Who Says Distortion Can't Be Beautiful! knøx - mummy (original mix) Mastered @ ZeSoundSuite

I've got a really great track I had the pleasure of working on for you guys today.  When I first heard it I was beyond stoked to get cracking on it because it possessed quite a unique and diverse sonic character.  Unfortunately it took me a bit to get it as I was swamped with other ongoing projects.  When I finally sat down to work and gave the song a few listens I immediately thought and focused on three things.  First and foremost make that kick as mau5 like as possible.  Say what you want about the mau5 his kick is perfect! (Thanks in part to the SSL Stereo Bus Compressor)  Secondly, I knew I had to push the low to mid range pretty hard to bring out the grit that was such a prevalent sound in the track.  Finally I had to sculpt and bump the highs up just enough to bring out all the grimy noise whilst still keeping the epic progressive synth leads in check.  I also added quite a bit of character and extra noise with the URS Saturation plug-in and Digidesign's Reel Tape Saturation plug-in @ 15ips.  Long story short I made the adjustments I saw fitting; EQ, Compression, M/S Processing and preapred the track for limiting.  I knew this had to be loud to sound good, it's just one of those songs that without a lot of amplitude would loose a lot of it's meaning and purpose.  I pushed the L316 hard to the paint and made some final release time adjustments to keep the harmonics relatively in tact.  The result is what you're about to hear, all in all it came out great and still has a lot of the original dynamics despite it's loudness.  The kick is beautiful, the  low-mid range grit grabs your soul and the highs are perfectly balanced keeping the progressive synths bright and comfortable while showcasing just enough of the added noise to bring the whole track together.  Give it a listen, it's beyond a sonic experience!
knøx - mummy (original mix) by knøx

The Only Software EQ You'll Ever Need: DMG Audio EQuality EQ

So I am most certainly a fan and avid user of the Sonnox Oxford EQ plug-in.  Maybe I got sucked in by the hype... who knows, all I know is that I just discovered the God EQ.  I was doing some stumbling over at the GearSlutz Forum (The place I learn basically everything) when I noticed more than a few engineers were hyping a plug-in I'd never heard of as if it were Higgs Boson.  They were specifically saying that it made their Sonnox Oxford EQ sound like garbage.

I admit at first I thought... nooo, what??? That's my baby... no... it can't suck.  Needless to say I had to download the demo of this EQuality EQ from DMG Audio they were all speaking so highly of.  That way I could A/B it and the Oxford side by side to settle this battle.  I loaded up two identical tracks one with Oxford & the other with EQuality.  Before I even made any adjusts what so ever with both eq's flat, just having EQuality on and in the signal path made it's track sound better. (nice, even slight low end bump mainly, right around 70-130hz)  This might bother some, but if you're working with bass driven material this little bit of initial character will do wonders to your music.  I was immediately intrigued so I started tweaking each and it wasn't even a contest.  EQuality is far superior and much clearer the the Oxford EQ and a lot of other EQ's I've ever used for that matter. It maintains a level of clarity that I've never heard, and Sonnox can't match, while still adding a tad bit of it's own character to your material.  There is a feature that allows you the ability to switch digital processing options.  Basically meaning this EQ can be as a precise and clear mastering tool and also act as a sonically rich warm character driven analog EQ.   The GUI is understated, pleasant and quite functional when you're in the mix with it.  Some large multi-band EQ's can look quite daunting and almost scary when they're first opened.

EQuality doesn't scare you, instead she greets you with her warmth and supple bosom.  I can't show you how much better it is, you'll have to see for yourself.  Download a demo copy of EQuality from DMG Audio's website and put it up against your favorite EQ.  See how things turn out, you just might have a new special lady in the plug-in menu.  I haven't had the time to fully investigate this beast but I will, you can count on that. I think I'll even do a EQ Tutorial/EQuality Tutorial video to go with a more detailed review.  There is a host of features that will come in quite handy whether your mixing, recording, or mastering so I think this would be a useful video tutorial for the production/engineering world.  I'll get to know this EQ and get back to all of you with a full review and rundown of EQuality.  A full license of EQuality Retails for: $149.00 and is available at DMG Audio's Website.

Robotic Pirate Monkey Debut EP: Disturbing Pleasant Streets! Mastered @ ZeSoundSuite

Below you'll find a link to a blog post from ThisSongIsSick.com featuring the new Robotic Pirate Monkey EP.  I mastered the entire album and have to admit that I had a fucking blast doing it.  No doubt this will remain a memorable moment in my career as it was really the first full length album I've ever mastered from beginning to end.  The first CD I burned of the EP to check in my car is currently hanging on my wall if that gives you an idea of how important this craft really is to me.

It was honestly quite the challenge balancing all the intense heavy sounds that is RPM but all in all I'm very pleased with the result and feel it represents Robotic Pirate Monkey's character and style, as well as my own personal sound I like to create during the mastering process.  Crisp & bright, present yet spread out highs with a massive detailed low end and a mid range full of so much grit you'd swear you needed a shower after hearing it.

Six of the ten tracks I ran through a Neve V3 to pick up on the dark sonic qualities that console is famous for.  I pushed the preamps fairly hard and left the sends to the Pro Tools HD system relatively low to grab some of the natural compression that's impossible to replicate without a large format console.  You can do this with any large format console by driving the preamp's relatively hard while leaving the faders (sends to tape) at a lower amplitude.  Try it out next time you get your hands on a large format desk.

After the work on the Neve was finished up everything was sculpted at 24bit/96kbps on my Pro Tools LE system with the aid of software plug-ins & DSP from: Solid State Logic, Waves, Sonnox & URS.  Solid State Logic's Duende & it's plug-ins (Bus Compressor, Channel Strip, X-EQ) played a massive role in mastering this album and without them I'm almost certain the final product would've been much less impressive.  Equally important was the Oxford EQ & Filters from Sonnox.  This is an old school software EQ that's still in use by many of the major studios in the world today.  Just use it, you'll understand why it's so popular and sought after.  Finally I slapped Wave's L316 Limiter over all the tracks to get them up to their final volume level whilst still having the multi-band control to maintain the original dynamics.  Beyond that was the final dither process to get the album to 16bit/44.1kbps and ready to be converted to mp3's for distribution.  That pretty much sums up two weeks worth of work in a couple paragraphs as best as I can. :) 

Honestly though, that's a fairly good general explanation of how I mastered the EP, hopefully it will give some of you at least a little idea of what the mastering process involves and how I went about finalizing Disturbing Pleasant Streets.  Be sure to support Robotic Pirate Monkey & Join their Facbook Page.  

Link to Download Robotic Pirate Monkey's Disturbing Pleasant Streets EP