I offer unpretentious and reasonably priced mastering services for artists at all stages in their evolution.
My mastering philosophy is to maintain as much of the original vibe as possible.
The clothes seem to be back, but it’s not the ‘90s anymore. What I mean by that, is that it’s no longer necessary to crank your tracks to the technical limits of the medium they are being released on. What we’re looking for in a mastered collection of songs in 2025, is vibe, cohesion, and listenability. In my opinion, that involves preserving some nice dynamic range in the tracks.
I’ve been the writer, tracking engineer, performer, and mixing engineer for my own projects before. It’s very difficult to let go when you get to the end of a project, and unfortunately, by that point, your ears are often the worst possible ears to be making critical decisions about the technical aspects of final output. You’re over-invested by then and ear-fatigued by then. Maybe you never really want to hear these songs again in your life (for now); this is where I come in. I do! And I want to get them sounding their best!
Check out more of my work here: https://micolcazzellmastering.com/portfolio
My base rate is $50/song, and that includes one round of revisions and one set of masters. I can do additional revisions for $35/hour, and additional file sets for $15 each.
Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.
Languages
- English
Interview with Micol Cazzell
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I mastered an album called The Charm for Don't Wave. The album's sonics were well outside my usual wheelhouse. I have a background in folk and acoustic music, and this album was heavily synthesized, effected, dense, and bassy. Brendan is a good friend of mine, so I wanted to take my best crack at it, and I'm super proud of how it turned out, and he was very happy with it! Turns out you don't always have to be perfectly comfortable with what you're working on, and sometimes the results will surprise you.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both are great. No need to pit one versus the other. It's 2025, and whatever keeps you engaged with your work, is the gear that you should use.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That mastering requires a huge budget and fancy gear. I think there's a lot of snake oil in the audio world, and the fundamentals are often overlooked.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Cd player, a large collection of my favorite cds, a guitar, a tascam 4 track, and an sm7b.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started recording covers on.a 4 track cassette recorder as a teenager 20 years ago. From there, I started playing in bands, and making solo work. Often, I was the friend in the group that had some gear and was nerdy enough to spend time learning how to use it. After moving to Seattle 10 years ago, I upgraded to a digital set up and eventually set up a studio space. It's always been friends and fellow artists in my local community, and now I'd like to expand my horizons more. I love doing this.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Baby bands/artists that need help! There's so much amazing work being created, and I want to do what I can to help get it out in the world.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Ears are the most important piece of gear. Second is a library of music that inspires you.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I like to start with a listen through of the whole project. I'm listening for first impressions, the artist's vision, and taking notes on anything that jumps out at me immediately, and which songs seem to stick out from the collection. At this point I'll come up with reference tracks, and listen to any reference tracks that the artist may have suggested. Then I go song by song and try to get each song working within itself. Then back to the beginning for another listen through making broader adjustments, potentially dialing back individual changes. Check and adjust, check and adjust. When it sounds like an album, I send a first pass to the artist. I ask for revisions, make the requested changes, and send a final master.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A deep commitment to the artist’s vision. It’s not a mastering engineer’s job to break things. Artists and mixing engineers do that. Mastering engineers preserve as much as possible.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: It’s modest; I’m a working class artist. Logic and a Focusrite Clarett. Nearly the entire suite of goodhertz plug ins, and a few other gems. I recently frankensteined a Tascam 8 channel mixer in a send return arrangement so I can bypass it if I wish, but the output section does something really lovely when you run signal through it. The real sauce though, is careful listening in a carefully tuned space. I put quite a lot of time and research into acoustic treatments for my listening room, and it has paid off.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: TW Walsh as a songwriter, performer, mixing and mastering engineer. Larry Crane, John Vanderslice. Elliott Smith, Ellen Kempner of Palehound, Hannah Read of Lomelda, Meg Duffy of Hand Habits. Blake Mills, Brittany Howard, David Bazan. The list is longer than I could begin to capture. All art is a conversation.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I’m primarily a mastering engineer, but I also do mixing and session work.
I was the Mastering Engineer in this production
- Elliott Smith
- Andy Shauf
- Phoebe Bridgers
