The Mastering Show #99 - Recording, mixing and mastering acoustic guitar (with Richard Durrant)

The Mastering Show

www.themasteringshow.com/episode-99

19:15

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about a year ago 52:57

MP3•Episode home

Stereo, mono, binaural or surround-sound ?

I've worked with this episode's guest in all these formats and more over the many years we've been working together - but which does he prefer, and why ?

Richard Durrant describes himself as an "Indie Classical" musician, which I think is a pretty good summary - but doesn't really take into account the fact that he also toured with Sky, worked as an accomplished session musician for many years and has released albums in a brilliantly eclectic variety of other genres and styles over the years.

In this conversation we talk about:

Why Richard records in an "acoustic igloo" (and what that is)
Mic techniques for guitar and dealing with "wolf notes" on stringed instruments
Real spaces versus digital reverb
Touring (and performing) with a bicycle
Performing Bach's cello suites on Banjo and Ukulele - how and why

Full links on our website:

Mentioned in this episode:

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Mastering

Click HERE to work with Ian

Tools

For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE

104 episodes

#Questions And Answers #Music #Podcasting Education #Masters

The Mastering Show #99 - Recording, mixing and mastering acoustic guitar (with Richard Durrant)

The Mastering Show

203 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

Stereo, mono, binaural or surround-sound ?

I've worked with this episode's guest in all these formats and more over the many years we've been working together - but which does he prefer, and why ?

In this conversation we talk about:

Why Richard records in an "acoustic igloo" (and what that is)
Mic techniques for guitar and dealing with "wolf notes" on stringed instruments
Real spaces versus digital reverb
Touring (and performing) with a bicycle
Performing Bach's cello suites on Banjo and Ukulele - how and why

Full links on our website:

www.themasteringshow.com/episode-99

Mentioned in this episode:

Learn to master !

Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources

Mastering

Click HERE to work with Ian

Tools

For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE

104 episodes

#Questions And Answers #Music #Podcasting Education #Masters

All episodes

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show #100 - Matt Boudreau from Working Class Audio interviews... me ! 1:16:22

5 weeks ago1:16:22

1:16:22

I wanted to do something a little different to mark the 100th episode, but wasn't sure what. I was wondering about interviewing myself but that seemed a little weird... And then Matt Boudreau from the excellent Working Class Audio podcast invited me back onto his show, and it occurred to me - I could get Matt to interview me, which would be way more fun and get some much more interesting questions ! So here it is. Matt and I talk about all kinds of things including: My background in music, production and music technology How I got my start as a mastering engineer The responsibilities of the mastering engineer (and the mistake that nearly cost me my job) My first mastering chain, and how it inspired my Perception AB plugin How I feel about being 'The Loudness Guy' Hardware versus 'in-the-box' mastering Why mastering matters And loads more ! Full links on our website: www. themasteringshow.com/episode-100 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #99 - Recording, mixing and mastering acoustic guitar (with Richard Durrant) 52:57

8 weeks ago52:57

52:57

Stereo, mono, binaural or surround-sound ? I've worked with this episode's guest in all these formats and more over the many years we've been working together - but which does he prefer, and why ? Richard Durrant describes himself as an "Indie Classical" musician, which I think is a pretty good summary - but doesn't really take into account the fact that he also toured with Sky , worked as an accomplished session musician for many years and has released albums in a brilliantly eclectic variety of other genres and styles over the years. In this conversation we talk about: Why Richard records in an "acoustic igloo" (and what that is) Mic techniques for guitar and dealing with "wolf notes" on stringed instruments Real spaces versus digital reverb Touring (and performing) with a bicycle Performing Bach's cello suites on Banjo and Ukulele - how and why Full links on our website: www. themasteringshow.com/episode-99 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE…

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The Mastering Show #98 - Stem mastering, Dynamics and Dolby Atmos at Abbey Road (with Oli Morgan) 1:18:31

17 weeks ago1:18:31

1:18:31

'Stem mastering' has provoked a ton of debate recently, with people claiming it crosses the line between mixing and mastering, interferes with the artist's intent, and isn't even really mastering at all ! But if that's true, why would Abbey Road , one of the biggest mastering studios in the world, offer a dedicated stem mastering service ?! In this episode I talk to Oli Morgan , who specialises in stem mastering and mixing in mastering in Dolby Atmos at Abbey Road, about all these questions and more. We talk about: How he got started in mastering (and what that has in common with me) His perspective on stem mastering – when and how it can be helpful How (and why) stem mastering is a key element for working in Immersive Audio and Dolby Atmos What we can learn about dynamics from working in Dolby Atmos Why the 'pressure sound' may not be all about heavy limiting How we might be able to have our cake and eat it in the quest to balance loudness and dynamics Full links on our website: www. themasteringshow.com/episode-98 Mentioned in this episode: Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

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39 weeks ago51:49

51:49

The term “legend” gets thrown all the time in audio production circles, but my guest this episode really deserves it. I’m sure you already know this but Ken Scott has worked with the Beatles, David Bowie, Elton John and Supertramp amongst so many others, so I was delighted when he agreed to join me for this episode ! There were so many things we could have talked about it was hard to know where to start, but here are just a few of the topics we covered: * Why Abbey Road trained their engineers in mastering before they were ever allowed to engineer a recording session * The value of mentors - and being thrown in at the deep end * Mixing in sections (instead of using automation) * When limited resources are a Good Thing * Re-mixing Ziggy Stardust in Dolby Atmos (with added drum samples…!) * …and how the new mix translates to stereo Full show notes on our website https://themasteringshow.com/episode-97 Mentioned in this episode: Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources…

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The Mastering Show #96 - Flippin' Clippin' ! 1:08:32

43 weeks ago1:08:32

1:08:32

We’ve been using “soft clipping" in mastering for over 20 years at this point, but it suddenly feels as if it’s all anyone is talking about ! New plugins, new suggestions about how to use it, and wild new claims about how amazing it sounds. Except it doesn’t. At least – not all the time, and not for all material. In this episode Joe Caithness and I dig deep into the details and talk about: * What clipping is, and what it isn’t * The crucial differences between hard and soft clipping * What makes a great clipping plugin (and why comparing them is a nightmare) * Some of our favourite clipping plugins and how we use them * The kinds of material that work best with clipping, and what type to use * The golden rule to follow if you want to experiment with clipping yourself Full show notes and links on our website: https://themasteringshow.com/episode-96 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #95 - Loudness trends in 2024: should you follow them ? with Ian Stewart 1:15:23

49 weeks ago1:15:23

1:15:23

The Billboard Top 50 global singles from the first half of 2024 have an average loudness of -8.3 LUFS So that’s how loud we should be making our masters, right ? Well… It certainly might seem that way, but in reality it’s a bit more complicated than that. This is only one of the interesting results that Ian Stewart presented in his latest blog post for iZoTope, and in this episode I asked him back on to really dig into some of the details and nuance. Plus I also wanted to talk to him about the amazing plug-in that got invented during the last episode he was on ! (Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it 😛) During the show we talk about: * What that -8 LUFS average result REALLY means, and how much attention you should pay to it * Who the most successful artist in the Top 50 is, and the loudness statistics of their music * The problem with the title iZotope chose for the post * All the other results, trends and biases in the data * Basslane Pro, the plug-in Ian worked with Tone Projects to develop, why it’s unique - and how The Mastering Show helped it happen ! Full show notes on our site https://themasteringshow.com/episode-95 Mentioned in this episode: Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources…

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show #94 -The truth about vinyl (with Scott Hull) 1:19:47

1 year ago1:19:47

1:19:47

People are always asking me about mastering for vinyl, and I’m happy to try and help based on the experience I have. I don’t actually cut vinyl myself though, so that advice is always limited and second-hand. So for this episode I decided to talk to a genuine expert on the topic - Scott Hull from Masterdisk - and really get into the details. Scott’s knowledge and experience of cutting vinyl is enormous, as you’ll hear, and I took full advantage of that in this episode ! Some of the things we talked about include: The 4 stages of vinyl production, and why each is important How making assumptions about vinyl mastering can backfire Why choosing which plant is going to press the records is crucial The crucial role of the lathe - and it’s setup The myth of duration on vinyl - why “20 minutes per side” isn’t a hard and fast rule Why less limiting allows you to cut louder on vinyl What is the magic of vinyl ? Full show notes and links on our website https://themasteringshow.com/episode-94 Mentioned in this episode: Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #93 - Do you NEED to be mastering loud ? 1:30:01

1 year ago1:30:01

1:30:01

I’m always arguing for balanced dynamics rather than loudness for it’s own sake, but some people have a different opinion - high loudness is important, and even beneficial. Nick Di Lorenzo is one of them - he says that loudness is important regularly on his YouTube channel. So in this episode I invited him on to explore that idea in more detail, and really get into the nuances of the topic. Do you need to be mastering loud ? Topics include: * The practicalities of loudness * What makes things sound loud anyway ? * Record labels versus loudness * Why loudness IS important * Why LUFS don’t matter, and * The difference between loudness and LUFS Full show notes on our website https://themasteringshow.com/episode-93 Mentioned in this episode: Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show #92 - These are not the LUFS you are looking for 20:28

1 year ago20:28

20:28

You can't go a day without someone telling you how loud your music should be, these days. "Everything has to be -8 LUFS" "EDM has to be -6 LUFS or louder" "-11 is the perfect balance" "Just master everything to -14" ...but they can't all be right ! In fact, none of them are, and even more importantly, they may not even be talking about the same thing. And the differences are really important. So in this episode I try explain really clearly and concisely: The 3 different types of LUFS The difference between them Why it’s crucial to know which type you’re talking about Why mastering to integrated targets makes no sense When -14 LUFS isn’t loud enough – and why ? Why it’s not about ‘how loud’, it’s about how you make it loud Why integrated LUFS values are the result, not the goal of mastering Full show notes on our website https://themasteringshow.com/episode-92 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian Tools For Ian's mastering plugins, click HERE…

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show # 91 - Mixing and mastering music for the movies with Alan Meyerson 54:08

2 years ago54:08

54:08

It’s virtually impossible that you haven’t heard music of some kind mixed by Alan Meyerson by this point - he’s one of the most prolific and successful film score mixers in the business. And luckily for us, he’s also super-generous and open about the information he shares, including his perspectives on mixing and ‘mastering’ music for the movies. So in this episode we dig deep into all the details, including topics like: * Is there really such a thing as ‘mastering’ for film ? * What needs to be delivered, and what is the process ? * How loud does it need to be - are there any standards ? * When does Alan deliver mixes in Atmos, and why ? * How he uses the centre channel and surround channels * Why you might want to use saturation or pitch-shifting (!) in a movie score mix Show notes http://themasteringshow.com/episode-91 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #90 - Inter-sample peaks and True Peak limiting - the devilish details 49:00

2 years ago49:00

49:00

Everyone is talking about inter-sample peaks and True Peak limiters - or in fact it’s more accurate to say they’re arguing about whether ISPs are audible or not, and whether True Peak limiters sound bad ! In this episode I’m joined by Alexey Lukin, iZotope’s “godfather of RX”, to talk in detail about exactly what ISPs are and why they’re so confusing - including: * How are inter-sample peaks measured, and why do you see different results with different meters ? * What are DSP overshoot peaks, and how are they different ? * What does over-sampling have to do with all this, and why is it important ? * Do True Peak limiters really sound bad, and how should we test them ? * Why will they NOT prevent lossy decoder clipping, sometimes ? And * What the hell are we supposed to do about all this ?!? Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #89 - Sonic Fundamentals for Podcasters with Matt Boudreau 48:34

2 years ago48:34

48:34

If you’re not already listening to Matt Boudreau’s fantastic podcast Working Class Audio, you need to start now ! Matt is a highly respected mixing and mastering engineer who has recently moved into working in Dolby Atmos, where he’s already picked up some seriously impressive credits - oh, and also produces one of the top Audio podcasts around. Which is why if I try to think of anyone better to learn the fundamentals of good audio for podcasting and journalism from… well, I can’t. And the great news is that Matt has put together a new “PodClass” course to help people with just that. In this episode we talk about the course and what inspired it, but also plenty of other great stuff, including Making the move from pro musician to audio engineer Getting started in Atmos - workflow, dynamics and more Work-Life balance - is it better to be a lark, or a night-owl ? The secret advantages of running your own podcast... …and the crucial importance of great audio (And what it has to do with COVID lockdowns !) Enjoy - and if you want to try Matt’s course, make sure to use the discount code TMS to get a 30% discount and help support The Mastering Show at the same time ! Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show #88 - Do DJs REALLY want loud masters ? 1:26:00

2 years ago1:26:00

1:26:00

DJs get a lot of flak, especially about loudness. There’s a deep-seated belief that “loud” masters are still a requirement for club music, and that DJs are somehow to blame. But is this fair ? The reality is much more complicated and interesting than the popular cliche that DJs will only play loud masters, and in this episode Ian dives deep into the issue with Joe Caithness, who works as both a DJ and a mastering engineer. Topics include: The reality of DJ-ing The problem with peaks Loudness ? Or consistency ? The power of Pioneer The shocking missed opportunity of loudness metadata The ‘sound’ of loudness And much more ! Full shownotes on our site https://themasteringshow.com/episode-88 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

1
The Mastering Show #87 - Fix mastering problems - in the recording ! 1:14:20

3 years ago1:14:20

1:14:20

It’s amazing what mastering can achieve - but it’s also amazing how many things can influence the results we get right from the recording stage. In this episode Ian talks to Mike Senior about how to fix mastering problems at the recording stage, without using a time machine ! Topics include how to avoid: Muddy mids Harsh guitars Sibilance Resonant snares Boomy or hollow vocals Exposed vocals Stereo image issues And many more ! Links Mike has put together a fantastic page of resources for this episode, including an excellent video about stereo mic technique - click here make sure you check it out ! https://cambridge-mt.com/misc/mastering-show-2212-resources/ https://themasteringshow.com/episode-87 Mentioned in this episode: Learn to master ! Click HERE to see Ian's courses and mastering resources Mastering Click HERE to work with Ian…

The Mastering Show

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The Mastering Show #86 - Mastering plugins - technical versus creative 42:57

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