MUSIKLAB Music.Mastering.Music.
  •  Home
  •  Clients
  •  Credits
  • Watch
  •  Contact
  • Blog

Mastering

Using Volume Automation When Mastering
Mastering

Mastering – Using VOLUME AUTOMATION for MORE LIFE & CHARACTER.

Volume automation can be a great technique for adding some life and dynamic contrast when mastering a track. Here’s an example, using the superb track A New Chapter by video game composer Marcus Hedges, comparing the before and after. Volume Automation When Mastering A big thank you to Marcus for Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 3 weeks1st May 2022 ago
Mastering

Make Your Mastering Engineer Happy!

Give your mastering engineer headroom and dynamics to help them give you the best sounding masters they can. This image is from a track of a Latin album I was to start mastering last week but, having checked through the tracks which were limited by around 6dB at a guess Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 11 years30th August 2011 ago
Mastering

Here’s a Brick, Make it Sound Great!

What does a brick have to do with mastering? Yesterday, I had a quick chat on Twitter with Andy Wilson, mixing & mastering engineer at Masterdisk in NYC, about how I’d asked for new mixes for a Latin album I was to be mastering today as the original mixes were Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 11 years25th August 2011 ago
John Elleson-Hartley

Nullify – 24bit WAV vs 128kbps MP3

A null test is a simple check to see if one track is a perfect digital copy of the original. This requires lining up, sample accurate, the original and copy on two separate tracks and reversing the polarity of one track. On playback, with both tracks mixed together and at Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 11 years21st July 2011 ago
Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range Day Is Coming Soon!

There is a dream that many people share for an end to the mental loudness war that still continues after many years. One man who champions the idea of putting dynamic range back into music is mastering engineer Ian Shepherd (@ianshepherd) and he has come up with an excellent idea Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 12 years19th March 2010 ago
Loudness War

How Is Spotify Doing It?

Have you read Ian Shepherd‘s blog posting entitled How Spotify might defuse the Loudness Wars. A post where he beautifully presented his case but got his facts wrong. What did he do about it? Anyone who follows Ian will know the quality of his content and respect him so it Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 13 years12th October 2009 ago
Dynamic Range

Putting The Pleasure Back

The much discussed Loudness War rages on with artists, producers, record companies, et al, fearing that their musical creations will not succeed unless they are louder, or as loud, as the competition. Several attempts, and tools, have been made to educate us about the current situation – Bob Katz and Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 13 years22nd April 2009 ago
Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy album cover
Loudness War

Chinese Democracy – Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses‘ latest album comes to us via mastering engineer supremo Bob Ludwig with a request from Axl & Co. that they didn’t want it smashed. Really? After Turn Me Up‘s certification debacle of Elbow‘s “The Seldom Seen Kid” – fantastic album but doesn’t really hold up to being Read more…

By John Elleson-Hartley, 13 years16th April 2009 ago

Recent Posts

It's OUTTAKES TIME! From my Waves J37 Video
What It Does - WAVES J37 Tape Saturation Plugin
Mastering - Using VOLUME AUTOMATION for MORE LIFE & CHARACTER.
A Emotive New Chapter From Marcus Hedges
What It Does - DECAPITATOR from SOUNDTOYS
Recent Posts
  • It’s OUTTAKES TIME! From my Waves J37 Video
  • What It Does – WAVES J37 Tape Saturation Plugin
  • Mastering – Using VOLUME AUTOMATION for MORE LIFE & CHARACTER.
  • A Emotive New Chapter From Marcus Hedges
  • What It Does – DECAPITATOR from SOUNDTOYS
John Elleson-Hartley, Mastering Engineer on SoundBetter

MUSIKLAB 2000 - Present | John Elleson-Hartley