Mojito Mastering

Big congratulations to my good friends on their Juno win this weekend! We'll deserved! They're on tour right now, and you should check them out if you can (and check out their awesome records)!

Huge congratulations to on her Juno win this weekend!! It was a pleasure to be involved with this beautiful record. If you haven't checked it out already, be sure to so...it's amazing!

Crossover testing with the mid-driver and tweeter. Yes, fellow audio folks, the mid-driver is what you think it is...sort of.

Looking back on 2021, I realized how lucky I’ve been to work with so many great artists. It's been a tough year for the industry. Continuing to work with music every day has ⁣been a privilege.⁣
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To all the artists, producers, and engineers who continue to trust me with their work: ⁣
thank you!⁣
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These are a selection of releases from this year (apologies to those I’ve missed). ⁣
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Looking at my calendar for January, I’m thrilled to see many exciting projects already ⁣
booked. Hopefully, the new year brings better fortunes for everyone in the industry (live ⁣
shows would be nice!).⁣
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Happy new year everyone!

We have sound! Taking first measurements of the bass driver! So far, so good! ⁣
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Tests better than expected. But there's an opportunity to make bottom end better (more linear, better time domain response -> better dynamics). So, a few more tweaks to the cabinet are needed. ⁣
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I did some listening through it. The bass driver actually extends fairly high (up to about 12 kHz), so I was actually able listen to music. Sounded pretty good already. Bottom felt clean and tight, with plenty of resolution. Good start!

Test fitting the bass driver! It's starting to look like a real speaker.

Honoured to be doing a live mastering demo and q&a today for Humber College. Hosted by . Will be fun!⁣
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Registration links here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-faculty-of-media-amp-creative-arts-15097238044 (link in bio)⁣

A month ago, I did a 3-day “zoom” workshop with the legendary Vlado Meller (). For the first time in 15 years, I was the student. I’ve been mastering full time for 8 years now, but I felt I’d hit a brick wall in my development. I was looking for some new ideas and some feedback from an engineer of Vlado’s calibre.⁣
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In March, I was supposed to fly down to Charleston. But the world came crashing down a week before the scheduled workshop. Vlado’s team figured out how to set things up remotely. It may have even worked out better this way, as I was able to listen and work in my own room and get feedback immediately. Plus, the sessions were 1 on 1, instead of a group setting. ⁣
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I came away both humbled and encouraged. A month later, I can confidently say that the way I listen to music, and the approach I take to mastering, has completely changed. There are things I listen for now, that I wouldn’t have thought of before.⁣
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There are so many things I took away from the sessions, and plenty of actionable advice. But the #1 realization for me is that the specific tools don’t matter. Of course, there needs to be a certain level of quality. But once you hit that threshold, it’s not all that important what we use. Hardware or software. Analog or digital. It doesn’t matter. ⁣
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Far more important is what we hear and how we listen. (Those are 2 different things — one is passive, the other active.) I now spend more time simply listening to the music. Sounds obvious and simple. But I think we’re all guilty of getting wrapped up with our gear, from time to time. I’ve spent the last month simplifying my chain and workflow — and embracing a “less is more” approach.⁣
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I want to thank Vlado, Paul, and Jeremy for a fantastic experience. I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.⁣

Two of my favourite rooms from the Toronto Audio Fest this past weekend. I now own speakers from both companies.⁣
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First is Frank Fazzalari’s (Coherent Audio) GR15’s. Every time I’ve heard Frank’s speakers, they’ve sounded incredible. I use the 10 inch version (GR10) for my mono reference.⁣
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The second room features Zu Audio’s Omen Dirty Weekend’s. These blew me away. The detail, texture and dynamics were outstanding. Being the least expensive speakers I heard at the show made it even more impressive. I bought the floor models.⁣
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Unsurprisingly, both speakers were being driven by 300b single ended tube amps (SET). Allnic and Tektron respectively.⁣
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Seriously…high efficiency speakers driven by SET amps are awesome! If you’ve never heard that combo, I recommend that you do. It changed the way I think about speakers and my own monitoring. @ The Westin Toronto Airport

Been using this combo for about a month now. Two thumbs up! Plenty of resolution, both harmonically and dynamically.

Took these bad boys out of the rack, and put them up for sale today. They served me well for 4 years. Now, my signal chain is completely custom built and tube based. So, even though the Chandlers are fantastic pieces, they didn't really fit with the current direction I'm going. Fare thee well, sweet TG tone!