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Established 1998

Studio Services Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is mixing?
2. What is production?
3. What is post-production?
4. What is mastering?
5. How does mastering differ for CD vs. vinyl?
6. How do you go about your work?
7. What kind of work do you do?
8. What digital audio file formats to you use?
9. What is the meaning of some audio term?
10. What are your rates?

Sorry, but we are not a recording studio and cannot provide sound recording services. There are a number of good studios in the Portland area that we'd be happy to refer you to, depending on what kind of music or audio you want to record. See our links page for more information.

Mixing is when two or more tracks of audio are played back simultaneously and re-recorded into a single track that is a finalized song. You provide us with the individual tracks, which we sequence, perform various production or post-production work (at your discretion), and then mix all the tracks down into a song.

Mixing is billed by the hour and can take a few to many hours to complete, depending on the quality of the audio tracks, notes and information about the recording provided, etc. For instance, proper lead-ins and click tracks to align the recordings are important. Without cues, it can take many hours to line up the individual tracks. Getting the relative levels of each track/instrument set correctly can take a lot of time as well.

For example, someone sends us a DAT that contains separate tracks for a song: vocals, guitar, several guitar overdubs, chimes, cymbals and organ. We would sequence these tracks and adjust output levels on each to prepare a rough mix. At this point, production can commence on individual tracks in the song.

Most people use the term production to describe "producing" the actual music, e.g., recording it in a studio or live setting. We prefer the term recording engineering. Read our section on production for more information.

Please see the Wikipedia entry on audio mixing for more information.

Production is processing of the individual tracks used in a mix. This includes effects, noise reduction, compression, EQ, and lots of other techniques to help make the source material sound as good as possible and fit within the mix. It can be as simple as removing hiss or hum from a particular part of a recording or as much as multiband EQ that reduces and accentuates certain parts of a sound. The process can be brief or time-intensive, depending on the work that needs to be done.

Most people use the term production to describe "producing" the actual music, e.g., recording it in a studio or live setting. We prefer to call that stage simply record engineering, as defined by Steve Albini. In the world of big studios since at least WWII, a record producer rarely runs the equipment, but has a major say in the way things are recorded and the overall sound.

Once the production is complete, a full mix down is done to create a (nearly) finished song. Usually it is good enough for demo purposes.

Post-production is done on a mixed-down song, for which the individual tracks are not available. The same kinds of effects and processing are done as in production but are limited since they affect the entire song, not just a particular track. Nonetheless, some amazing results can be obtained. Certain types of sounds can be accentuated or reduced, and overall a group of recordings can be made to sound more even and consistent, which is essential for a CD or LP release.

Mastering is the final step in preparing a recording for duplication and release. It's a matter of processing the entire recording to make it sound as good as possible for the given medium.

The term "mastering" is also oftenused when speaking about the actual lathe cutting of a master copy for pressing vinyl records, since it creates the "master" copy from which records are pressed. Please see the entry on Direct Metal Mastering for more details.

Mastering for CD is fairly straightforward. It involves a couple of hours of work to analyze the song, and then certain processing is applied to it to maximize the overall volume or amplitude while retaining as much of the dynamics as possible.

In the case of pressing vinyl records, there are actually two steps involved with mastering: the preparation of the source material on tape, CDR or DAT so that it is appropriate for the limitations and quirks of vinyl records, and the actual preparation of the recording lathe used to cut the metal master. Both stages are an art as much as a science, and the relatively few remaining experts who cut a good metal master are in high demand. We provide the former; a duplication house or record pressing plant usually provides the latter, although there are a few mastering engineers who do the lathe cutting themselves.

We use two different commercial mastering packages that we know very well and have written quite a few presets for ourselves. Both are digital domain.

The first one is meant to simulate analog gear (compression, equalization, and limiting.) It tends to emphasize vocals and guitar heavily, although we have presets designed to prevent either if that's not needed. It's perfect for anything that might play on mainstream radio or for anything that benefits from an analog sound. For example, we used it a lot on Christina Carter's "Bastard Wing" LP on Eclipse Records.

We tend to use it for rock, pop, metal, and similar types of music where an analog sound is desirable and getting the levels as high ("hot") as possible is important.

The other we find more appropriate for music that tends more towards dynamics, where the recording ranges from quiet to quite loud. It's very effective for electronic, classical and jazz music, amongst others. It also tends to over-emphasize the vocal and bass ranges, but we have presets to avoid either or both, if needed. We tend to use it with our custom "flat" presets so that levels are raised, dynamics are maintained, and the bass and vocal ranges are unchanged

There are vast differences between CD and vinyl records as audio mediums. Vinyl is hardly "true analog" as Steve Albini and other CD detractors have argued, and cannot reproduce sound better than CDs.

There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the analog audio signal recorded to vinyl is not done in a linear (direct) fashion, but is instead transformed by a process commonly known as the "RIAA Equalization Curve", and secondly, because of this transformation, and the physical nature of vinyl and the way a groove and needle interact, it is not capable of ever producing an exact reproduction of the sound. No matter what the audiophiles claim.

Here's why the sound is transformed: to keep the grooves from becoming too big (to allow for as much recording time on each side as possible, and to avoid grooves so large that the needle might jump out of them) or too small (where the needle would be too big to fit within the groove and would tend to skip out.) The higher frequencies also create a problem during the cutting of the master (or "dub" plate) because the vibrations are so quick that it can create too much heat in the lathe used to etch the record master and can destroy expensive cutting needles.

To quote from the Wikipedia on the RIAA curve:

The only drawback of the system is that rumble from the playback turntable's drive mechanism is greatly amplified, which means that players have to be carefully designed to avoid this. RIAA equalization is not a simple low-pass filter. It carefully defines roll-off points in three places - 2122 Hz, 500 Hz and 50 Hz (the last being a high-pass to combat rumble).

When we prepare a recording for vinyl vs. CD, we need to take these facts into account. Since vinyl has a certain natural "bass" quality to it, caused by boosting of lower frequencies due to the RIAA equalization and the rumble of the mechanics of the turntable itself, we have processors which have been programmed to roll off the bottom and top ends to match the RIAA curve, and to also take the bass end down a little because being on vinyl, it will naturally be boosted on playback. The RIAA curve also tends to boost the vocal range, so we some times need to reduce those frequencies as well.

You name it, and we can convert it. We have software that supports over 80 different kinds of music file formats, although there are only about 20-25 that are commonly used today. Have an audio track that's in the sound format used by an Amiga 1000 or Atari ST computer? We can even convert those!

The first step is to figure out what services you need and then, if necessary, write up an estimate of the overall work to be done. The initial estimate is a ballpark figure, and once the source material has been heard and analyzed, and the details of what needs to be done are settled, a revised estimate is provided for the full project. Payment is then expected for the original estimate and any work involved with it.

A standard mastering job on already mixed tracks can be simple and affordable. Please contact us for fixed rates.

We can work with CDR, DAT, or even almost any computer audio format file. We prefer CDRs for mastering work because that way the songs are already ordered and arranged as you'd like them. With DAT or audio files, we'll have to do more work to put the songs in order (known as compiling a cue sheet), which costs slightly more.

In the end, we'll provide you with two or three CDRs that are ready to send to a pressing or duplication company. We also keep backup copies in permanent storage.

We are a production, post-production and mastering studio. We are not a recording studio but work with existing recordings, in any format. For a list of local recording studios, please see our links page.

We have done the following kinds of jobs over the years:

• Produced, remixed, and mastered complete albums for release on vinyl and/or CD
• Post-produced and mastered poorly recorded albums, making them sound much better, cleaner, and more consistent
• Transferred old two-track reel-to-reel studio recordings to CD format
• Produced sound effects for Web sites
• Recorded and mastered DJ sets
• Transferred an audio biography from old tapes into digital (CD) format
• Recorded and engineered live shows
• Cleaned up and transferred live recordings to digital (CD) format
• Made digital copies of vinyl records unavailable on CD
• Compiled multiple music sets with sound effects for a wedding

... and much more. Please see our demos page for examples of what we can do.

We've tried to explain the meaning of the services we offer, but some times people ask us to explain a technical term relating to audio. The best reference we've found online is Nathan's Audio Definitions Guide.