Mastering Engineer

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: To deliver a high quality master.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Either easy or magical.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: If you have something to fix, fix it in the mix or at the source. A good mix will result in a good master.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I am formerly live sound engineer and I have worked in the field for 10 years. I was also technical advisor for professionals (theatres, PA companies, festivals, studios). I've been mastering for the past 2-3 years.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't focus on achieving loudness during mixing. Focus on how it sounds and keep it dynamic.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: All kind of musical genres.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: What the song needs to sound at its best.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Critical listening first and foremost. It's important to properly understand what the artist, producer, mixer envisioned to bring the mix further. Tools used depend on the mix, genre, no rule of thumb. One important thing to keep in mind when mastering is to not overprocess and constantly check if it is an improvement for the track by A/B comparison.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: At my place, I rely on ultra-low distortion monitoring in nearfield, suitable for critical listening (ATC with SL woofer). I also use a lot headphones, especially for checking low-end with a high powered amp that also include crossfeed and custom EQ curve. Concerning tools, I work entirely ITB within Wavelab Pro with high-end plugins. At Centraldubs, the workflow is hybrid. Monitoring is full-range and there is a lot of dedicated outboard gear (Buzz Audio, Maselec, Tube-Tech, Crane Song, Merging, Fairchild 670 clone, etc..). Everything is stepped for ease of recall. All based around a Crookwood mastering console with insert router and M/S matrix.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: A master for a friend of mine, always cool to help people you know personally.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Some tracks.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Hybrid, best of both worlds.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The diversity of music and the people involved.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are you happy with your mix and what do you expect from mastering ?

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Good monitoring chain which includes speakers, headphones and DAC. Then a computer with a DAW and some plugins.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Critical listening and feeling for the music.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Josh Bonati, Heba Kadry, Joe LaPorta, Tim Xavier to name a few in the mastering field.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Mostly stereo tracks for music.