Services

MASTERING | MIXING | RECORDING

I've noticed that the process of mastering is commonly seen as a sort of dark arts. You send your material off for mastering and it comes back, usually louder, but what else?
Think of mastering as a fresh set of ears / fresh point of view. Perhaps the material has been mixed under less than ideal circumstances, either with poor monitoring or in a room that was not acoustically optimized for working with sound in - or maybe even a combination of both. Or you've simply just heard the material so many times you don't know what's up or down anymore. This is were a fresh set of ears can be invaluable.

My approach when mastering is simply to muster out every ounce of its potential without making it sound over-processed, a trap so easy to fall into, as well as dealing with any "flaws" that might be present.
For me the ideal album, even if it's raw d-beat metal designed to gnaw your face off, should still have a sense of air & dynamics to it. To slam it into a limiter just sucks all the life out of it.
Making it louder is usually a part of the process, but that's the easy part.
Mastering can also, apart from correcting any eventual flaws, provide a sense of cohesiveness. But generally speaking, for most, it’s a process generally considered making the material sound ”like a real record”.

Feedback is, of course, welcomed. It is your baby and feeling a part of the process is important. Should you have the opportunity, feel free to stop by the studio and attend the session. Coffee & bisquits are on the house.

For details regarding the practical stuff, please view Guidelines.

Mixing - where the sound/vibe of the record is set. A large part of the sound is of course set at the recording stage - what instruments/mic's/mic pre's/rooms you use, and of course how you play, but at the mixing stage you really have the opportunity to take it one step further and make the recording more than the sum of its parts, as the cliché goes.

As for the actual mix session, it can either be attended or unattended. The bulk of my work nowadays comes in via e-mail so I am perfectly comfortable working on my own and transferring mixes to you for feedback. After we discuss what the vibe and sound should be like (feel free to mention a few of your favorite sounding records at this stage) I'll simply go at it and when I feel I have something exciting I will send you the mix/master via file transfer for your input and then we work on from there.

For details regarding the practical stuff, please view Guidelines.

I work closely together with the infamous Studio Gröndahl here in Stockholm, Sweden. A studio that boasts an unbeatable combination of a fantastic sounding wooden live room, several iso booths, an amazing mic & mic pre selection as well as a great control room with an SSL 6040G console at its core - all at a very reasonable price.
And to top it off, the adjacent band apartment (3 bedrooms, living room, shower/toilet, laundry machine, etc) can be included without extra cost for bands travelling to Stockholm.
If you have another studio of preference, this is of course not a problem. I am mobile so it doesn't have to be in Stockholm or even Sweden for that matter.

Rates

The price for any/all of this? It really depends on a multitude of factors, so the easiest thing is just to contact me and we'll take it from there.
I sometimes get asked what my "quickie" rates are, and the answer is: There are no "quickie" rates. I take great pride in my work and simply cannot do a rush job. Every project is taken equally seriously with time & effort going into it to make it sound as good as humanly possible.

Last but not least

For both mixing & mastering I favor working out of my own Studio Tri-Lamb, an acoustically optimized mix- and mastering suite located 10 minutes by subway south of downtown Stockholm. For monitoring I rely on Genelec, Focal & Avantone and for AD/DA conversion I employ Burl Audio's absolutely breathtakingly amazing converters.
As for gear, I run a hybrid setup which means I use both analog outboard as well as plug-ins.

The bulk of work I do is in the digital domain but I can accomodate your analog needs should you want to provide me with analog tape as source for mixing / mastering, for instance.