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So You Want to Be A Vinyl Mastering Engineer? Let Chris Bellman Teach You.

Michael Fremer  |  May 8, 2014

On June 28th and 29th, Mastering engineer Chris Bellman (CB in your "dead wax") and recording engineer/mixer Francis Buckley will present the two day course "Analog Mastering in a Digital World" at Bernie Grundman Mastering. It's part of a Studio Prodigy Master Class Series

The two-day advanced class covers both analog and digital mastering, with an emphasis on mixing techniques for different media. The rise in vinyl sales makes imperative knowing how to produce mixes for vinyl and according to Bellman more important than ever given the advent of digital mixing and "loudness maximizing". Bellman's not endorsing it, just acknowledging it.

He also says the purpose of the seminar is not to produce new mastering engineers but rather to provide information to engineers and engineering students t help them create better end products before the mastering process.

Saturday Bellman and Buckley take participants on a tour of Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios, cover the history and importance of professional mastering. According Bellman, the course includes critical listening in his studio and a demonstration of what good mastering can accomplish with great mixes and what can and cannot be done in mastering to fix bad mixes.

Bellman and Buckley will also cover common mixing pitfalls and how best to avoid them by being well-prepared for an upcoming mastering session. They will discuss sample rate conversions, "disc bouncing" and file transfer issues that affect audio fidelity. How best to keep mix integrity intact en route to mastering sessions will also be covered.

Sunday will all be about analog! After a tour and history lesson on the custom cutting lathes at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Chris and Francis will share with attendees the ideal techniques to keep in mind when mixing for vinyl, including all of the unique and esoteric issues that only experienced engineers would know. As the day progresses, each participant’s mix will be mastered and cut to a 10” acetate to take home.

Sounds like a really useful two day seminar for professionals needing a "back to the future" retro-upgrade to their knowledge base, and while a few well-off audiophiles might want to sit on for the "fun" of it, because there are only ten spaces there is a pre-qualifying gate keeper: you have to submit a discography and a mix to be mastered during the seminar. The website instructs: "Kindly submit inquiries to tickets@studioprodigymcs.com via third party transfer site such as hightail.com or wetransfer.com. Files need to be 44.1k/24bit or higher resolution, no mp3’s please." Analogplanet.com approves of that final stipulation, though Bellman told me "Now if audiophiles want a peak into this world, they are invited as well."

For more information go here.

COMMENTS
Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Fri, 2014-05-09 00:27

I enjoyed the on-line class last year from the Berklee School of Music on mixing music. Much I knew, but there is still so much more to learn and this would have been a great opportunity.

This would have been a great on-line class.

soundman45's picture
Submitted by soundman45 on Fri, 2014-05-09 09:31

I remember my last year in college,1985 studying Music Technology we learned very briefly mastering for vinyl. I also remember the instructor blowing through the material basically saying vinyl was on the way out and we would probably never use this knowledge in our careers. Although it was somewhat true in my case I can't help but thinking this guy was an idiot. I wish I had that knowledge today.

Kevin Ray's picture
Submitted by Kevin Ray on Tue, 2014-05-13 06:40

I'd love to take a less intensive version for artists. For instance, I'm dying to know what's meant by keeping "mix integrity intact en route to mastering sessions... ". I always assumed it was a matter of bringing a drive from one session to the next.

my new username's picture
Submitted by my new username on Tue, 2014-06-10 09:38

But Kevin, I imagine that term refers to the reality that productions are often delivered to the mastering engineer "pre-mastered," which we'll define here as "mastered as well as we could do on our own, ahead of time, even though doing so is unnecessary and probably hurtful to the process."

Why? Because with digital recordings it's easy, and because the temptation to "pre-decide" how something should finally sound can get confused with normal production decisions.

We're talking here about EQ and levels choices done that are fundamentally unrelated to the track mixing. And that means they are HARD to undo later by the mastering engineer, to the detriment of the music even though "they were made for artistic reasons" by the artist or producer who thought a loud song or wacky EQ was a good idea. You can see how there's ample opportunity on all sides to misunderstand who should have that power and why. But overall, leaving some decisions to a neutral party who specializes is more often than not a good plan.

My belief is that it's a byproduct of conservative choices in the damaged music industry where recipes "need" to be followed for a certain minimum level of commercial success. And along the way, it completely ignores the mastering engineer's expertise, both technically and musically by reducing his or her input on the project.

There are many titles where the mix engineer and mastering engineer are the same person. That CAN work well, but ... what are the chances that same person would always be able to effectively switch hats? (They aren't the same hat!)

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Tue, 2014-06-10 14:16
Not correct for the most part. Most mastering engineers today will tell you the level of what comes to them for mastering has deteriorated as anyone with a computer and some microphones can set up shop and call him or herself a "recording engineer". People who think they produce ready to press masters don't bother with mastering engineers. They go right press. But most recordings need work...
my new username's picture
Submitted by my new username on Tue, 2014-06-10 14:29

... when I said right up front, "the reality that productions are often delivered to the mastering engineer "pre-mastered"

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2014-06-11 09:41
Everyone at every time in recorded history gets a project as well organized as possible before the final mastering…so what you said upfront is a non-sequitur. Define "pre-mastered".
Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2014-06-11 09:41
Everyone at every time in recorded history gets a project as well organized as possible before the final mastering…so what you said upfront is a non-sequitur. Define "pre-mastered".
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