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I've worked with a GRAMMY® winning, Emmy and Tony nominated
singer/songwriter whose
hit songs have sold over 50 million records, and have mastered
many client's 2nd, 3rd or "moreth" album. I know what I'm
doing and I'm good at it.
I studied CD Mastering under the supervision of Bob Dennis.
He's one of the founding fathers of Motown, with 37 gold records to
his name.
I have a "day job" doing Engineering work. I master audio CDs
in my my "free time" because I love music.
My goal is to master my clients songs so their CD sounds clean
and
clear, and is not fatiguing to listen to. I like "open"
and clear sounding CDs that contains dynamics. If a song
doesn't have dynamics, it ends up sounding like static to my
ears.
I prefer heavier
limiting over a short period of time (a dynamic, loud crest that
has been heavily limited) over heavy compression across the whole
song. I don't like songs that have all the "quiet parts" made
loud to make the overall level louder. A little bit is OK to
make the detail easier to hear, but used to make the song "louder"
is abuse.
I don't like heavily compressed, LOUD CDs. I can't listen
to them because they actually make my ears hurt, and sometimes give
me a headache. I do not use clipping distortion to "add
excitement". I hate it and it sounds like crap.
If you don't understand what I'm talking about, I generally
like "quieter" CDs and use my volume control to adjust the
volume.
If you don't agree with my views there are lots of places you can
go to have your songs mashed into pulp. Feel free to have
someone else smash your songs.
Most of my clients are not located nearby, and I've had clients
from all parts of the globe. Mastering a project usually works like this:
1) I receive the mixes and paperwork.
2) If I have any questions about the mixes or project, I ask for
more information.
3) I master the songs and post preview versions online.
4) The client downloads and listens to the preview versions.
5) Any adjustments the client wants after hearing the preview
versions are made.
6) Final versions of the songs are posted online for review and
approval.
7) After approval, I make the master CD and listening copy and
send them to the client. (If the client is replicating the CD
through me I only send the listening copy.)
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