Its not about the equipment its about the person doing the mastering!

[huejahfink]

Originally Posted by Dene

and please don't put words in my mouth...

Nah - I wasn't implying that there was anything accusatory to what you said.
Sorry if you took it that way. My point was more along the lines that considering their relationship has been so long and stable that I seriously doubt trust issues of any kind would be involved.

You are probably right that it might happen sometimes - thoughtless interns perhaps, but I'm more inclined to believe that more pre-release leaks happen further on down, from the promotion arena once a the material is bouncing around a whole bunch of people who may not have an invested interest in the client or their products.
Even if we remove any kind of moral code from the question, the risk is just too great for any ME to honestly believe that to leak material won't become the death of them.

[huejahfink]

Originally Posted by Peakly

Dave Kutch with Alicia Keys:

Key to Keys: Dave Kutch, Mastering : SonicScoop – Creative, Technical & Business Connections For NYC’s Music & Sound Community

Mychal

Yes that's right it WAS Kutch. I was thinking about him.... I think I may remember it from the Pensado interview.

[Peakly]

Originally Posted by huejahfink

Yes that's right it WAS Kutch. I was thinking about him....

I'm not a mastering engineer, but if I was and I was doing that project I know at some point I would have been thinking, man I wish I could take these over to my studio and listen to them there.

I suppose the only reason that couldn't happen was because of security? Wow what a drag.

Mychal

[mixer898]

The quality of results depends on the skills of the engineer. The skills of the engineer depend on how in-depth its understanding with the audio mastering process, including the equipments he/she used. Agree?

[kosmokrator]

Originally Posted by chazmar

That's cliche. The gear matters. If you put a top fuel race car driver in an Impala, he's not going to win the race.

Bad analogy.
The difference between audio equipment is not as big as between those cars.

Matter in fact, I did one shoot-out (where I was the mixing engineer) with some very-well respected engineers on this forum (with their gear & rooms of course) and one very talented friend of mine who is normally using my setup to master.
Since I was mixing on my setup he couldn't use it for the test-master, so he did it at his place, just with plugins, an Mbox, Samson nearfields in a completely untreated room.

He won the shootout. We (artist, producer, I) did a double-blindtest of course to check out the masters.

So, it's not as easy as it seems. And that's coming from someone who has invested quite a lot in good gear / room himself.

[huejahfink]

Originally Posted by Peakly

I'm not a mastering engineer, but if I was and I was doing that project I know at some point I would have been thinking, man I wish I could take these over to my studio and listen to them there.

I suppose the only reason that couldn't happen was because of security? Wow what a drag.

Mychal

While the article did mention 'security' once, it seemed more important in most of the questions that it was about the convenient interaction between the artist, mixer and mastering so that the whole process became much more of a collaborative effort rather than 'ok, let's send these off.'

[AUDIOBOMBER]

Originally Posted by chazmar

That's cliche. The gear matters. If you put a top fuel race car driver in an Impala, he's not going to win the race.

thats cliche. the person matters.if you put arnold schwarzenegger in a top fuel race car , he`s not going to win the race

fazit : its the combination and the spirit

[Tarekith]

Over the years I've found the clients care more about the results than the process, doing well by them regardless of the gear is all that matters. The only people that care about the actual gear it seems are other engineers, and they aren't my clients.

Certainly you have to use tools up to the job and responsibility we take on when working on other people's art, but these days it's more about personal preference and preferred workflow than any bit of gear x being better than gear y. Within reason of course.

People worry too much about gear these days IMVHO. We're lucky that even some of the "lower end" gear can sound amazing in the right hands these days.

[Omega Arts]

I could care less about what equipment the mastering engineer uses as long as he/she turns out the desired results. Ken Love does all my mastering with me in the room. Why do I insist being in the room? I want to learn from him. He knows before I present a project where I need help. A true relationship with your mastering engineer is a must in my opinion. He knows my faults before I even show up. Rhat's what it is all all about. RELATIONSHIP!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Franco]

Me, I like Food Analogies when it comes to Mastering Audio:

For example, you can have one guy who buys the most expensive outdoor grill but has no idea how to use it versus a guy that's been grilling on a tiny Weber for ages.

In the end? Who cares, the wife wants her steak medium rare and the kids want hot dogs and burgers fast!

[Peakly]

Originally Posted by huejahfink

While the article did mention 'security' once, it seemed more important in most of the questions that it was about the convenient interaction between the artist, mixer and mastering so that the whole process became much more of a collaborative effort rather than 'ok, let's send these off.

Right, Dave talked about that a lot. But here's what he said towards the beginning of the interview:

"The reasons to do it like this, all under one roof, are a combination of convenience and security."

And it makes sense that the only reason he couldn't take it to his studio, or anywhere else except driving around in their cars together, was security. He obviously knows what he's doing as a mastering engineer, but the whole fear of theft thing, to that degree, is a drag. I get that people think it's necessary from a business standpoint, but from a musical standpoint, that kind of security causes compromises.

Mychal