My Mastering Internship

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EleKtriKaz

Home (w)Rec'r
Hey guys just thought I'd post a little about the internship I'm doing at a local mastering house here in Phoenix.

So far the guy has been mastering a bunch of old 1/4" analog reels from the '50s
'60s, and '70s for a reissue thing. Which means I've been learning all the intricacies of analog tape...splicing, fixing edits that are coming apart, baking the nasty shedding reels, loading the tape, using an oscilliscope and the test tones, etc...Stuff I would never have been exposed to otherwise.

It's been a total geek out for me so far, and the guys is really cool. Past couple days I have been watching him edit the stuff once it's been processed in analog and dumped into the computer. Very cool stuff.
 
Grats El, it sounds like you really stepped in it. Make sure you take lots of notes so you can tell us all about it later on and preserve that part of history.
 
I'm definitely taking notes on this stuff.

One thing I've really noticed is that it's a different kind of listening from the tracking/producing/mixing kind of listening.

As he explains what he's trying to do with the processing, it makes me listen a lot closer to the track, and he's hearing things that I would normally miss. My ear is definitely getting more critical as a result and hopefully will get better.
 
EleKtriKaz said:
I'm definitely taking notes on this stuff.

One thing I've really noticed is that it's a different kind of listening from the tracking/producing/mixing kind of listening.

As he explains what he's trying to do with the processing, it makes me listen a lot closer to the track, and he's hearing things that I would normally miss. My ear is definitely getting more critical as a result and hopefully will get better.
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and probably hurt your recreational listening :p
you'll be listening TOO critical to stuff on the radio or on your CD player
 
Yeah, sometimes I actually feel guilty when I just sit back and listen to something and don't analyze it...I'll start thinking, "I should be listening more critically to this song...."

Another thing I found really interesting:

The guy's main set of monitors are Dynaudio BM15s, but he has a few other pairs that he uses to A/B, including a pair of Tannoy Reveals right on the desk. While I can certainly hear the difference between the original and the mastered versions when A/B'd on the Dynaudios, I hear by far the biggest difference on the smaller speaker Tannoys. It's like a sheet was draped over the sound and it's been lifted off. This may explain why mixes don't translate as well to smaller speakers. When I heard some of the A/Bs on the Tannoys it reminded me of how my mixes sound in my monitors and how they sometimes sound in a stereo system.

I'll keep you guys posted if you're interested.
 
Just thought I'd give a little update...

So you know how some of the more respected people around here will always say something to the effect of, "A producer/mixer/engineer's/etc... best tool is his ears..." Well, it's not that I didn't believe it before, but now I realize exactly what they're talking about. The guy I'm interning for has a ton of experience, so the process is very quick, but he listens to everything. The frequency ranges, the way the individual instruments are affecting the overall balance, the attitude and personality of each track, as well as looking at the project as a whole complete record. When he starts working the first thing he does is sit and listen. He'll do about 30 seconds of most of the tracks to get a feel for the overall balance, then start working on the first song.

As a result he hears things that I would absolutely miss. For example, he commented that one of the tracks we were listening to had "loose bass". I listened and sure enough the bass was sort of wobbling, if you will, across a lot of frequency ranges. He tightened it up, and it sounded so much better, but I never would have caught that because I wasn't listening the way he was. He pointed out that another track had much less "balls" than all the rest. I listened, and of course he was right, so he processed that track much more aggressively than the others. Those are the types of things I'm just not used to listening for, so it's been great to get his explanation on what he hears, what he wants to hear, and how he's going to accomplish it.

For the gearheads (like me): His two main tools, processing wise, apart from his ears are the Avalon AD2077 Mastering EQ, which I just found out is $12K. And the Manley Variable-MU Mastering Compressor. He seems to use those pieces more than the rest of his gear.

That's it for now. I'll post again when I think of something new to report.
 
Man am I jealous of you!

It's really interesting to hear about your experiences, you describe it very well.

Keep it coming.
 
EleKtriKaz said:
For the gearheads (like me): His two main tools, processing wise, apart from his ears are the Avalon AD2077 Mastering EQ, which I just found out is $12K. And the Manley Variable-MU Mastering Compressor. He seems to use those pieces more than the rest of his gear.
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What, no Berhinger 4ch mixer? Man, what a gyp. :(

(Before anybody starts flaming me for being a Berhinger hater or a gear snob, I'm just joking, OK? :) )

Seriously though Kaz, yeah, keep posting when you feel the need, this is fun and interesting stuff. :) And, yeah, I'm with Kevin in the jealously boat...

G.
 
Today kicked some serious ass! He was mastering a 2-disc live comedy record for Comedy Central Records, so basically we sat around and listened to some hilarious material for a few hours. The set was edited together from a bunch of different recorded live shows, so there were a lot of edits, many of them very poor. So, the guy always points out the bad edits, and I'm starting to hear those a lot more now. It makes me realize how important good editing is. If you're not sure it works, redo the edit. I've also learned that if you're going to get your disc mastered, DO NOT cut off the end of your tracks and/or do shitty fadeouts. Leave the guy something to work with or he will curse you (which he frequently does).

Other than that, here's the rest of the gear list:

Sonic computer editing system
T.C. Electronic M5000 Digitial Eq/Etc...
SPL De-esser
Apogee PSX-100 2 channel convertors
Big rack-mounted Sony CD player
Big rack-mounted Sony DAT machine
Panasonic DAT machine used for D/A conversion for monitoring
Some other stuff I can't remember

Oh, and the coolest thing of all...a custom-built Manley monitoring console with Manley meters as well as some sweet Mytek meters, where he can switch between different sends and returns, different sets of monitors, add left and right channel gain, hear it in mono, etc...
 
This has nothing to do with my internship, but I thought I would share...

Yesterday I was listening to a track that I did a while back, which I haven't listened to in a long time, and the first thing I thought was, "Wow, this sounds weird, no way would I have done that if I was recording this track now..." I kept listening, and I realized, hey this actually sounds pretty cool. The track actually benefited from having upper-midrangey acoustic guitars, since it had a nice, heavy bass sound going.

It made me realize a couple things: 1) A recording really does capture a specific moment/performance. Even if you get the same gear, same people, etc... you can never recreate that original performance, whether good or bad...which I think is really cool! And 2) You can learn from listening to your old stuff. I realized that I had gotten into a rut with certain things. I reminded myself of things I had forgotten were in my reptoire, if you will.

P.S. Thanks for the words of encouragement...I'll definitely keep posting when I have something interesting to share.
 
EleKtriKaz said:
Oh, and the coolest thing of all...a custom-built Manley monitoring console with Manley meters as well as some sweet Mytek meters, where he can switch between different sends and returns, different sets of monitors, add left and right channel gain, hear it in mono, etc...
Click to expand...


Would your mentor have been featured in Tape Op sometime last year (I think it was)? I'll have to check my Tape Op archives when I get home, but that Manely monitoring console sounds familiar.

Anyway, ROCK ON! These are very good posts of yours on your internship. If I may suggest you keep it relative to your internship so it's worthy of a proper archiving in the future (here or elsewhere). In fact, you may want to collect your posts when you're done, work them into an article, and shop it around to Tape Op or SOS or something.

KEEP 'EM COMING!
 
This thread is pure gold- Thanks, Kaz.

There is NOTHING like learning mastering (even if you are learning it poorly) to give you a sense of how mixing can be done better. That you're working with someone with experience and a willingness to show you along kicks butt! That you are willing to let the rest of us have a peek into that work kicks buut even more- thanks.

Chris
 
Thanks guys.

Sizzle: I don't believe he was a Tapeop guest moderator. I'll have to ask him though.

Here's something I learned today: I'm sure you've all heard the advice, take each track or recording situation or whatever and approach it independently...something to that effect.

I was watching the guy work today, and I noticed that some of the tracks on the project he was working on were pretty close to being there. They didn't have as far to go. Instead of sitting there twisting knobs for a while and trying to force it, he just made a few minor tweaks to those tracks to get them to the place they needed to be. I think sometimes I try to force things. This reinforced to me yet again the importance of listening before you actually do anything.

Also, like Chris mentioned, interning with a mastering engineer is definitely giving me perspective on what kind of mixes I should be doing. I'll give a quick rundown of the things he asks for and likes in mixes that he's going to master.

First and foremost, leave the ME some headroom to work with. I've seen him pop something in, flip through some of the tracks, and then hand it back to the client and tell them he can't work with it because it's already smashed.

Second, what he calls "open" mixes, or what he sometimes refers too as mixes that aren't "clogged with extra, unneccessary shit". More of everything is not always better. Cut out the stuff that doesn't add to the track. If it doesn't really add something, then it's just clogging up the frequency ranges it occupies.

Third, and I mentioned this before, do not cut off the end of the track artificially. Leave the tails on the ends of the songs, and let the ME fade them out for you.

Finally, anything that you've overused in the mixing stage is going to become very apparent after mastering. Overuse of reverb becomes VERY obvious after a good mastering job, as does overuse of eq.

I'll keep you posted.
 
Funny is i do the same comparison.

My main monitors are Dynaudio BM15s with secondary Tannoy Reveals. I really dont think he checks the Tannoys to see what it sounds like on smaller or lesser speakers necesarrily. Its just the Reveals are literally the opposite of BM15s. Tannoy brags about how they make their speakers with minimum ear fatigue and i can tell why. The dynamics in the high mids and highs are very soft. The BM15s arnt fatiguing but their is definately a huge contrast with dynamics in my opinion. BM15s definately have a much clearer and accurate top end in my opinion than the Reveals too but not necessarily in a nicer way.

I just know that i hear alot of different things when i compare on the Reveals.

Anyway, i found that interesting. Congrats on the internship. Sounds like a bunch of funz.

Danny
 
Today was very cool. I got to do the digital editing for a record on the Sonic system. I did the fades, pause times, pq info, etc... The program is a little tough to get used to, but I got the hang of it towards the end. It's very different than a normal multitrack program like Cubase or Pro Tools. No fancy graphics or cool interfaces. All black, white, and grey. Very, very efficient though.

This may come in handy for someone: He had me do linear curve fade-outs and cosine curve fade-ins, which is what he usually uses. It does't seem to matter as much on the fade-ins because you're just sort of feathering up the very beginning if anything at all, but I can definitely hear the difference on the fade-outs. The linear is much smoother sounding than the cosine. That's all for now.
 
I'm really jealous. I can't wait until I get to do my intern during my senior year! Never really thought about doing a mastering intern, seems a lot more difficult than a tracking/mixing intern. Probably because I don't use my ear as much as I should, so basically, it needs practice. Definitely keep us posted!
 
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