MTF - Disc Edits

This week we went out to Disc Edits at Bowden. Nevill took us through the facilities they had there briefly, however most of the time we spent was in the mastering facility. He took us through a brief history of the equipment used as well as how techniques have changed along with the advent of the digital medium. We also got a run down of the evolution of mediums used to print to i.e viny, tape, cd as well as showed us how they put together a master copy. The mastering room itself had been accousticly treated and has been evolving over the years. I can understand how the room would be especially important for mastering and needs to be completely transparent. He also described the importence of building up a internal referencing database that you gain with experience and 'knowing the room'. Overall I thought the trip to Disc Edits was quite informative and provided real world insight into the business of mastering.

Paradise Studios

This week for MTF we all travelled to Paradise Studios.

I found the trip pretty insightful, Dewald was our guide around the studio and explained a fair bit about the processes he uses and a fair bit about flexability with different artists from more of a production (/producer's) stand point. The studio seemed to be still in the final stages of asthetic renovation, however all the main elements were functional. I was quite impressed with the desk in the control room, seems like it was worth quite a bit of money, as well as all the outboard effects and their layout which seemed like there was a fair bit of thought into the layout. Dewald had a lot of useful tips and strategies that he has picked up from experience regarding the recording of different types of artists and how to get the most out of particular situations. A lot of the stuff said regarding work ethic and maximising the potential of differnt types of recording sessions was quite useful and logical. His advice on the value of well placed breaks as well as 'powering through' when an artist is on a roll made a lot of sense. I really liked the layout of the studio altough I could relate to how it might be a bit of a pain to go and change mic placements if you were set-up in the control room as you have to walk around the long way to get into the live room. All in all a nice studio and informative guide.