WATCH PART FOUR OF THE INTERVIEW RECORDED AT ABBEY ROAD
Part Four of our exclusive video interview with legendary recording engineer and producer Ken Scott shot at Abbey Road Studios with Russell Cottier asking the questions.
In this fourth part we looked at Mastering, working with technology and working with limitations and how they can actually help. Come back soon for the next part of our interview!
I had a blast last week, mastering a new project for Big Al Wagner of Big Toe Studio – the album was “Whispers from Infinity“, by the Anahata Sacred Sound Current.
Which means a deeply listenable collision of Indian, Egyptian, Israeli and hip-hop influences – featuring Hossam Ramzy, percussion player for Shakira, Page and Plant and Peter Gabriel amongst others – and guest appearances from Rasul Allah and ATMA from the Lost Children of Babylon (a chamber of Wu-tang Clan).
Not surprisingly it sounds fantastic, though I do say so myself !
And, I got a great reaction – producer Anahata said in an email
“All I got say is WoW! WoW!! WOW!!! -I love it!!! So amazing!! A dream come true -thank you Soo much… I am now officially a fan!”
- which is exactly the kind of reaction we all want to get, right ?
Well yes, except when people make comments like this it always makes me feel bad for everyone else involved.
These recordings were five years in the making, and they sounded fantastic when they got to me, thanks to the incredible work Al, Karl and the performers put in. All I did was apply the finishing touches – balance the levels and apply the right EQ, multiband compression and light limiting to each track to bring out the best in it.
But as often happens, because mastering is the very final stage in the process, and it’s the first time people can sit down and hear the whole thing as an album, exactly as it will be when released, the overall effect can seem huge, almost magical.
So, am I saying mastering engineers don’t deserve the credit they get ?
No ! Well, not exactly – I work really hard on every project I get to make it the best it can be, and as I wrote recently I think the process of assessing and optimising every song individually is the very heart and soul of mastering – making the whole much greater than the sum of it’s parts – and when you get it right, it is a bit like magic.
But I would never want that to take away from the fact that you can’t make a great master without great material – and for that, mastering engineers can’t take any credit at all. Working on people’s music is a privilege, and the fact that we get to present the artist with the final polished product that can make them go “wow” is just the icing on the cake.
Please file under “I love my job”…
Grottaferrata (Rome), Jan 2011
Forward Studios has announced the opening of the first Italian “World-Class Mastering Studio”, designed and realized by the renowned Acustic Designer “Francis Manzella” (FM Design LTD – NY, USA). He previously designed the Sterling Sound Studios, the new Universal Mastering Studio and MasterDisk in NY, among the over one hundred studios he designed worldwide during his career.
During the last 10 years Mr. Manzella was nominated many times and won the famous “Tec Award” for the design of acoustics in critical listening environments, and is now a reference for room construction, acoustic design, practicality and elegance. After our Sound Engineers spent over three years selecting mastering gear, cabling, conversion techniques, downgrading and fine tuning, we felt the need for the room to be “helpful” to the listening and mastering process.
Mr. Manzella was the best choice: with his critical room design our Engineers are now able to be extremely precise when processing the signal, down to 0.25 dB differences on specific frequencies. This allows us to be up to the highest international standards for mastering, delivering flawless products.
For a free mastering demo and infos: booking@forwardstudios.it or call: +39 06 9454 6481
Ian Shepherd’s first feature on RecordProduction.com
The game has changed – forever.
It’s no longer about sounding great on CD, it’s no longer about sounding great on the radio.
It’s about sounding great on Spotify, and this is fantastic news for anyone who loves great-sounding music, because it means the so-called “Loudness Wars” are about to become an irrelevant footnote in history.
If you live outside Europe, you may not be familiar with Spotify yet, but trust me – you will be.
