About me :
My Mastering and My Work

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding what mastering is. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:

“Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). The format of choice these days is digital masters, although analog masters, such as audio tapes, are still being used by the manufacturing industry and a few engineers who specialize in analog mastering.”

So, basically, mastering is preparing the sound for manufacturing. For vinyl, this means creating a lacquer that will be used to make the dub plate, then pressing the vinyl. This obviously requires special equipment as there’s a physical aspect to the manufacturing process.

I do not create physical masters unless it is for the manufacturing of a CD. What I do is prepare your music for digital distribution (mp3, wav) by making it sound as good as your favorite artist’s tracks. This is called a pre-master.

A lot of people believe that louder is better, but I strongly disagree with that approach. For one thing, I have noticed that tracks get imprecise and somehow grainy sound – think of it as like how digital cameras output a pixelated image in bad lighting conditions. I believe songs should feel open and clear; the difference at home and in a club is noticeable and DJs can always crank the gain if they’re not happy with the volume.

As a label owner, I value being very careful with sharing music. I use a private, secure cloud for backups.

Why should I master my music? What difference will it make?

When we create music, we sometimes lose sight of how things should sound, because we know all the details and it can become difficult to give priority to the right frequencies. Asking someone who has access to proper sound system can greatly help making a difference in frequencies adjustments.

There are, however, limits to the magic tricks one can bring to certain mixdowns. Sometimes, I might need to redo the mixdown completely (see “Preparing the files” for more details) in order to achieve better results, but bear in mind that I don’t have a studio like that of Céline Dion’s team, so I might not be able to reproduce their sound! This is why, when I get a file, I need it to be in the best possible condition and it’s not impossible that, from time to time, I request a new bounced mix.

What is mastering?

AUDIO POST – PRODUCTION

The process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced. The format of choice these days is digital masters, although analogue masters, such as audio tapes, are still being used by the manufacturing industry and I also offer analogue mastering.

Why Master?

SOUND RIGHT EVERYWHERE

Of course you have tweaked all your levels and EQs to make your latest track sound banging on your studio monitors. How about for the car, the home, the club, the festival, the beach, headphones and unfortunately even the laptop speakers! I will help your track sound balanced and clear everywhere it travels!

Why Me?

MORE THAN MASTERING

I have been producing music for 20 years. I specialize in creating electronic music, but have worked with Hip Hop, Funk, Rock and more. I have qualifications as an audio engineer and have been a teacher for many years. I have experience running labels and an extensive contact list. Let me help you.