CD MASTERING

Kraig playing Steinway grand pianoWhen Sound Matters, Call on a Master Craftsman

Whether you’re working on your first album or your 21st, you want to sound your best. To get the best mastering from your recording mix, go to a master— award-winning musician, composer/arranger and engineer Kraig Greff.

Using state-of-the-art equipment and knowledge based on more than 40 years in the industry, Kraig can turn your tracks into a finished, polished, commercial recording.

What Makes Kraig Greff Special?

Working in a wide range of genres with almost every instrument imaginable, Kraig has performed and recorded with some of industry’s best, from Barry White to Diana Ross. He owns a postproduction house and has created and recorded music for advertising and TV for nearly 15 years. He has contacts at all levels of the music business and knows what it takes to make recorded music listenable and saleable.

Our Approach

Mastering, above all, is not factory assembly work where a product is churned out like a case of potato chips. It is a listening art form that requires years of experience and technical knowledge, as well as specialized equipment. Not only do we want to make your music sound as good as possible, we also want the sound to be the product of your creative vision.

Our approach to mastering is to take the best final product from the client, knowing their vision and sound needs, and to polish and finesse the sound, primarily using high-end analog tube equipment. During the mastering process, we also address problems with the sound, edit song length, adjust levels, add fades, compress as appropriate, etc.

Kraig will use his 40+ years of music experience to make your music sound as good as he can. He treats each project and each song individually. This is not an "assembly line" process where he runs everything through the same equipment without thought. He also likes to help artists and bands with musical questions about how your project should sound when completed (i.e., what should punch the hardest, the smooth transition from a rocker to a ballad, etc.)

As stated on our home page, we guarantee our work. If we ever complete a project for you that you find unacceptable because of the quality of our work, we will either fix the problem at no cost to you or refund any money you have paid.

Additional Information

Download Kraig's article, "Mastering -- adding the finishing touches that will make your music sizzle". This article contains valuable suggestions, even if you are on a tight budget, trying to do most of the work yourself, and don't want to pay a mastering engineer.

Equipment

High-end processing gear is absolutely essential to achieving the best mastering results. Processing typically includes reference standard digital to analog and analog to digital conversion, proper digital clock timing and removal of digital jitter, high-end reverb and delays, stereo mastering tube compressor, proper level adjustment, stereo field management, and parametric and graphic equalization.

Many people are surprised to learn that analog gear is often used in the mastering process. Keeping the material 100 percent digital is not always the best answer, and computer plug-ins just don't approach the sonic quality of, for example, a great stereo tube compressor. Below is a list of the equipment we typically use when mastering music:

  • Manley Slam Stereo Limiter & Mic Pre
  • Manley Variable MU Stereo Mastering Compressor
  • Manley Massive Passive Stereo Parametric Mastering Equalizer
  • Apogee Digital PSX-100 AD DA Converter
  • Crane Song Avocet stereo monitor controller
  • Genelec speakers

We also have a wide arrangement of software, instrument samples, and equipment to call upon for special situations. Our software library includes the Vienna Philharmonic SE Instrument Library, the Fxpansion Audio BFD Drum Library, Digital Performer and Logic, SoundSoap Pro, Toast 6 Titanium and Jam mastering software. We also use an Otari MX55TM 2-track recorder with center track time code, an Eventide GTR 4000 Harmonizer, and a Kurzweil PC88 Performance Controller Keyboard.

Suggestions/Best Practices

Don't over-saturate. Get a good level (signal to tape) during mixing, but don't make the mistake of over-saturation. If you are recording to a digital format, zero (0) on your meter is absolute. If you hit it or go over, you will hear nothing more than loud crackles and the recording will be useless. The optimal level is somewhere between –18 dB and –12 dB. Don't push it too much, remember we are dealing with digital photographs here, so give yourself some headroom and don't destroy that dynamic range.

This is not analog, so a contest to see who can get the closest to zero when recording can only lead to problems later. Don't attempt to compress the final stereo mix. (Compression of tracks during recording is fine.) Compression of the overall final stereo mix is best done as one of the steps in mastering, not mixing a recording. A recording that arrives at or door with super hot levels has no dynamic range (one of the key elements in a great recording) left, and there is little or nothing we can do once it is "hammered” like this.

Mix the material the way you want it before sending it. Mixing and mastering are different processes that should compliment each other. A mastering engineer typically can only partially fix a bad mix.

Consider applying for ISRC codes (International Standard Recording Codes) before having your music mastered. If you have these codes, we can imbed them for you in your final mastered tracks. "The ISRC is a unique international identifier for tracks on sound and music-video recordings. Comprised of a 12 character alpha-numeric code, the ISRC functions as a digital “fingerprint” for each track. Unlike a Universal Product Code the ISRC is tied to the track and not the carrier of the track (CD, cassette). In addition, the ISRC remains allocated to a track regardless of changes in ownership. It is an extremely powerful tool for royalty collection, administration, and anti-piracy safeguards in the digital arena." The RIAA is the organization that issues these codes for the US. Other service providers may help with this, for example: http://cdbaby.org/stories/03/10/06/2534677.html).