Los Shimmy Shakers Mastering

Friday, June 3, 2011

Los Shimmy Shakers Mastering

A few months ago I had the pleasure of mastering a debut record for Los Shimmy Shakers out of San Francisco. Turned out great. They wanted a vintage sound to the final master.

Here's one of my favorite's off the CD "The Twitch"

The Twitch by derekirving

"The Sneak"

The Sneak by derekirving

Shoulder Holster by derekirving

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The Business Side of Things

All of my mastering is done digitally with Adobe Audition, iZotope Ozone Mastering Suite and with PSP Audio plugins pumped through KRK Rockit studio monitors. The reason I use digital is so I can (1) keep the cost down for you and (2) gives me the best representation of your music which allows more precise mastering. It’s most likely that your recordings will be on the digital medium anyway (CD or digital downloads) so mastering in digital allows me the best way to hear it before people buy it.

Rates and longer samples: Email derekirving1@gmail.com

Your music will need to be in WAV format and sent to me via digigal copy. This can be a CD/DVD, USB stick, harddrive or I can give you a private secured online folder for you to upload too. I’m also a certified GSNA systems/network auditor so I’ll attest that it’s secure.

There will be some paper work for you such as your contact info, expectations of master, mixing engineer contact and confidentiality agreement (stating you own the rights to the music and I’m only mastering the recordings, etc) which can all be handled digitally.

DI Mastering Philosophy

So what do I mean by where digital meets analog? It represents the best of old technology (analog) and new technology (digital).

My goal as a mastering engineer is to take your recordings from good to great. My experience is with bands/artists who are dedicated to their craft. So I work with rockabilly bands, blues bands, 50's rock and roll, trashy blues bands, surf, rhythm and blues, etc. Basically I help bands who love that raw primitive sound "GET" that sound. (only after it's mixed properly of course). I can not work magic. The magic is in your performance and songs. What I do comes after your satisfied with your engineer’s mixes. I'll clean up the spacing in songs, put songs in your requested order, add EQ as needed, bring the levels up to match commercial recordings you listen to or want to sound like but most of all help preserve the tones and bring them out of the speakers. My goal is to give you something that you are proud of and is a real representation of your art. This is what I expect when I’m releasing my music.

As recording artists I've recording in various studios over the past 20 years from Fantasy Studios, to small home studios to doing it myself with a laptop and a few microphones. What I've discovered is both mediums have pros and cons and I've heard poor recordings from 2 inch tape on all analog equipment and heard very good digital recordings going onto hard drives. Now I'm a huge fan of both, love analog and love digital when used properly. By that I mean you need to know the limitations of each medium and how to get the best out of them. For example my bands last record was recorded on the digital medium, but we used microphones from the 40's and 50's (tube and ribbon), old fender tweed amps from the 50's and used microphone placement to get a roomy sound. We used minimal isolation on the amps and drums, so while there was a tad bit of bleed we were still able to crank the amps to get the tones we needed. The result was great and more importunately the vibe in the studio was inspiring. About two months prior we recorded at another studio and went to 2" tape. The result was a muffled sound and un-inspiring performances.

So what I discovered is the recording medium (analog vs. digital) is not what makes a recording sound great, it's (1) how much the engineer knows about getting the best sounds out of their equipment, (2) bridging new and old technologies and using microphone placement to create warmth and (3) an inspiring environment for the artists/band to be creative. Now when you combine this with great songs performed with passion and I can master this – you’ll have gold! Or more importantly merchandise to sell and a medium to get your songs heard. Now that’s what it’s all about!

DI Mastering - Where Analog meets Digital

Friday, June 3, 2011