May 6 Observation - Mezz and Mastering - Posted on 2018-05-08 by Sean \\\'Glass\\\' Kancewick

At today's observation we started the day by heading up to the Mezzanine and setting up two pairs of condenser mics on stands. We had the AKG C 414s on separate stands that we would be milking with as a spaces stereo pair and the Schoeps on one stand using a stereo bar with a XY set up. We went two different routes with our signal flow. Our Schoeps went and hit the 2-610 UA pre then hit Protools. Our spaced pair of a 414s went straight into the SSL hitting those pres. Mark broke down the channel strip earlier that day before setting up, so I asked Rohan if we could use the inserts on the 2 channels and insert an outboard compressor. We Miked the piano in the Piano booth with a few different placements, Rohan played for us as we recorded and we got to listen to how the different placements affected our recording. After this we headed to the mastering room where Mark was working on mastering a project for an artsit. We got to see 1st hand the situations you may run into with artists, reps or labels sending you different file types and how to deal with it. Deal with it from both the technical side and the management side. After that, one of the artists had brought in a mix of his own and we were able to listen on the speakers in the Mastering room. This was nice because he was able to analyze and find the strengths and weaknesses in his mix. Great day at Engine Room Audio.