The Mastering Show Ian Shepherd

Our guest this episode is LA mastering engineer John Greenham who just won a Grammy for his work on Billie Eilish’s album. We talk to him about how he came to work with Billie, and dig into his work on the album in depth, discussing topics including:

* John’s mastering chain and philosophy
* Whether “Xanny” is the loudest song ever
* How to get RMS levels above zero (!)
* Loudness, confidence and client relations
* Are loud mixes a problem for mastering engineers ?
* What it’s like to win a Grammy

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-70/

We talk on this show about making a master sound great all the time - but what does that mean ? How can you tell the difference between a good or a great master, or whether you’re doing great work yourself, or not ? In this episode we discuss all these questions, plus:

* Is it even possible to tell a good or a great master ? If not, why not ?
* Is it about great sound, or great work ?
* Why “great” doesn’t have to mean “perfect”
* What about great re-masters ?
* How to know if you’re doing great work
* The only person who can really decide

Full show notes and links on our website
http://themasteringshow.com/episode-69

I often get asked if it’s possible to restore dynamics to a heavily limited, clipped or compressed source, to achieve a more dynamic master. The answer is… it’s complicated ! So in this episode we do our best to answer the question. Topics include:

Why you shouldn’t do this
When you might have to do this
When doing this is a bad idea
How to do it (the simple way, the complicated way and the really messy way)
How compression can sometimes add dynamics
What these techniques can never do

Full links and shownotes on our website:
http://themasteringshow.com/episode-86

People are talking about minus 14 LUFS loudness more and more these days, but why ? What does this number mean, where does it come from, and why should you care ?

In this episode we answer all these questions and more, including:

* Which streaming services are using -14 LUFS
* Why Spotify aren’t using -14 LUFS, and why it matters
* Why you shouldn’t use minus 14 LUFS as a target (or any number) but
* Why it’s still important and useful to know about anyway
* Will mastering to -14 LUFS make your music sound bad ?!?

Full links and show notes on the website
http://themasteringshow.com/episode-67

Hello
The bad news is there is no regular podcast for you this week.
There will not be a new episode until Ian's voice improves but in the meantime we'd like to let you know about two excellent podcast episodes where Ian was a guest for Twenty Thousand Hertz. (that's the good news)

The [COMPRESSED] History of Mastering
https://www.20k.org/episodes/historyofmastering

The Loudness Wars
https://www.20k.org/episodes/loudnesswars

Dallas from 20K was our guest on episode 63
http://themasteringshow.com/episode-63/

If you're a fan of The Mastering Show we're sure you'll also love these episodes.

Time for another Q&A episode ! As always you’ve been asking great questions, so in this episode we discuss:

* Why Ian talks too much
* How dynamic is too dynamic ?
* Fade-outs - before or after compression ?
* How has the loudness war changed production and arrangement styles ?
* Mastering for gaming streams (like Twitch TV)
* Mastering in different genres

http://themasteringshow.com/episode-66