Recent graduate, Karl Fleck (BA: Recording Arts, Hope College (2013); MM:SRT 2016) focused his Master’s recording project on the mastering process. His paper titled, “Audio Mastering: An Investigation and Analysis of Contemporary Techniques” was split into two main sections. The first of which was a series of interviews with prominent mastering engineers including, Jay Frigoletto (Mastersuite), Matt Azevedo (formerly M-Works Mastering), Adam Ayan (Gateway Mastering), Paul Angelli (formerly Sterling Sound), and Jonathan Wyner (M-Works Mastering). The interviews were transcribed, analyzed, and summarized for their insight into the common trends of contemporary mastering.
The second section involved the recording, mixing, and mastering of one song by Alan William’s band, Birdsong at Morning. The one song was recorded and edited by Karl and copies of the session were sent to four mix engineers: Brandon Vaccaro, Nick Dragoni, Brad Swanson, and Alan Williams. The individual mixes were then collected and mastered by Karl, who analyzed and wrote about the mastering process for each mix.
Please feel free to download the entire paper and also visit: www.karlfleck.com to listen to the example audio files.
