Samples of My Work

I have been quite busy recently hence it has taken me much longer than initially expected. But I finally managed to put together some examples of my work for you to check out.
Each sample below consist of 2 parts – ‘before’ and ‘after’. First you can hear the original track before my involvment, then the same bit after it has been processed. All ‘before’ and ‘after’ tracks have been level balanced (they peak at the same value) for fair comparison.

The first example is a song from a yet to be released LP. The briefing was quite unusual – no noticeable compression, limiting or any other dynamic shaping processing, and no need for the song to be loud. I write ‘unusual’ because these days most customers want all of these things, but I was over the moon with the client’s requirements.
A touch of transparent compression here and there, and a hint of M/S equalisation was all that was needed to make this beautiful song sound really great. I am really happy with how it came out. The song now has much more detail; it gained depth and the 3rd dimension; transients are even more readable, and the general balance wasn’t spoilt. Please listen to the sample and enjoy this great song.

The next track is another interesting example. This song was composed by me and recorded by Eva & tresperros some time ago. It was mixed and ‘mastered’ by tresperros and for various reasons it wasn’t done properly. I decided to go back to the original recording, and mix it and master again. The difference between the ‘before’ and the ‘after’ version is rather huge, in part due to the ‘before’ track being heavily limited. If you like the song, why not become Eva & tresperros supporter on www.sellaband.com/projects/tresperros?

The song below is an example of a really great recording and a great performance. I avoided any limiting, and compression is almost transparent – just to glue things together. I managed to make acoustic bass sound more beefy and warm comparing to the original recording.

This next recording was mastered in a very non-intrusive way. I used parallel compression and some tubes saturation to add warmth and ‘sounds like a record’ attitude. I didn’t change the original tone at all, just added subtle EQ here and there to make it sound good.

The next song was recorded, mixed and mastered by tresperros a few years back. They were approached by an MC, who was looking for someone able to master songs for his upcoming LP. It was an interesting project, with good music and lyrics. tresperros decided to get involved and master the album. However, after listening to the ‘ready to master’ tracks they realised their involvement would have to be much bigger. The vocals have been recorded really badly and the music hasn’t been mixed properly. They decided it all had to be re-done. And so, the vocals were recorded again, the beats were done again from the scratch one by one, and many of the instruments had to be replaced. tresperros then mixed and mastered the track.
I have always felt that this song could sound better and I have recently decided to come back to it, and mix and master it again. Compared below are the original ‘ready to master’ track and the most recent version done by me. Please note not only the great overall fidelity, but transients, details, fatness and 3rd dimension achieved in the final version.

Working on the next song proved to be a bit of a struggle for me, and neither I nor the client were happy with the first attempt. I couldn’t manage to cut bass (please note how bass heavy is the original track) without losing that warm and fat sound. I then realised that I was looking in the wrong place.
Please note how the mastered version ‘breathes’ and how punchy it is comparing to the original track. At the same time, the original balance with low frequency domination wasn’t disturbed.

And yet another example of my hard work. More information on this track coming soon, stay tuned.

Any comments are more than welcome.

~ by studiose21 on February 15, 2010.

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