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Kristin Staub
I finally had a chance to blend a mix and it was fantastic! I was in the studio Monday and Tuesday this week going over chapters 3 and 4 learning about digital audio formats, quantization errors, sampling rates, and ADCs, bit depth and how that is related to amplitude, the Nyquist Theorem. We even had a chance to talk about some of the first digital recorders that he used when he first started audio engineering himself and to see how much technology has progressed to make recording more efficient. Signal flow is also important when micing instruments and getting the best sound quality. There is so much that goes into producing the best sound quality when recording that when you're just an average listener listening to music on the radio or an album that people don't even realize! I always wondered how albums sounded so "perfect". Now I know why. Yes, artists are incredibly talented, but watching how Edwin does his job as an audio engineer brings a lot of things to light.
Edwin's acute attention to detail is impressive. He hears the smallest errors and then goes to work and changes them right on the spot. When we sat down to listen to one of the songs on "Little Johnny" Rivera's and Eddie Palmieri's Latin jazz album, which Edwin is currently mastering, the before-and-after results are incredible... The work is really all in the details. I'm a huge fan of Eddie Palmieri because he is a fantastic music producer and Latin jazz pianist. To even have the privilege to sit down and listen to this album in-the-making, it is actually mindblowing because this could be a Latin grammy nominated album once it is finished. I have confidence that Edwin will definitely make that happen. The band is already fantastic, but with Edwin's creativity and attention to detail, the album will be top-notch.
So, with that being said, details such as listening for whole band entrances and fadeouts, solo entrances and fadeouts, balancing between instruments, brightening and mellowing out certain instrumental tones so they are crisper and cleaner and not too overpowering over other instruments, are so important when mastering an album. I love how Edwin is able to manipulate individual instrumental tracks. For example, moving the saxophone back just a hair so it lines up with the rest of the band when they are playing intricate rhythms and melodies already makes a huge difference when you listen to the result afterwards. I really like how Edwin also uses the stereo effect when the saxophone and the trumpet are playing with the rest of the band (the saxophone coming in from the left and the trumpet coming in from the right) and then centering both of them when it's just them playing without the band except the percussion, makes for an effective effect for mastering. We also had a chance to sit down and talk about how the congas were miced during their session because the sound is not coming out the way Edwin wants it to. In fact, we could hear when the right and left congas were playing how the mics are still picking up on the center conga rather than isolating the sounds of the right and left congas. In some ways, the sound of the right and left congas are slightly distorted because of the way the mics were set up. There should have been one mic for the center and then the side mics for the right and the left should have been pointed away from the center so it was not picking up on the center conga's frequencies. Listening for small details like that are what sets apart Edwin's records from a lot of other records.
His idea to make one of the tracks 5.1 surround sound is actually brilliant because he wants to make the listener feel like they are a part of the band as they are playing. Having performed in big bands, orchestras, and choirs the listening experience is way different than listening out in the audience. For a Latin jazz band it would make sense because there is a lot of call and response between different instrumental groups like the brass and the saxophones. I'm curious to see how Edwin will be able to create this effect and in some ways it's a big risk, because it could sound really good or it can sound hollow. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works out.
