Mandy Parnell: Mastering Audio

[@garethmcnicol516]

Brilliant, thanks to SoS and Mandy Parnell for sharing so much :)

[@JasonPaulJohnston]

This is not a beginner's mastering how-to, but if you have ever tried your hand at mastering, there is so much gold here. Much to be learned in 26 minutes.

[@atta1798]

try 20 years+

[@doradoradoramen]

This is the best and most concise explanation of mastering I have ever heard in 20 years researching the discipline and having heard and read what most of all the "top" mastering engineers in the world have had to say.

[@siriusfun]

You obviously haven't listened to Greg Calbi. Do yourself a favour and search his name here. There's plenty.

[@atta1798]

@@siriusfun Greg is the best. You learn real engineering in Mastering on his videos.

[@sofiedykmans764]

Mandy, you are a true master in mastering, and it's all about vocal level... I'll keep that one in mind! Love your work.

[@atta1798]

what do you think che meant it is all about the vocal level when many productions have no vocals?

[@duroxkilo]

she specifically referred to tracks that contain vocals... what she meant is the vocals' level has a Huge impact on the listener @@atta1798

[@cullenBrooksMrBrooksmixingLLC]

I love her she is one of the best in the business! EMI is golden!!!

[@Platnumbaby]

I have been doing this since 1994. I have watched thousands of hours of engineering videos and this is one of the best hands down.

[@atta1798]

Not the best but quality

[@estreetlevi8204]

What a wealth of information and insight. Many thanks to Ms. Parnell for taking time to share so much on the way she approaches mastering.

[@teddymartyn1092]

wheres the questions? I would ask, What do you like about the EMI? Why did you choose the inward connections eq? what other eq's do you like? Whats the eq on the emi like, if there is one? Did the EMI require much work to get it going? What plug ins do you rate? What does the EMI do to the sound? Why did you choose the monitors that you have? What other monitors do you have? What other speakers do you listen to music on away from the studio? Tell us about the acoustic treatment in the room? did you get it right first time, did you have to tweak it? Who put it together? Where did you buy the EMI ? How easy is it to assemble a record lathe after you purchased it? Do you have any other technical help? Whats your fave Studer? is it varispeed? Where do you get your stuff serviced? Who are your fave service engineers? Whats the most work you ever spent on a project? Whats the least work? Did you ever give up on a project? Do you come under pressure to finish a project? Is it a good thing or too much some times? who has put too much pressure on you? Is a record lathe easy to maintain? How much was the emi desk? whats the history of it? Whats the history of the record lathe? Do you ever get modifactions done to equipment or talk to plug-in developers?

[@easycoding8255]

I don't think that interview would appeal to as many people. Those questions are okay for people who are interested in learning more about the specifics of mastering but I think it was perfectly ample and interesting to hear about her job generally, relationship with clients, workflow and artistic input.

[@therhinoceros1]

Awesome interview... thanks for taking the time to do it for us

[@drampadreg1386]

I feel the same about analog, it was some of the imperfections of analog gear that gave it that field of depth for the ears and has an almost liquid sound to it especially if played back on some high end tube gear. I also loved those Tannoy Gold monitors in the back ground, that era of monitors seemed to make mixing pretty easy on the ears especially the concentric drivers that seem to put off that studio tan effect for an extra hour or two. You know if you were to soffit mount the Tannoy's with a 1/4" layer of dense foam between them and the external soffit cabinet they will go into, then surround that second cabinet with sand you get down about another 5 Hz extra in the lower range just by cleaning up the coupling effects and internal cabinet anomalies. (F Alton Everest r.i.p. goes into detail how to mount soffit speakers properly in his books) Sand is very heavy though. Thank you for the video!

[@twilightbiscuit]

she's cool...so few women in mixing and mastering

[@Syklonus]

There's nothing stopping women becoming mastering engineers. Most just don't want to do it.

[@Bestmann3n]

@@Syklonus are you saying this as a woman with experience trying to become a mastering engineer?

[@glissandogirl]

Syklone It’s so hard to be taken seriously behind the board, especially while you’re trying to learn. It’s already so hard to prove yourself AND overcome a gender bias. Very discouraging.

[@gahgahgahd00]

@@Syklonus according to a man lmao gtfo mate

[@___xyz___]

@@glissandogirl I don't know about mastering specifically, but I know a good few women that are doing great in sound engineering in Scandinavia at least. In my opinion, it's not so much a conscious gender bias, but more the fact that most people working these kinds of roles historically are men, and for reasons I won't go into men and women tend to not communicate so well these days. So it's rather that women who can't break the barrier, and become "one of the guys" (or vice versa), form a small minority where improvement and progress is not as streamlined as in the boys club. But like I said, I've seen women make it, so it's definitely possible. I think that, in the end, the most successful people in any discipline are the ones who are passionately committed to what they're doing, regardless of their gender. They will make it anyway.

[@kelvinbullen]

Thank you for sharing Mandy Gorgeous

[@ReeWebster]

Truth! Finally an engineer who calls it how they see it. The loudness wars is in full swing.

[@TheDUDATION]

tides are slowly turning. at least i hope.

[@duroxkilo]

:) it's going to be here for a while. lots of music is being listened to while doing other things, not a large percentage of ppl actually 'audition' songs/albums... and music awards are being won according to the preferences of those listeners. so think about where and on what devices people are generally listening to music and the loudness wars make a bit more sense. one thing we can dream about is the adoption of a system that could provide a few master versions, each optimized for a set of listening devices... the only niche i know of that's currently prepping and distributing music specifically tailored for the intended users are the 'dj pools'. they take a popular track, remaster it, quantize it (so the beat grids can precisely lock onto it), may add an intro and outro for mixing purposes and offer a few versions w/ emphasis on vocals, rhythm, etc. (their current focus is on 'stems' where a track is offered in 4 channels, vocals, drums, bass, and melody/instruments. some softwares are getting pretty decent on doing it on the fly but it's still nowhere close to a clean separation yet). @@TheDUDATION

[@hettybloom2131]

Thank you SOS and Mandy! I learned so much! xx

[@kevinbeckenham3872]

Thank you Mandy for the lesson and advice,thank you.

[@atta1798]

what lesson? advice is totally relative

[@fizmo100]

Really informative, great to get an insight into such a broad range of topics, from the structure of a project team and the role of the mastering engineer, the current state of the art, and the ins-and-outs of the audio manipulation. Plus that desk is beautiful!

[@bluenetmarketing]

Yes, yes, yes, the vocals ARE the reference point for everything else! Finally someone gets it, and this very intelligent lady gets it. I can't tell you how many songs I've heard where the vocals are put into a barrel and muted to the point that you have to strain to hear them and the lyrics. Thank you Mandy for your fantastic skills and information!

[@soundonsound]

If you think vocals are important, you might want to check out our feature on Vocal Pre-Production with Grammy-winning Nashville engineer Neal Cappellino. He has some great insights.

[@iqi616]

bluenetmarketing Yep, I was glad to hear that too. On an album it's the continuity of the vocal level that sets the relative loudness of the songs.

[@atta1798]

what if no vocals in a production?

[@bluenetmarketing]

@@atta1798 Duh.

[@atta1798]

@@bluenetmarketing indeed....1+1=2 ...about the vocals comment

[@csilt]

I've been mastering for a long time, (Although have been out of practice now for a few years). She is very candid and I can tell knows her stuff. This is art and science. There is no generic formula for good mastering. A big part of it is working with and connecting with people like any other service industry.

[@atta1798]

OF course there is she said it.....balance........low frequency.......etc etc etc

[@Audiojunkk]

Excellent video once again! Just as my SOS subscription arrived! Lovely job

[@DataCollaborate]

Absolutely Massive information, thanks for the Documentary. :)

[@atta1798]

that is an interview...: )

[@Josh.Bartel]

I love the 'listen, then decide' motto in mastering. The reason there is no one size fits all.

[@jerrywilliams6443]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge you've got serious game!!!!!!!!!!!

[@NeilSpencerBruce]

Great and really informative!! Thanks SoundOnSound!

[@DaveZula]

Illuminating feature on Mandy. Great info! 👍

[@EternitySoundDesign]

Every mastering tutorial / interview: "I listen to the music and then do what's required to make that particular track sound good"... and yes, I did watch this whole one as well, in spite of knowing what it would be :D

[@derrickwilson7467]

Is that the EMI TG mastering console that was at Abbey Road?

[@ArthurStone]

That's great - really useful and interesting. Great studio & gear. Thanks Mandy and SOS : -)

[@mutantbaby1672]

I'm drooling over the ATC monitors.

[@JamieRowlandthejamieusrowlando]

ATC are the best!

[@rb032682]

Richard Aitken - PMC the "best"????

[@technoopo4633]

Excellent interview. congrats

[@babawawayoyo]

I love this lady! She’s so cool!

[@franksilval]

I have been trying to master using only plugins in the box and still struggling to achieve acceptable master audio but after watching this l am more convinced that analogue gear limiter, compressor and equalizer do more what the box does in terms of final sound

[@MrRichiekaye]

Intelligent and capable! I think it's like her to master my next vocal recording.

[@drumdu]

Very clear!!Amazing work!! Thanks!

[@Stratocaster1969x]

Wonderful video! Sooo much great insight!

[@muziekkamer]

very inspiring documentary

[@matrixate]

11:53 I've been pointing this out for years. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

[@willgmr]

What software does she mention at 5:00?

[@MrCJHamill]

SADiE. Same as the female name Sadie. www.sadie.com/sadie_home.php

[@MrEarldawkins]

Love your works Mandy. Great informative vid.

[@BorisBoras]

stunning tools, great speach! thank you

[@RockitNowAlready]

It appears the speaker drivers are line of sight, but I wonder if the computer monitors being forward of the speakers interrupt the image

[@mwdollar]

love the desk!!! :D

[@maxml415]

amazing, amazing advice

[@pmadamson]

Great insight but I'll have to stick to my Zoom R24 as £6.0000 plus for a prism is out of my depth (LOL) Some good advice could be applied at my lower level of mastering.Thanks for posting .

[@1VperOctave]

Fascinating, but so far above my level. How much of this process is art/creative, and how much science/engineering? It seems you must have both.

[@tobiasjone]

It’s almost 50/50

[@sonnybrasco9735]

she's official

[@DavidPappleMusic]

Excellent interview with a "master" Masterer. Am impressed that nothing was mentioned of compression., aside from ONE mention of using a limiter (Waves L2?). Gain staging, modest EQ and LISTENING- the recommended tools for Mastering.

[@iqi616]

David Papple I find EQ makes the biggest improvement on the projects that come my way. Most stuff is already compressed a lot during mixing so any compression I add is for enhancing detail and bringing out depth rather than squashing.

[@TheTonyTitan]

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that I just walked into a Baptist church on Sunday with that song.

[@adamkosions1111]

what is the song playing when the guy talks?

[@adamkosions1111]

Tom Jones - Elvis Presley Blues

[@adamkosions1111]

thanks pal

[@paulbarry6974]

+Adam Naništa Nurse! NURSE!!!! Adam's talking to himself again... lol

[@OverdriveMusic]

Great video

[@FreshnessStudio1]

Thanks great gear Mandy

[@d_s_ctube]

Great stuff

[@protakill]

I really enjoyed this. Good advice.

[@tracktourmusiclibrary]

thanks for this, very good information!

[@flowinsounds]

is that a pair of sennheiser HD-25 mk2s in the background?

[@stevegalante]

It would be nice to know the general settings of the EAR 660 she uses for mastering, can you ask SOS ??? :)

[@nerdtv3636]

Super video

[@100chuckjones]

That desk looks just like the old TG12410's Tone Control and Filter modules.(much like the TG12412) that board reeks of classic sound. probably came out of Abbey Road studios.

[@RockitNowAlready]

There no doubt it is a TG which was designed and built by EMI. I wonder how it stacks up sonically to Neve, SSL and Focusrite

[@MarkAllentheProducer]

Brilliant insight from a professional Lady. Any chance of an internship? : )

[@arande3]

Can relate to the #1 goal being depth and space.

[@TheBlueskyson]

good stuff thx Mandy and SOS

[@jonathanharvey2156]

What's the monitor controller she's using?

[@powieff]

is this kenmeri in a background?

[@ninjafukwan7]

excellent !! I learned a lot.

[@duydanh444]

ITS REALLY WORKED LOL THANK YOU DUDE

[@zagyex]

Does she cut the master for the vinyl right there? That's how they do it? Shouldnt it be some kind of dust free room?

[@Audiojunkk]

Has a strong vacuum at the cutting head

[@Audiojunkk]

And they clean it with air before they start cutting

[@brotherj22stops84]

Hay quick question when i mix a song and sounds ok on the headphones and yet on an i phone it shounds like shit :) what level would you mix it at for pc speaken and phone speakers looking forward to reply warmly Johannes appreciate your channel awesome insight video

[@iqi616]

Brotherj22 Stops It's an EQ issue. Remember, every speaker is a filter.

[@atta1798]

@@iqi616 it is not an EQ issue....you are confusing a tool with the speakers specification on the frequency response that acts like a filter like...BUT IT IS A SPEAKER SPECIFICATION FREQUENCY RESPONSE ISSUE... : )

[@dexyaudio]

RESPECT!

[@jesua301]

I believe only in good mix. Mastering can not change much things except overall frequencies and loudness, softness. I personally do very little on mastering for my music, sometimes nothing. Most important is mixing, the way you level things, the way you put sounds on stereo picture, quality of recordings, and vision.

[@iqi616]

jesua301 You'd be surprised what can be changed but if things need to be changed rather than enhanced, the mix needs reworking.

[@davidjenkins8449]

ISNT THAT WHAT SHE SAID

[@MrCJHamill]

I've noticed some questions from commenters below about SADiE. Some people have trouble picking up her accent. Amongst other types of software She mentions MAGIX Sequoia a few times and also SADiE.

[@NagoyaHouseHead]

Its all about control, the more in control you are the better ... and you know she aint just talking about music ;)

[@PeterBatah]

What monitor controller is Mandy using?

[@bendavies8129]

Dangerous Music Monitor ST & SR

[@Fire-Toolz]

hell yea mandy. thank you.

[@dat_chip]

She seems to know her stuff really well! "Nothing is set in mastering". Yup. You never know what you get from people. Great interview.

[@atta1798]

what she meant to say is that nothing is set to the Mixes that come w/all sort of problems...then Mastering will be limited to what an end production Mix will allow to ve done to it.

[@THELEARNINGCURVEONMUSIC]

mandy i would like some pointer on those mastering hardware u have

[@drutgat2]

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed what Mandy had to say: "Your mastering's only going to be as good as your mix" ; "I'm looking for the 'space' between sounds" - what humble and wise viewpoints. That TG12410 desk looks very similar to the TG12345 ('Abbey Road') desk. What is the difference between the two desks?

[@thefly8258]

The difference is 65

[@heyyou674]

@@thefly8258 good one

[@pongtrometer]

Space in between the sound .

[@kbjrecords7010]

Nice work on this channel. You got skills. Let me know when you upload new clips, maybe we can help somehow.

[@dreamwavedave]

@ 8:25 She's sharing the most inspirational bit of information.

[@bendavies8129]

I like her message there. However, she does proceed to talk about the multiple gain stages that only make such a difference due to the fact that their causing the signal to hit her various outboard at different levels. In that case, rather than just varying the output level, gain is varying the amount harmonic distortion (and other things) imparted to the signal at different stages of the signal chain.

[@violao206]

How depressing that she remarks that the Loudness War is still more active than ever [adult words!]

[@insertanynameyouwant5311]

But if I add linear EQ it doesn`t change phase, right?

[@bendavies8129]

Correct, it just adds latency to the output as it has to time align to sort out phase changes.

[@insertanynameyouwant5311]

I think it`s acceptable in most cases

[@bendavies8129]

Anti Phase Only on a stereo buss. If you start adding linear phase EQs on individual tracks/group busses/etc, you're going to start running into major problems! Though I realise that this video is talking about mastering, I thought it's probably worth mentioning, since people are likely to be attempting to learn mastering whilst mixing.

[@insertanynameyouwant5311]

***** yep, I meant linear phase using only on stereo buss during mastering.Thanks!

[@willierice2461]

Her room sound great from what I'm hearing...

[@TheComposer1979]

wat speaker is that monster behind

[@matrixate]

It looks like a Tannoy

[@LordHando]

Give one of these talented producers access to this gear, and I'm positive they'll have good recordings. You'd be surprised what 500k in audio gear can do.

[@nikmak]

Was flabbergasted when she said the last stage was sending the file to LANDR :/

[@nosay2930]

+nikmak As she said, producers aren't interested in dynamics anymore, just loud, hence LANDr.

[@CosmicD]

+No Say I hate that everything sounds so flat and pumped at the same time. I'd like to do it the other way, enough dynamics so the instruments can breathe, but also use some of these pumpy things when I make tracks.

[@nosay2930]

CosmicD Yes, I can't listen to a lot of new music for that very reason. I find it tiring after a few minutes and end up switching it off. I don't understand this "has to be loud thing," I have a volume knob. Without dynamics it just sounds like something I've done in the garage.

[@CosmicD]

as I understand it, it's more todo with that they have to pres anything out a saw wave that they can possibly can and the analogy i'd like to make it comes out like canned meat in stead of fresh meat :). The voluntary ducking and side chaining going on is sometimes a nice effect but not when it's done on all tracks and way too intense. Blame eric pryds :p

[@medwaystudios]

+nikmak Where does she say that? Watched the whole thing and missed that part.

[@AlexStavi]

what she said here: "my normal playback is..." ? 5:00

[@asecretworthkeeping]

+Alex Stavi SADiE

[@MrCJHamill]

@@asecretworthkeeping Yeah I picked up an earlier question. Her accent seems to have thrown some of the questioners. Lol.

[@Fwuzeem]

Less is more, but more of it. Good advice there

[@lizichell2]

Plug ins DSP, EQ, compressors DAC and ADC more times than I have had hot dinners

[@gesuuuuuu]

Great to see top notch professional women in mastering; hope the numbers increase. Thank you for the broad scope of insight into your mastering process. Sincerely, Useg Diaz-Granados www.oversightentertainment.se

[@skypekai]

Useg Diaz-Granados why do you care what gender the person doing mastering is

[@MrCJHamill]

@@skypekai That's right it's the 'fresh ears' that's explained in the video that's important and her approach to mastering. Gender isn't an influence on the mastering.

[@softnerdrocks]

What is this Tom Jones track? Which one?

[@twinflametaurus]

some could say that if the mixdown needed to be mastered is that bad and needs that heavy of a mastering, the sound engineer previously doing the recording wasnt that good, but big time studios dont look at things that way, the real problem is times and technology have changed , and theres less of a need for mastering- remastering , in the sense that quality was that laxed, it needed to be mastered multiple times , such as they did 30- 40 years ago, just to achive sonic fidelity, and near cd quality. however, this is all just my opinion, and everyone has theirs

[@BenJosephWorld]

Female engineers thoo.. wanna see more of them

[@grimtop4000]

just keep pressing the number 3 its well good

[@dilbyjones]

Super smart

[@fredrikmontelius5215]

Parnell was probaby the best choice for Björk's Biophilia. Björk since long wanted to record an album that sounds better on mp3 than on vinyl or sacd. If anyone was to succeed, it probably was Parnell, right? I wonder if they were successful with that.

[@atta1798]

Impossible mp3 will not sound better

[@DreamsongsProductions]

I wish she would've used another example to master....:(

[@atta1798]

As successful as this lady might be the question still begs to ask........how accurate and precise she and the rest of the industry is/are to the real ultimate mastering results

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

That's a vague question.

[@atta1798]

@@kensmechanicalaffair nope if you understand engineering in science.

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

@@atta1798 There are no ultimate mastering results.

[@atta1798]

@@kensmechanicalaffair sure there are...

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

@@atta1798 Okey dokely

[@DenisVanDerVelde]

www.curioza.comWelcome to AAMS, the introduction towards Automatic Audio Mastering!As a musician or engineer working on music, you need the best sound possible when releasing material to the public. To audio master a mix towards a professional commercial quality recording and to create a sound for all audio speaker systems is a difficult and time consuming task.This is where AAMS steps in and takes control!AAMS is windows freeware for Audio Mastering. Featuring 100 Band Equalizer, 8 Multiband Compression, Balancing and Loudness settings for internal DSP Processing with all audio corrections automaticly done purely inside the AAMS Program. Also AAMS installs a Reference Database of 200+ Musical styles. Creating your own personal sound! Making the mastering process easy and less time consuming, having a good overall commercial sound quality, to process your Mix to a commercial great sounding Master.Now you can listen to what you expect!

[@atta1798]

I do not think so ...do your Mastering people that created the SW n algorithm....went to the university n have 30+ years if Mastering n work related?....did you do it based on at least 50 Mastering guys w that experience?....

[@mollyoko]

So many stages. Softwares and speakers etc. How can you truly know what neutral is when you keep chopping and changing? Surely a mastering engineer needs to truly understand neutral and pure before they start to add/boost/cut my hard earned and perfectly mixed production!

[@atta1798]

A real Mastering engineer is your Boss and expert on your mixes and productions,...they know and have best ears than you do...remembert that ,,if you do not know that then you have ways to go in this business

[@mollyoko]

@@atta1798 I doubt that. there's only a few mastering engineers I respect and work with. a ton of amateurs out there as usual

[@atta1798]

@@mollyoko I see there is some miscommunication and misunderstanding from your side...let me rephrase......Real Mastering Engineers = doing Mastering for 25 years+ doing only Mastering....and have school/university education w/some exceptions....etc..you are not telling me anything new already said if you understand the profession....which I imagine you do from your reply

[@mollyoko]

@@atta1798 your reply has nothing to do with my comment. feel free to delete.

[@atta1798]

@@mollyoko very simple a real Mastering engineering ( only Mastering for 25+ years) has more experience than you do n will tell you all the wrong things n mistakes you made in you mix n production. So like you said you will respect him .... So Your Boss ... on the contrary, you need to gain more experience in the industry to understand what I meant that's straight to your point you missed and now you either do nor understand it or ignore...that simple ....don't bother replying

[@LucyAmberon]

Wow 😮

[@ArtieDillon]

No one gives advice like a seasoned pro! ....and her eyes tho!

[@nano7586]

Oh boy, I would love to have you as my boss ;)