3.3 MB, Adult Contemporary (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Almost any parent knows the work of Grammy® nominee and Gold Record winner Dave Rudolph from his huge collection of children’s recordings. On this album, Dave shows his “adult” side with this guitar-oriented orchestrated ballad. A nice recording that needed “a little polish” and not much more.

4 MB, Alternative Fusion (A/B Comparison back and forth) - How can you possibly get enough of MWC? This studio-jam caught one cool performance - Not “studio perfect” by any means, but obviously fun and spirited, just like the song. A prime reason to just let the tape roll... It doesn’t have to be the perfect take to be a great impromptu performance. And yes, the overdubs contained real peanut butter!

8 MB, “Shred” Guitar Instrumental (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Daddo (Damir Daddo Oreskovich) from his 2008 release “The Other side.” Lots of layering and remarkably dynamic for the genre. If anything was a challenge, it was trying to tame the sibilance on the choir without messing up the high end on everything else. Still strong, but not as abrasive and allowing the highs in the synth pads and the guitars to come through.

4 MB, Classical Contemporary (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Schaumburg Youth Orchestra live recording of “The Typewriter” - The recording was made with two mics - Spaced 8 feet apart, about 16 feet above the stage and in line with the conductor and the first row of strings.  The typewriter “player” and his bell ringing “assistant” were all the way downstage, right on the edge, and stage right of the conductor.  The “A” recording is very workable, but riddled with typical problems - The stereo image is tilted to the left and very unrealistic (typical with a spaced pair setup such as this).  The strings lacked clarity, the horns lacked punch, the usual.  It was very bland.  Notice how in the “B” fields, the volume, clarity and stereo image all seem to come together.  Even the audience at the end sounds more realistic and less “miked from a distance”.  The reverb on the recording was also added during the mastering pass. 

4.7 MB, Flamenco, World (Finished master - excerpts from one song) - Amsterdams’s Jacco Muller and Artur Trajko from the “Silueta” CD on Mihrab Records. This is a classic representation on what fine recording techniques are worth. I ended up having to mix this album also (“had” to?). It was recorded at several different studios on two continents, and it was an absolute pleasure to mix and then master. The guitar and cello were both recorded very dry and close-up. During mastering, the key was “enhancement” instead of “correction” - The result: a “world-class” (not my words, but who am I to argue?) Flamenco album that was warm and “analog” sounding - while recorded, mixed and mastered entirely in the digital domain.

3.5 MB, Alternative Rock - (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Staven Crown, fom the U.K., a semi-techno/alternative group with a clear and present female vocal that sat a little “above” the mix. The instructions were simple - Make it gel, make it loud, but don’t smash it to bits...

2.1 MB, Power Metal - (A/B Comparison back and forth) - An early ‘08 Clash of the Titans on this one -- Tristan Grigsby (Project: Storm, Daitribe) and Nick Bowcott (Grim Reaper) on the guitars, Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) on bass, Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall) on the drums and Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth) on vocals. Fitting all those high-octane metal machines together in one mix is a job I don’t envy - But Jay Walsh (Farview Recording) did a fine job of squeezing all that energy onto a solitary stereo track. Typical issues from what were no doubt blisteringly loud and long mixing sessions -- You can hear on the non-processed sections (especially after hearing the first processed section) a “whistling” build up on the guitars at around 2-3k that interfered with the vocals cutting through. The recording was otherwise very “warm” and seemed to lack a little “excitement” in the high end -- without making it fatiguing (which is why it was a little on the “warm” side in the first place). A lot of mid-side on this one - both equalization and dynamics - to increase the energy, but keeping it dynamic.

7.5 MB, Rhythm & Blues (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Rhythm & Blues artist Damon Cooper with another version of what happens when the MIX is allowed to speak for itself. The A/B comparison differs in volume, air and “punch” to a point, but the essence of the mix basically stays the same. The typical precautions needed to be carefully thought through - For example, making sure the hi-hat sounds and other high-pitched parts don’t increase in volume above the rest of the mix - Rather, they change in level only slightly from the original mix, while the volume of the mix increased more apparently. As the clarity in the high end becomes more “open” sounding, the level of the high end parts, if left unchecked, easily become overwhelming by comparison. The balance is kept, without the high parts becoming harsh and fatiguing. Generally speaking, getting the mix “polished’ a little without getting in its way too much.

4.4 MB, Contemporary Jazz Guitar (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Virtuoso guitarist Car Eichman from his 2006 “Hidden Symmetry” CD. Great recording. Just wanted to be “more in your face” - Highlights are the seeming closeness of the nylon strings contrasting the apparent distance of the snare drum that seem to sound nearly on the same plane in the “before” parts. The harmonized pizzicato guitar parts also fared well. Just a sample of one of several outstanding tracks on this disc.

4 MB, Pop Punk *EXPLICIT LYRICS ADVISORY* (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Hockey fans will undoubtedly know where the Canadian power-punkers The HEXTALLS got their namesake from... Their new release includes this track “Chuck Norris - King of the Forest.” In typical pop-punk fashion, the mix was heavily compressed at the track level. This got the overall volume up pretty high, but left us enough room to work the EQ and compression to smooth out some of the peaks IN the EQ. A bit of polish on this quick and fun tune that pays tribute to one of North America’s favorite Martial artists. Did I mention the EXPLICIT LYRICS ADVISORY?

4.4 MB, Alternative, for lack of a better term (A/B Comparison back and forth) - Tumbledown from the “Safe and Sound” CD - A mastering engineer’s worst nightmare wrapped around his wildest dreams - Telephonic vocals, stacks of tracks of sparse percussion, drums, palmas, simplistic acoustic guitar plucks - Transients on top of transients until sudden “wall of sound” guitar and drum stingers. Very dynamic, and far too important to lose the impact and open quality for the sake of sheer volume - But still hit it pretty hard and it handled it very well. Why? The mix was great. It wasn’t a “repair job” by any stretch. Just another example of how well-tracked, well mixed projects can sound considerably enhanced sonically, but without losing their essence and personality in the process.

4.3 MB, Contemporary Pop Gospel (A/B Comparison back and forth) - One of four singles from Mark Mallett’s “Through Her Eyes” double CD. Another well recorded piece, as one would expect from Mark Mallett. Mark left a lot of room for creativity in this project - There were several directions to go in and picking the “right” one took a bit of experimenting. The challenge was bringing a tune with a very wide dynamic range into a more “commercial” range while keeping the dynamics and power intact. Compression and imaging techniques were employed to “fill in” the sonic space instead of just compressing and limiting for the sake of increased volume.

This M3U trigger file will play all the above files in order in your defualt audio player.