datamusicata

23 July 2010, 10 a.m.

I am sitting here in Capitol Records in Hollywood, California, in the mastering lab with my favorite mastering engineer, Ron McMaster—yes, that’s his real name.  We are mastering my new solo CD, Backstage at the Resurrection.  Ron is one of the best mastering engineers in the business and has agreed to write a little bit about mastering very soon.

It is early morning and I got here from West Hills in twenty five minutes, and of course, I gave myself an hour and fifteen to drive the twenty two miles.   How do they know?  If you're running late, everything goes wrong.  Give yourself extra time and you suddenly have an hour to fill.  That's why I always travel with a good book...and a laptop.   You never know with Los Angeles traffic. 

But you do know what to do if you have worked with the same mastering engineer for a while.    What happens is, as you mix a song, you know what the mastering engineer is capable of and you accommodate that; you give him the room and the opportunity to contribute and to make the project better than it was.

Right now we are choosing an echo to use on the song, “Backhand Man”.   Because this is the studio where the Beachboys did that echo on the break of Good Vibrations, I know that I love the sound of that chamber, so I deliberately did not use any of my echo/reverb at Beachwood.  I saved it so that I could take full advantage of what was available to me here at Capitol.

That is one of the things about mastering.  You can make a recording anywhere, but when you master it at a real mastering lab with an experienced and gifted mastering engineer, your recording not only gets better, it gets competitive.  

As I listen to him bring to life tracks that I thought I had brought as much life as possible, I can’t help but smile.   This recording sounds as good as any recording anyone has ever made.

You may not like what I do, but there’s no denying the sound of what I do.  

I always use the best musicians I can find, the best instruments I can find, the best microphones I can afford or rent, etc.

Speaking of the best instruments, I remember doing an album with Russ Kunkel on the drums and after the first day of recording I asked him how he got such a good sound on his drums.

You buy good sounding drums, he said.   Funny, but also true.

After I upgraded to my Taylor 810 ce, my playing got better.   And when I got the Collings D2H, it got better again.

My dad use to say that a mechanic is only as good as his tools.  He always bought the best tools.    Do yourself a favor.

Buy the best tools, work with the best people in the best place you can.   Everything else will cost you more.