Never Forget to Listen to Your Clients
Posted on | April 10, 2010 | No Comments
I’m mastering a project for a band…a la Passion Pit and Rogue Wave. I mastered the tracks and used my Neve 5042 to (God I can’t believe I’m saying it) “warm things up a bit”. I received a note from the singer saying everything sounded great, but 3 tracks needed to be brighter. My first reaction was that he was used to original, brighter, completely digital files.
I listened back to the tracks and, indeed, the tape head treatment was a bit much for these three tunes, making them dull instead of warm. Re-processed without the Neve, they matched the punch and clarity of the other (Neve’d) tracks.
The moral is, never forget to listen to your clients. Even though mastering engineers have expertise, tools, and objectivity on their side, the client knows the sound he/she is trying to hit and their feedback is invaluable.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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