What Mastering Does

Ah! (deep breath... slowly exhale). I just returned from a fantastic trip to Europe. Switzerland, Croatia, France and Italy. It was truly an amazing trip. If you'd like to see pictures, click on over to my wife's blog and check it all out. Lots of cows and goats :)

A few months ago I began work with a local Orange County rock band called "The Bolts." These guys are a lot of fun and put on a great show. We headed into the studio to cut a song called "Our Love Can Change The World." Mattie, the band's drummer, is a great videographer and he documented the event. I thought you might enjoy checking it out. The song was recorded at Sonikwire Studios in Irvine, California... they have lots of great gear including a great Neve Console full of 1073 mic pres, Pultec EQ's, LA-2a compressors... (check out the studio website for a list of all the gear.)

Check it out... and you can download the final version HERE (mixed by Shane D. Wilson, Mastered by Richard Dodd)

Mastering Audio: Bob Katz - A MUST READ!!

About a week before Saddleback's Worship Conference I stumbled upon a book called "Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science" by Bob Katz. Just recently I've been interested in how mastering works. I want to understand mastering so I can mix my records in a way that gets the most out of the mastering process.

Let me just say, "Mastering Audio" has changed the way I look at digital audio. Not only am I gaining an understanding of mastering, but I'm getting a better handle of how my DAW and Digital Converters are processing audio. Bob points out that Digital Recording has to be treated very differently than analog recording (I know this in basic principle, but not to this depth). There are things we must do to preserve audio once inside the computer. There are also things we can do to maximize fidelity and make our recordings sound BIG and VIBRANT!

In case you have not noticed, my opinion is that everyone should read this book! If you are serious about getting the most out of your recordings you owe it to yourself. WARNING: This is a very technical book. It is actually a text book. It is not a hard read but it is deep.