Recording - November 2012 - 16

Howie Weinberg
master in the box because I have the SPL console and everything goes through there. Basically I am an analog guy, but I have done projects in the box that still sound fantastic. It’s all only as good as the operator, you know. You can have all the gear in the world and if you don’t push the right buttons and twist the right knobs it ain’t good. Now that CDs are nearing the end of their life cycle, where do you see digital audio going? I usually master at 24/44.1 but lately there is a big market for hi-rez stuff, so I have been mastering a lot for 24/96. I have been doing a lot of mastered-for-iTunes stuff and a lot of HD tracks. This is the future of audio; eventually a consumer will be able to download a 24/96 file. When I play back tracks I have done at 24/96 it’s just a perfect mirror image that 16/44.1 does not give you. Any dos and don’ts for clients, or common mistakes you see from project/home studios? The first do-and-don’t I have come across too many times is: If you are making records and you are happy with the way they sound, it’s not a good idea to compare your records against commercially-released records that could have had a $200,000 budget using the best mixers in the world in some of the best studios in the world, and then go “Oh, my mix does not sound as good as that.” Or clients send me their music and say, “Well, you have done these kind of records, can’t mine sound like that too?” I try like hell, but you have to be realistic on what you have. What I am trying to say is you don’t necessarily have to compete with them; you just have to make good music, OK? I think in the end people are just way, way too concerned about certain production values rather than musical values. What about the current debate on final mixing levels? I just got a project from a really wellknown producer and I called him up and said it sounded great, but you know what? Your files are too small. A lot of times if your files are too small, you are not using up all your bits and numbers. You want to have a nice fat file that’s not overly done, so somebody like me can get the files and have room to move on it. Then the opposite is when I get files that are totally slammed and squared out, it gives me fewer options. I like nice loud files, but I don’t want them crushed. There is a happy medium.
16
RECORDING November 2012

You want to get files back from me that sound better, and if files that I get are so loud and crushed, I can’t even match their levels and that’s going backwards. My advice is, do two versions—one that you give to the client for listening that’s a little more crushed so the client can hear it louder, and one that’s nice and dynamic but not too compressed, that gets sent to mastering. What is your opinion on adding bus compression to the final mix? Just do it artistically, it’s really important not to use equipment just for the sake of turning it on, you know what I mean? Use it for the benefit of the music, not just because you have it; like “I have five different plug-in eqs—I should use them all!” Go by the adage “less is definitely more”! You want to record stuff that has what I call the turn-up curve! You know how you can play some records and as you turn them up they just keep sounding better and better, where as some records, you get to a certain point and it’s ARRRGGHHH!!! You can’t turn them up, you know what I’m saying?

What about low and high end? Which one is the more problematic? I think it’s both. The problem is a lot of people are working in home-type studios with not the most perfect monitoring systems or recording environment. That’s OK in the end if the record has a vibe. I have noticed that a lot of the albums I am getting, people are doing really good jobs. They watch videos and they read the magazines and the forums and they practice and I think people are doing their homework. I think in this day and age the equipment has gotten really good, and skills have gotten really good, and there’s really very few records that I get in that just sound like crap. Do you ever turn anything down? That’s a big grey area, because sometimes I may think something is crap, but the band loves it and you have insulted them [laughs]. Generally speaking, if I get something in that isn’t very good I will let them know. Do you have any advice for the budding beginning mastering engineer? If you are really into finished audio rather than recording, try it! A lot of guys these days who try this also have a really good knowledge of recording and mixing as well. See, I didn’t do any recording or mixing, I just don’t have that background, I am not a musician, I am a specialist. I basically listen from the standpoint of your average Joe Shmoe consumer who takes the record and puts it on and listens in their car or their boom box or iPod. I approach it like that. What is your take on the dreaded Loudness Wars? I think people need to start thinking about other things! If an artist wants to make their record a certain way, they should! You as a consumer should not be worried about it. It’s gone a bit overboard! I have done records where people have complained it’s too loud and I play the thing and think, “It doesn’t sound bad to me.”

Recording - November 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - November 2012