The Genius in Not Screwing Things Up, Part 2
I’ve written before about the skill involved in not screwing things up. It sounds silly. I mean, of course you don’t want to make mistakes when creating a recording. But it’s easier to mess something up than you might think. Mainly because objectivity is a difficult thing to retain as you dig into a project. [...]
Power: A Matter of Perception
A lot of indie recordings I hear suffer from a sort of “wimpy-loud” syndrome, with a lack of punch and definition. One common reason is that the drums are too quiet. Or, they’re back in the mix. This dawned on my some years ago, and I mentioned it in conversation to a musician-friend/audio engineer in [...]
Detective Work
I once went to a doctor who told me his job was to be a detective; to extrapolate, through symptoms, the positive and negative aspects of a person’s lifestyle. I think there’s a correlation to that perspective in mastering. By listening to a recording, I try to determine how something was recorded (mic techniques), what [...]
What the Hell Were They Thinking?
I’ve had the opportunity to record in some truly great studios in my life, from California to New York. And I’ve been amazed by some stupid things that good engineers have done when recording. Once, in a famous studio in New York, the engineer insisted on putting tape over the tweeters of his NS-10s, insisting [...]
A Good Example of Bad Sound
My wife and I watch reruns of
Why?
Why do I come up with all these anecdotes and analogies relating to sound? Because I’m trying to convey a sometimes mysterious and complex process (making a professional recording) in simple terms so everyone who makes music — whether they’re technical or not — can understand the importance of all the different aspects of making [...]
Professional Objectivity
Objectivity is one of the key rationales for professional mastering. To have someone who is not involved in the recording and mixing process take care of mastering to make sure everything adds up in the end. They make sure nothing’s been overlook (or overcooked). It’s the reason why even great engineers pass their project off [...]
« go backAbout This Blog
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!
