Inside Abbey Road Mastering
MASTERING
INSIDE ABBEY ROAD Although Abbey Road is world-famous for its epic recording spaces, one hidden gem we don’t hear so much about is its mastering service. Head of mastering, Lucy Laudner, tells us a tale or two about her team of engineers, with a whopping 200 years of experience between them, and how catering for artists as diverse as Maria Callas, My Bloody Valentine, and even David Brent, is all in a day’s work. Lucy Laudner
First things first, what is traditional mastering? In a nutshell, it’s the last stage of the recording and mixing process, where an album gets its final polish before the final format, whether it’s CD, vinyl, or MfiT. It’s about checking levels across all the tracks, and achieving a consistency of sound, using a mixture of classic analogue and modern digital kit. But ultimately, the mastering engineers’ ears and experience are the real key to creating a great sounding record. At Abbey Road, our nine in-house mastering engineers work on a wide range of projects spanning many genres: pop and rock, theatre and film, and classical, to name just a few. We have a number of first class mastering suites, all equipped with cutting lathes, and operated by highly trained engineers, including a surround suite, where we work on projects for film, TV, and live music productions. We’re also a dab hand at restoring and remastering older, archive recordings for CD and digital release, and we offer a very popular online mastering service, too, where anyone, anywhere in the world, can access our studio talent and get their recording mastered by the team. Abbey Road was ready and waiting for the resurgence of vinyl, which continues to grow rapidly - you can even pick up a record in your local Sainsbury’s and Tesco nowadays – and it’s a format that I grew up with, searching for ex-jukebox, seven-inch records in my local newsagents. I’ve always loved it for its warmth, and the immersive experience; and I still love
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browsing the racks, and discovering little gems! And then there’s our eclectic client roster. Recently, we helped polish the dulcet tones of young Norwegian songstress, Aurora, (also featured in this issue of Headliner), and harmonising Hertfordshire country duo, The Shires. We also worked with Irish rockers, My Bloody Valentine, on their latest record. Other major projects include Elton John’s Captain Fantastic EP, and The Rolling Stones’ In Mono box set. And talking of box sets, we once mastered a 40-CD epic for classical vocalist, Maria Callas, which took over a year to complete! Then, of course, there’s our endless film and theatre soundtracks, from Star Wars to
“Abbey Road was ready and waiting for the resurgence of vinyl...” The Hobbit, and Funny Girl to Miss Saigon. There’s always something going on here. A more unusual recent project came in the shape of the soundtrack to the David Brent: Life on the Road movie. Mastering engineer, Sean Magee, recalls mastering the session fondly: “Brent came in fresh from his tour [of Berkshire] to master the soundtrack of the film. He took a keen interest in the process, and was eager to get involved. There was a film
crew present, which is par for the course with this level of celebrity, which at times made the job challenging, but all in all, it was great to be involved. He does bear a striking resemblance to that comedian, Ricky Gervais, though...” As you’d expect, we are obsessed with quality, and delivering the best possible experience to the listener. We work closely with lacquer suppliers, Transco, one of only two lacquer manufacturers in the world, to ensure standards are maintained; and regularly test new batches of lacquers to make sure we cut on the best materials. We’ve also established relationships with all the main pressing plants. Furthermore, we cut to copper - a process developed in the 1980s, then viewed as the next evolution in vinyl quality before the introduction of the CD. This format is great for delivering precision over a long album, and also for dealing with high frequencies; and it cuts out the first process, so for purists, there are less chances of clicks and pops. We are working hard to preserve the love of vinyl, working with the industry to support events like Record Store Day - a major force behind this revival - and we want to make Abbey Road mastering available to everyone, whether it’s an established artist already recording here or anywhere in the world, or a bedroom producer, looking for the golden touch of one of our in-house specialists. www.abbeyroad.com