]
Rhymes with Joe the Plumber
Mike the drummer Sold my Hummer Sticky summer What a bummer Dumb and dumber Jaime Sommers Woody lumber Think you can do better? Let’s hear ‘em…
Value Proposition
In a business, how you differentiate yourself from a competitor is called the value proposition. In mastering, some studio’s value proposition is having a “secret sauce”. But I think that a value proposition that’s just as important is a “do no harm” credo. This falls into the ZenMastering tagline “analog warmth, digital precision”. I deliver [...]
A Little Experiment
This is part of an e-mail I received from a new client: “In talking with my bandmates at practice this week, one of our guitarists expressed concern about the overall tone of [one song]. Specifically, he was disappointed that it was too “cold” and “empty.” He had been hoping that the end result would have [...]
The Source of Experience
If you read this blog on any type of regular basis, you may get the impression I consider myself some sort of expert on the topic of audio and mastering. I’m not sure I can answer that accurately…or objectively. But what you should get (by reading between the lines) is that the source of most [...]
“Dating” Your Music
I belong to an online web board for mastering engineers, and recently one of my colleagues brought up an interesting concept. We were discussing musicians request to have their music mastered really loud, and how that can be combated. The music, obviously, needs to be competitively loud, but at a point you do a disservice [...]
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
