Joseph is always glad to answer your questions.  Some frequent ones are here... Can anybody use The Place? Absolutely!  If you have a project that needs mastering, I am at your service.  Even though much of my work has been major label and I continue to enjoy those projects, I also embrace how music is being produced and distributed more and more by individuals and small labels.  From my standpoint this has created a new era of creativity, variety, and excitement.  I welcome and encourage all independent musicians, artists, and producers to reach out to The Place…For Mastering. Email us for a no obligation quote for your project. How involved are you in each project? I am involved in every step of the project.  From answering all your questions before you come to The Place, to listening, eq-ing, editing, leveling the music, making CD refs to making and QC-ing your final master.  I handle ALL sonic aspects of your project.  What can you offer that a larger studio cannot? I can offer personal attention to each and every project.  You can stop by or pick up the phone to have an actual conversation with the person mastering your project.  You will know with certainty that the engineer you have hired is the only person who will touch your project from start to finish.  Sometimes at large studios miscommunications take place or projects get shuffled around.  At The Place nothing will ever get handed off to the "night assistant". At The Place you get a "big studio" engineer and the big studio sound without the big studio hassle or attitude. What makes The Place unique? The first factor is expertise.  2010 marks my 23rd year in the mastering business.  And when I say that I mean that for 23 years straight I’ve made my full time living as a mastering engineer.  I am not a recording engineer that got into mastering with the advent of inexpensive computer software.  I am not a mix engineer who masters on occasion for certain clients.  I’ve spent the entirety of my career developing my craft as a mastering engineer.  I take a lot of pride in that fact. The other major factor is technology.  The Place…For Mastering was purpose built to deliver the highest quality sonics.  I have spent more than 20 years in the world’s top mastering studios listening to and working with world class equipment.  Since then I have spent countless hours listening to every component in my own system, incorporating only those pieces that will optimize the sound of your music. Please see the Facilities Page of this website for equipment details. What if I just want to master a single? No problem.  I am happy to master one song.  We have a single song package deal to accommodate this very request.  Please see our Pricing Page to get the details. How should I prepare my files for submission to you? As far as how to prepare your mixes, just make them sound the best you can.  Here is a list of tips: Please leave a little head room (3 to 5 dB) so that I have some room to work/process.  Keep the mixes in the native sample rate you've been working in and keep the bit rate high (24 bit). INCLUDE the sample rate and bit depth in the documentation. I prefer stereo interleaved .wav files, but if you have mixed to AIFF or SD2 just let me know and I will accommodate. Send all .wav files on CD-R or DVD-R using the ISO disc protocol. Name each file with the song name and version.    Leave 5 seconds of silence/room tone before and after each song. Do your own fade outs (and still add 5 seconds of silence). PLEASE LABEL your discs with your name and project title.  INCLUDE all technical info such as sample rate and bit depth for EACH song. You may ship your mixes to us via a traditional courier such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.  Or we can accept and deliver your music via our FREE and easy dropbox service.  Please email us to get the web address. Do I have to come to The Place? You are always welcome to come to your session at The Place, but it is not required that you attend.  We have many clients from around the world who are unable to attend.  In those cases I work from email or written notes from the client or notes I take during a phone consultation.  Most of the time we receive projects via the shipper of the client’s choice and return references and masters in the same manner.

How can mastering improve a recording…and what can’t it do? This one is tougher to answer in a general sense.  This is because every project has different needs.  Great mastering should let your recording have maximum musical impact.  Getting to that point though is different for every project.  This is where a mastering engineer’s experience is the key to achieving a successful outcome. Some projects require very little treatment, so a good job can be defined as knowing that the recording is excellent, staying out of the way by not using extraneous processes, making a high quality transfer and delivering a properly executed master for replication. Other times the project needs a lot of help using equalization, compression and other processing techniques to give the recording more impact and continuity with the other recordings it will be compared against.  In this case a good job would be considered accomplished when a creative and experienced mastering engineer is able to connect with the project musically and add significantly to its sonic impact. I find most mastering sessions are somewhere in between these two extremes.  What mastering cannot do is take the third harmony vocal in the second chorus of a song and tune it because the singer was a bit off pitch.  This type of miracle must be done at the mixing stage or better yet during the actual performance! What is remastering? Remastering is a phrase created by the major record labels in the 1980’s.  During that time most of the major labels’ catalogs (formerly on vinyl records) were mastered and repackaged for compact disc.  The “re” in remastering referred to this process of issuing the album again though this time on CD.  Over the years the term has become an exaggerated colloquialism for superior audio quality.  Unfortunately not all remastering jobs are equal.  Like anything else a great remaster is the result of an experienced mastering engineer and reissue producer having the correct source tapes and faithfully reproducing the intent of the original artist.  This is a much taller order than many realize.

How does mastering historical recordings differ from mastering brand new recordings? There are several differences starting with the source material.  Historic recordings come in a myriad of recorded formats; from metal disks to analog tape in various configurations, to fleeting digital formats like F1, Pro-Digi and DASH.  Another difference is historic recordings have been issued previously.  Because of this there is a benchmark regarding the sound of that original issue.  When issuing recordings for a second, third or even fourth time there is an assumption that the sound should be better each time.  Many times the sound is improved, but sometimes the recordings are reinterpreted by remixing, over-use of noise reduction and even radical equalization.  The “improvements” become the subjective opinion of the individuals making them.  Wisdom and experience play a large role in determining who possesses that good judgment. Additionally, historic recordings, depending on their vintage, often need sonic restoration that new recordings do not require.  This can include the removal of ticks, pops, hiss, mechanical noise, pitch/speed correction, etc.  They also require significant expertise in playback.  I have found many historic mastering jobs fail because the source material simply wasn’t played back properly.  When this happens the result is over-use of processing to make the recording sound correct. New recordings on the other hand are for the most part, a blank slate.  I say mostly because sometimes when working in a specific genre, the sonic palette can be loosely established.  Beyond that, the mastering engineer should use whatever techniques are necessary to help the artist achieve their musical and sonic goals.

Why did you leave the major studio scene to work on your own? It was simply the natural progression of my career.  I have worked at some of the finest mastering studios in the country but working for progressively bigger companies was blocking my creativity.  Branching out on my own was the logical next step so I could finally have the kind of mastering studio I think is right and treats the artist right. Are you a musician too? Yes I am.   I have been a drummer since I was 10 years old and I have played  in country, rockabilly, and rock bands since then. I also began building drums in the past few years. I studied  the trumpet starting at age 8 which taught me to read music. Please email us if you have any questions for Joseph at The Place.