Of course, any mastering facility is only as good as the engineer...

But after that comes the monitoring chain, the room and the gear selection. Every piece of gear at MASSIVE Mastering was carefully chosen from some of the greatest mastering gear available. Some stock, some modified, some one-of-a-kind -- All exceptional in function and uncompromising in quality.

PRIMARY MONITORING CHAIN: 

• Custom built and based Tyler Acoustics (by Ty Lashbrook) Decade Series D1 reference speakers (crossovers by Danny Richie)
• Pass Laboratories X-250 power amplifier  
• Controller:  Crane Song Avocet monitor control system / monitoring D-A
• 2x Dorrough Electronics 40-D Series PPM / crest / loudness metering

ANALOG OUTBOARD Includes:

• Manley Variable-Mu (Mastering Edition) compressor / limiter with switchable HPF side-chain mod
• Crane Song STC-8M Class A mastering compressor / limiter with HPF side-chain mod
• “SS-oweL” Stereo Compressor (Custom unit based on the SSL4044E/G buss compressor with added MCI 416 transformer output)
• Crane Song Ibis Discrete Class A parametric equalizer (side-chain modded to +/-6dB)
• BAX (by Dangerous Music) Baxandall Shelving Equalizer

DIGITAL INTERNAL AND OUTBOARD PROCESSING - Highlights:

• DBX Quantum ll (Digital Multi-band Mastering Processor) 
• Universal Audio Digital (UAD) collection:  Fairchild 670, Teletronix LA2A, Urei 1176LN, Precision Mastering Series Limiter, Pultec EQP-1A, Cambridge EQ, Pultec MEQ-5, Precision Mastering Series Equalizer, Precision Multi-Band compressor, Neve 33609C Stereo Compressor, more...  
• Extensive digital processing by Eiosis (Eliosound), Voxengo, SSL, Elysia, DFP, Algorithmix, Slate Digital, more
• AM-Suite (Native to the Samplitude/Sequoia family)
• Acustica Nebula
• Izotope’s RX Series audio restoration tools, Samplitude Professional Cleaning-Restoration Suite
• K-Stereo processor (by Bob Katz / Algorithmix) 

DIGITAL CONVERSION and ROUTING HARDWARE Includes:

• Crane Song H.E.D.D. 192 - Harmonically Enhanced Digital Device
• Crane Song (Avocet) monitoring D/A
• Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) digital routing
• Emotiva XDA-1 Differential Reference™ DAC
• DBX Quantum II Type IV Conversion System
• Sonic Solutions SS-613 DA/AD (x2)
• Lynx AES 16-channel Digital Interface / Router

SOURCE PLAYBACK / TRANSPORT Includes:

• MCI JH110C open-reel analog deck (with 1/4” and 1/2” head stacks)
• Tascam DV-RA1000 Direct Stream Digital (Sony DSD) system
• Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 High Resolution Master Disk System
• Rega P3 table w/glass platter, RB300 arm and Dynavector 10x4 MC cartridge
• Cambridge Audio Azur Series 640P MM/MC Class ‘A’ phono stage
• Tascam DA-30 MkII DAT deck
• Sony Mini Disc
• Cambridge Audio Azur Series 650BD SACD/HDCD/DVD-A
• MASSIVE / Sonoris DDP Player
• Marantz PMD 500 analog cassette
• Technics RS-DC10 Digital Compact Cassette (DCC)

DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATIONS Feature:

• (PC) Modified Sonica Labs G-340 High Performance Audio System (Intel Core i7-920 Quad Core processor - 4.8GT/s QPI)
• Terastation Pro 2-Terabyte NAS-RAID
• Samplitude Professional recording / mastering production system
• Steinberg WaveLab Audio Mastering and Editing Suite w/DDP import/export
• Plextor internal and external drives utilizing PlexTools Professional
• Mac Intel Core 2 Duo - Bias Peak Pro, AudioDesk, WaveEditor DDP, etc.

DITHERING OPTIONS Include:

• Lavry Engineering Dithering with Acoustic Bit Correction®
• Apogee UV-22 HR (Hardware and software) Dithering
• POW-r Dithering system
• Crane Song “Analog Dither”
• Crane Song HEDD 192

WELL, THAT’S GREAT.  ANYTHING ELSE?

• Room treatments by GIK Acoustics, Klups, RealTraps ®
• Grado Labs SR225 Prestige Series headphones
• All interconnections are Belden 1800F cable with Neutrik connectors.  Amplifier and speaker connections are Silver Serpent and Cobalt cables respectively. 
• Monster Power® 7000 Balanced & 3500 Series Professional and Blue Circle power conditioning and filtering - Pangea AC9 and AC14 cabling on all vital componentry.
• "Reality Reference" monitoring chain including Hafler M5 Studio Reference monitors, Emotiva XPA-2 & Bryston 2B-SST power amplification
• Custom mastering console by Sterling Modular
• The famous “Stereo Stupidifier with Digital Sonic Decrapulator”