Turn Everything Off
One night many years ago I was asked to sit in and do sound for a friend/ local musician at a medium-sized coffeehouse in San Diego. When I showed up and started sound checking, I tried to get a handle on the room and the performer’s sound. There was a 16-channel Mackie console with an [...]
Do Online Mastering Samples Work?
Before-and-after samples have become popular, especially with all the new breed of online mastering facilities cropping up. But I think that they can work against a mastering facility…for a few reasons. 1) While a sample may showcase that someone can manipulate sound, a client really never knows how his or her music will sound…just how [...]
Organization Is Key to Success
When I start working with artists to master their music, they usually fall into two categories: prepared and unprepared. There are, obviously, varying degrees of both. I notice that the people who are prepared have been well-organized throughout the entire process of their recording…and it shows. Good mixes (that have probably been referenced on various [...]
Homegrown Success
In my opinion, there’s nothing more inspiring and gratifying than a homegrown success. I just went to my P.O. Box and found that one of my clients sent a copy of their latest CD, which I mastered. I remember hearing the original mixes and thinking, “this is as good as any album I’ve ever heard [...]
(heavy exhale)
Well I’m happy to say that, after the presidential election results, I don’t need to move to Canada. Which is good, because there’s already a mastering facility there going by my moniker. That would have been confusing.
iPlod
As far as I know, I’m the last person in the world, 40 or under, without an iPod. What gives? Well, I don’t really have any interest in listening to .MP3-compressed music. I’m a gear slut…but it’s gotta be audiophile. My computer’s sound card cost more than my computer, so that should tell you something [...]
Thoughts on Speakers
I did a post some time back on subwoofers…so I thought I’d take time to outline some thoughts on speakers. Speakers (or, monitors in studio lingo) are the single most important component in mastering. They deliver the sound an engineer listens to and if they’re not accurate then nothing else really matters. Mastering legend Doug [...]
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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!
