mastering in australia

[potatoaswife]

hello there

i just moved to melbourne from the US and am looking for a very experienced and talented ME to master an album for cd and vinyl, hopefully in the $1000 range. someone with a great ear, who can work creatively with us, would be great.

a few people have told me that "dex mastering" is pretty good.

no offense to anyone, but i am really looking for solid information, rather than just "so-and-so does it" or "i can do it".

cheers!

mike

[dcollins]

Originally Posted by potatoaswife

hello there

i just moved to melbourne from the US and am looking for a very experienced and talented ME to master an album for cd and vinyl, hopefully in the $1000 range. someone with a great ear, who can work creatively with us, would be great.

a few people have told me that "dex mastering" is pretty good.

no offense to anyone, but i am really looking for solid information, rather than just "so-and-so does it" or "i can do it".

Check out Tony Mantz:

http://www.jackthebear.com.au/

He's in Melbourne.

DC

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by dcollins

Check out Tony Mantz:

http://www.jackthebear.com.au/

He's in Melbourne.

DC

Tony recently built a new Augspurger room. Looks nice. Check him out.

[adamcal]

along with Tony you shold also look at

http://www.crystalmastering.com.au

and

http://www.edensound.com.au/

[tsd]

Mate, in melbourne its very hard to go past John @ chrystal. He is one of those "extra mile" guys. ive sent down the last couple of records to him and they come back smokin!!!

[Brad Blackwood]

Another vote for Tony - I've heard his work and he's good.

[bionic]

Hey Mike,

I have used nearly every mastering studio in the country on multiple occasions over the last 12 years or so. I have had good and bad experiences with most of them. It got to the stage where I would basically choose the mastering house that I thought best suited each project to try and minimise any re-mastering, adjustments etc which would always eat into deadlines, release schedules and the like.

I got a bit sick of paying $2K + for getting an album done when I wasn't entirely happy with the end result.

I am based up in Brisbane, and a while ago Matthew Gray Mastering started operating in town. I used him for a few jobs and was blown away by the musicality of his approach. I have used him exclusively since (now going on 3 years) for EVERY job I have produced. I have not been disappointed once in all that time and his rates are extremely reasonable. I produce a wide range of music : Country, Rock, Pop, Gospel, Hardcore, Metal - basically anything with good songs (and a decent budget lol) in their particular genre and Matthew Gray has exceeded my expectations on every occasion and with every style. I find him to be very thorough technically but also instinctive and reactive musically which means far more of what you are passionate about in your project gets preserved.

Sorry if this is a little long winded Mike but as you can tell, I am very happy with my new arrangement. You should definitely check him out. You can upload mixes to his FTP is you don't want to/can't fly up to Brisbane - very easy and professional.

www.matthewgraymastering.com

Regards,

Caleb James.

[Masterer]

call Tony bro.
Great guy, passionate about his work. He's got a nice new studio and if you get in a bar fight after the session he'll probably save your ass.

[Aisle 6]

Hi there Mike. (G'day mate)
Mastering is a big decision. I have used many of the biggest mastering studios in the country over the past 7+ years, including the obvious ones, and have nearly always been happy. But I got sick of flying to another city to sit in on the session. If I sat in on the session, I was happy with the result, if I did not, then it seemed to be never quite right.
I then sent one song to 3 of the top mastering studios to see what would come of the result. I also sent the same song to Matthew Gray Mastering up here in Brisbane. I have been using him ever since. The best news is that I rarely ever attend the session any more and am absolutely stoked with the results. Every time!
Also, I am now paying about half of what I was previously paying. It just keeps getting better.
Matthew Gray has some great gear Weis, Sontec etc and is just about to receive an Ampex ATR 102 1/2". (Drool!)
I produce a lot of Indie Rock, Pop, Gospel, Emo etc, etc and he is always mastering for the song. Which is the priority in my book.
My advice is just get him do 1 song and see what you think.
But I warn you, that one song will be like the first freebie to a crack head. You be back for more.
Cheers,
Scott.


www.matthewgraymastering.com

[Lindell]

Originally Posted by Masterer

....and if you get in a bar fight after the session he'll probably save your ass.

[PQM]

Hey Mike,

I've been recording and releasing material for over 15 years, and like you, have decided to make Melbourne my home (originally from NY). When I first arrived 2002, I used a few different mastering engineers and found myself needing to get projects redone, either cause they didn't sound right days later OR they sounded great when I was in the studio, but had no impact when I heard my stuff played out.

I am sure there are many qualified people in this town when it comes to mastering, and I don't want to say one guy is better then the rest... but time is money and the one thing I can say about Tony Mantz is you get the job done right the first time, which is why I'll only use Tony from now on, even if it means I have to wait an extra week and push back deadlines (cause last year I've made the mistake of using someone else and ended up missing a costly December deadline when the label was unhappy with the results)

When you hear your song on the radio, it sounds right... when you hear it back in a club, it sounds right... but most importantly, when you hear your project days later on fresh ears... it always sounds better then how you remember it.

Hope that's helped you in some way mate. Enjoy life in the worlds most livable city!

PQM

- - - His contact info:

www.jackthebear.com.au

[Jerry Tubb]

Another vote for Jack the Bear, Tony's a great guy doing fine work in a nice new room!

JT

[phild]

Originally Posted by Masterer

call Tony bro.
Great guy, passionate about his work. He's got a nice new studio and if you get in a bar fight after the session he'll probably save your ass.

Yeah! No joke.
I met Tony in back 1998 when he was visiting a bunch of mastering studios in North America... he was in town visiting The Lacquer Channel and in particular our chief engineer, George Graves.

Before I actually met him (I was an intern at the time) I was tipped off that Tiny used to work locally as a bouncer. He was part wrestling champion, kung fu fighter, a 7th level ninja specializing in invisibility and a guy that arm wrestled for every piece of gear he owned (he actually had to build a bigger studio this year....)

When I asked who the outgoing "big guy" was the studio manager said "that's Tiny Mantz". I even remember that he was wearing a WWF shirt. Stone Cold Steve Austin!

I thought what kind of name is "Tiny?"

Was it "Tiny" in the same way one thinks of Curly of the 3 stooges as the bald guy? Or a hard-as-nails lifer at San Quentin by the name of "Bubbles"?

No.......

It wasn't until he introduced himself and started talking that I figured out that "Tiny" is really just Australian for "Tony".

The guy will become your best friend if you meet him.... and he just kills it in the mastering studio!

Check out his new Augsperger designed room.
He'll probably give you a break on the invoice if you can successfully pull a "kato" on him!

Phil

[matt thomas]

tony again, as well as doing a good job he is a really nice guy. I have used a few other mastering houses in australia but have been hapiest, or at least most consistently so, with tony

narco

[Pixel25]

hey guys,

seriously I can't go past the guys at Crystal Mastering.
They're in Melbourne. They've just re-mastered 2 albums previously done
elsewhere in melbourne and os. The results were awesome, Iwas totallly blown away.

Joe and John are so switched on they could light up Las Vegas.

i wouldn't go past Crystal.

[AntVanZandt]

Hey potatoaswife

I rang around and asked to visit mastering studios. I thought it was the best way to get the vibe of what the places were like. Some talked about themselves a lot, the better ones asked questions and listened to me. I felt comfortable with Crystal and went with them.

Call around and ask to visit, meet the people, have a look at their studios. If you can't talk to them during the session, it makes it difficult to tell them if you're happy/unhappy with what they're doing to your work. That is why I was happy with where I went and what I ended up with.

Good Luck and Welcome to Melbourne

Ant

[tonymite]

the above mentioned + rick at turtlerockmastering.com no one said it had to be in melb.

[trent]

Mastering in Melbourne? IMHO, John Roberto at Chrystal mastering is your best bet.

Dex Audio could be ok, Daniel has some of the best ears in the business, an eccentric genius who is highly underrated...but I doubt he has time to do mastering himself these days, he's usually off creating the worlds most advanced DI or studio monitors. Incidentally, John Roberto used to work at Dex and trained under Daniel- and clearly that knowledge rubbed off.

Chrystal would be my primary choice based on John's science, ears, intuition and results.

[menialmoose]

http://www.crystalmastering.com.au/

When my band's album was sent to be be mastered by Jay Burnett by our UK label TT, we almost agreed to let it be released before we heard it - Fed Ex had taken FIVE AND A HALF WEEKS to courier it to us from London. (Not the only time that happened with them either.)
The label said 'It sounds great! Great! But, um maybe you should , ur, hear it'

Burnett had been tape op on Sinatra's my way as a kid, actually engineered Bambaata's Planet Rock which many would agree altered the course of contemporary music in a way we still feel now. Beastie Boys, he did a lot of their tracks too.
That said, he apparently had had a mastering concern going for some years, so I don't believe he started that week 'cause he was short of a buck.
The above - I'm goin on the best info i have.

We had gone from mixing and recording on the Neve in HotHouse to various gruesome home setups, but had somehow managed to get consistent enough results that the label accepted the album as a whole. IT was NOT EASY.
We waited. Previously we had had 'Guy' at The Exchange do it via TT with exceptionally good results. Worthy of high praise. Amazing.

Then we received the stinking filth that was was the reference master that we took, as we still do, to be the Jay Burnett version.

I am unclear as to the situation - was Burnett asked to do a quik 2 hour job for 50 quid when he had his next cancellation?
Was he busy mastering another best of Kylie and gave it to the work experience kid 'cos some of the tracks sounded 'budget' to him and he longed for the days where there were only Tascam Portastudio 4 Tracks for the artist and recording and mixes were only done by the elite?
I wish I knew.


Crystal saved it. It was so vastly superior. And Joe had declined to hear the existing version that had been done so he hadn't set a bar to get over.

I had at first panicked, assumed it might have been - what, unmasterable? Was there such a thing? This would be puzzling though, as we earnestly strive to keep our mixes as dynamic as possible and listen almost unquestioningly and with great obedience to advice from experienced pro masterers and engineers, all of whom we hold in high regard, even awe.
Were our mixes that bad?

I will remain grateful to Joe and Crystal for ever.
One day I will post the tracks as:
-our mixes.
-the first mastered versions.
-the Crystal versions.

I will re-name names.

And that, THAT would be an advertisment for Crystal Mastering.

I wonder whether the above is defamatory?
I hope so.

flush em out.
bring it. three years later and i still get angry.

btw the reason i'm not stating the name of my band at this point is that, as i have seen on a few occasions in forums, some attacked professionals get wind of negative criticism and come in duke it out.
in this case i would imagine we are hardly an isolated incident with this masterer.
it sucked that much.it couldn't have been serious.
i would imagine he would be sweating who, of so many, it is exactly making these claims.
and that would bring me pleasure. screw self promotion.

[Adam Dempsey]

Originally Posted by trent

Mastering in Melbourne?

Dex Audio could be ok, Daniel has some of the best ears in the business, an eccentric genius who is highly underrated...but I doubt he has time to do mastering himself these days, he's usually off creating the worlds most advanced DI or studio monitors. Incidentally, John Roberto used to work at Dex and trained under Daniel- and clearly that knowledge rubbed off.

fwiw, yes Daniel hasn't mastered a record in years but does design great tube DI's, phono pre's and mods to amps, etc. I've moved on after 11 years as senior ME at Dex, now with Tony "Jack the Bear" at Deluxe. Simply a brilliant room, gear and decades of combined experience on all genres - feel free to arrange a visit.

[Led]

Crystal in Melbourne, Rick O'Neill is the man in Sydney.

[Musiclab]

Matt Gray is Very good and very conscientious. There is a thread about squashed snares where I sent a track to him, he is supposed to post before and afters, which would give you an idea of his work

[C Heat]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

Matt Gray is Very good and very conscientious. There is a thread about squashed snares where I sent a track to him, he is supposed to post before and afters, which would give you an idea of his work

Matt Gray. Was very happy with his work.

[audiomeister]

There is no doubt that the best mastering facility and engineer is David Briggs from the Little River Band running the Production Workshop in Melbourne.He has not only the best ears and musical understanding of a variety of styles that I have ever seen, with probably more experience than anyone else in this country. He has just opened a new Mastering suite that is the most accurate and best sounding room that I have ever heard:and the masters transfer better than I have experienced .I have tried all the other guys in Melbourne and Sydney, and frankly it's a no brainer...if you want the best result for your music go see him... He is very reasonably priced as well...

[Ben F]

Matt Grey, Tony Mantz, William Bowden and Don Bartley are all very good.

There is also Adam and I at S O N A M A X

[BigSkyAudio]

I have been a client of Mr Briggs for nearly 20 yrs now and have had my work mastered by many and various other people over that time.
Most haven't impressed me enough to return.
I'll be at the workshop again tomorrow.
Trust, listen and learn, your work will only get better when exchanging knowledge with a talented individual,
Nothing like hearing honestly,
Cheers, Neil.

Originally Posted by audiomeister

There is no doubt that the best mastering facility and engineer is David Briggs from the Little River Band running the Production Workshop in Melbourne.He has not only the best ears and musical understanding of a variety of styles that I have ever seen, with probably more experience than anyone else in this country. He has just opened a new Mastering suite that is the most accurate and best sounding room that I have ever heard:and the masters transfer better than I have experienced .I have tried all the other guys in Melbourne and Sydney, and frankly it's a no brainer...if you want the best result for your music go see him... He is very reasonably priced as well...