Analogue Audio Mastering at FMP Newcastle upon Tyne UK email: mastering@fmprecords.co.uk

Mastering isn't just about making it loud...

 

 

We achieve results you won't get from any of the ubiquitous, so-called 'mastering plug-ins' now commonly inserted in the Pro Tools mix bus by studio engineers who perhaps work to less demanding standards than we do.

 

The Pro Tools mix bus, yesterday

 

Likewise, neither is mastering just about sprinkling some 'magic fairy dust' all over your finished mix. Online cloud-based 'automatic' mastering solutions can do just that (often reasonably successfully, it has to be said...!), relying on artificial intelligence algorithms to analyse and (purportedly) 'optimise' your mixes. But typically they can only do this for individual tracks, and while they might create a result that's usable online, mastering for an EP or album release, where a number of tracks have to work together in context, is an entirely different ball-game.

Notwithstanding the reality that it helps having world-class specialist equipment in a suitably controlled monitoring environment, it requires firstly a two-way communication process, leading to a full understanding of the artist's vision. It requires impeccable ears for detail, a deep musical knowledge, a grasp of the esoteric concept of 'feel', as well as a huge technical knowledge and a very specialised skillset; human characteristics, stuff in which computers and their software algorithms fall hopelessly short...

...stuff that Dave Maughan excels at, and is well known for...!

"We make it sound like a proper record".

 

 

Please get in touch if you'd like your record to sound like a proper record...!

 

mastering@fmprecords.co.uk