I’ve had something mastered by Abbey Road Studios!

[Skol303]

I’ve recently been working on a remix for an online competition… and I had a voucher for a big discount at Abbey Road Studios (from another competition hosted by Sound On Sound. Yeah I like competitions).

So I decided to put two and two together and get my track professionally mastered by ‘the best in the business’. And here it is:

[b]http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/tremble-blur-remix-contest/submissions/080142fa-841b-11e6-804f-0ee9d79f649d[/b]

...click the play button on the avatar picture of Bruce Lee to hear it

[url="http://www.abbeyroad.com/engineer/sean-magee"]Sean Magee[/url] was the man responsible for the finished product (him of Beatles Remasters fame) and I’m pleased with how it turned out. My original mix wasn’t perfect - mine never are! - and he did a good job with what I gave him, as you’d expect.

Anyway, I thought I’d share it here in case anyone else is curious about Abbey Road’s online mastering service and wanted to hear the results for themselves. I found it all very easy and efficient. Admittedly it’s not something I’d rush out to do again soon, only because I’m a hobbyist and it normally costs £90 +VAT per track! But in this instance and with a discount voucher it was a great experience and something of an honour.

[i][b]PS:[/b] the track is a remix of ‘Blur’ by the US band, Tremble (original version [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv2MpV9oMvk"]here[/url]). Bass played by yours truly - a Stingray for anyone interested. If you like it - and if you can be arsed - then please vote for my remix in the competition; you can vote using Facebook without having to join the website itself. The winners are being selected by a panel of judges, rather than votes, but it’s always nice to feel loved.[/i]

Cheers

Edited October 4, 2016 by Skol303

[gary mac]

How very excellent
Just had a listen, sounds great. I will place a vote when I fire up the lap top later today.

[Highfox]

Nice.
I like it more than the original.
Cool bass work as well.

[BigRedX]

Cool stuff. Pity though you weren't able to use the vocal without that horrible band-pass filter effect on it.

What would be interesting for us would be to hear the track as it was before it was mastered so we could see how much the mastering process has changed it?

[Skol303]

Thanks guys! Very kind.

The original is very downtempo and whilst I like that sort of thing, I wanted the remix to be a significant 'step away' from it - and I ended up somewhere near disco, as you do

The bassline is my best effort to channel the spirit of Bernard Edwards.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1475651409' post='3147575']
Cool stuff. Pity though you weren't able to use the vocal without that horrible band-pass filter effect on it.

What would be interesting for us would be to hear the track as it was before it was mastered so we could see how much the mastering process has changed it?
[/quote]

Yeah the original stems came very wet and heavy with FX, so I was pretty much stuck with the 'telephone voice'.

I'll post up the original mix (pre-master) in this thread once the competition has ended, otherwise I'd be breaching the T&Cs. To my ears the master copy generally sounds very similar, but with a bit more 'thud' in the low end (esp. around the kick drum) and some more 'air' on top.

The biggest difference is that it's a lot louder without losing too much of its musicality. By comparison I tried producing my own 'master' using a limiter plug-in and also using the LANDR online service (free trial): both sounded much more harsh and aggressive.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Skol303

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1475655621' post='3147619']
Yeah the original stems came very wet and heavy with FX, so I was pretty much stuck with the 'telephone voice'.

I'll post up the original mix (pre-master) in this thread once the competition has ended, otherwise I'd be breaching the T&Cs. To my ears the master copy generally sounds very similar, but with a bit more 'thud' in the low end (esp. around the kick drum) and some more 'air' on top.

The biggest difference is that it's a lot louder without losing too much of its musicality. By comparison I tried producing my own 'master' using a limiter plug-in and also using the LANDR online service (free trial): both sounded much more harsh and aggressive.
[/quote]

I'll look forward to hearing the un-mastered (and if you are willing, your own version of the mastering) when you are able to upload them. It will be interesting to hear just how much you get for your £90 + VAT. I paid about £450 to get The Terrortones album mastered by Formation Audio here in Nottingham, which was expensive but ultimately worth it. I wonder how much of the Abbey Road charge is for the name, the London location and how much for an excellent mastering engineer and equipment?

I still haven't found a mastering plug-in (or set of plugins) that does as good a job or is as simple to use as the TC Finalizer.

[thebrig]

I'm very impressed, and to be honest, it's not really my kind of music, but it really drew me in and I actually listened to it a few times, and it grew on me more and more.

Loved the bass by the way.

Well done, you got my vote!

[ras52]

Nice, voted.

[Mcgiver69]

Bloody marvelous!!

Voted!!!

[MacDaddy]

I wonder if the band Blur, have a song called Tremble?

Liked the bass tone/playing.

[cheddatom]

great bass playing!

[ahpook]

You groovy dude.

Voted.

[Skol303]

Thanks again folks! Glad you all dig the bass playing. I write mostly electronica and hip hop, but always try to work some 'live' bass into my music whenever possible. Nothing grooves like real strings

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1475660222' post='3147666']
I wonder how much of the Abbey Road charge is for the name, the London location and how much for an excellent mastering engineer and equipment?

I still haven't found a mastering plug-in (or set of plugins) that does as good a job or is as simple to use as the TC Finalizer.
[/quote]

...that's a good question and one that has cropped up on lots on other forums, such as Gearslutz. The consensus seems to be that:
[list]
[*]The Abbey Road online service stacks up very favourably against the competition in blind tests - i.e. they do a good job.
[*]They have one helluva reputation (and heritage) to maintain and it's something they take very seriously. So they're not in the business of churning out cheap masters on the back of the Abbey Road name.
[/list]

I was sceptical myself at first but had a big discount with the voucher, so thought 'what the heck, why not?' I gave Sean Magee a brief of what I wanted, we exchanged a few brief messages via their website and within 48 hours he'd returned the finished master. The service includes one round of tweaks/amends for free, but I didn't feel it needed any. As I said, the big difference for me is that he managed to crank up the perceived loudness without it sounding harsh or brittle, something I've always found difficult with my own limited tools (and something that automated services such as LANDR seem to do very badly in my experience).

PS: the TC Finaliser still gets mentioned on various gear forums. Seems like a nice bit of kit, although now superseded by plug-ins such as Waves Masters. I don't have either myself, but that seems to be the word from those who speak of such things

[lowdown]

Good stuff, Paul.
Voted and lobbed in a Tweet for free.

[Skol303]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1475764282' post='3148584']
Good stuff, Paul.
Voted and lobbed in a Tweet for free.
[/quote]

Thanks Garry!

[lurksalot]

excellent , though subtlety will often pass me by, I loved it dude , bass track was awesome , top stuff , voted

I have to say though the fact the blurb and title states ' Mastered by Abbey Road Studios' probably helps the ears define the mix on its own to some

If I'm honest I am not sure that the tempo fits with the sentiment of the lyric , but when did sentiment ever matter on the dance floor

great work ,

[funkgod]

great bass playing paul, good to hear a stingray with the treble backed off before it gets to clicky,
i liked both versions of the the song, but can see the disco version being more appealing for radio use and the like.
the quality of the video and editing on the youtube clip, looks top draw, who did that ? hats off to who ever did that.

As big red says, cant wait to hear the unmastered version to hear what was done for the money,
what about a sound cloud link when voting is over?

Great stuff, hope it does well, voted and fingers crossed.

Edited October 8, 2016 by funkgod

[Skol303]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1475868922' post='3149449']
I have to say though the fact the blurb and title states ' Mastered by Abbey Road Studios' probably helps the ears define the mix on its own to some.

If I'm honest I am not sure that the tempo fits with the sentiment of the lyric , but when did sentiment ever matter on the dance floor [/quote]

Cheers bud. Yeah... I was very tempted to produce a more downtempo remix, but I figured that would be sort of competing with the original - hence the decision to swap genres. Not that disco was necessarily the smartest place to end up, but heh!

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1475920995' post='3149738']
great bass playing paul, good to hear a stingray with the treble backed off before it gets to clicky,
i liked both versions of the the song, but can see the disco version being more appealing for radio use and the like.
the quality of the video and editing on the youtube clip, looks top draw, who did that ? hats off to who ever did that.

As big red says, cant wait to hear the unmastered version to hear what was done for the money,
what about a sound cloud link when voting is over?

Great stuff, hope it does well, voted and fingers crossed.
[/quote]

Many thanks! I put a low pass filter on the Stingray at around 3kHz (if I remember correctly) to cut out the string noise and give it a bit more 'thump'. Kinda making it sound more like a Precision ...but I think the mid-range growl of the 'Ray does help it cut through the mix.

No idea who did the video, but they did a good job. This particular track, Blur, features on a US drama which seems to have given the band themselves a well earned boost. Goes to show how important licensing can be!

I'll definitely post up a 'before and after' comparison of the original/mastered tracks once the competition has ended. And cheers for the vote- appreciated!

[BrunoBass]

Back in the late '80s the band I was in released a self financed EP. We used SRT (anyone remember them?) and part of the deal was that the record was mastered at Abbey Road. As a Beatles obsessed teenager the prospect of working there was a big thrill. I still remember the excitement of going through the front door, the history almost tangible as we walked through the corridors, having a coffee in the canteen (with Marc Almond on the adjacent table). Good times.

[Twincam]

I think it sounded really good and enjoyed listening to it. I voted for you despite my hatred for having to use my facebook to do so lol.

I liked the warm sound of the track and it was nice and funky without being full on. I couldn't tell it was a stingray, it sounded like something with flats too me and maybe a hint too mellow in places when other things kicked in, I thought the bass perceived volume dropped just a touch at those times. But that's me listening more to the bass in that instance.

As said I did enjoy the remix and your bass playing.

[Skol303]

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1476178139' post='3151941']Back in the late '80s the band I was in released a self financed EP. We used SRT (anyone remember them?) and part of the deal was that the record was mastered at Abbey Road.... Good times.[/quote]

Wow! To coin an internet phrase, that really is a "cool story bro". I'd love to visit the place in person...

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1476184628' post='3152007']
I think it sounded really good and enjoyed listening to it. I voted for you despite my hatred for having to use my facebook to do so lol... I couldn't tell it was a stingray, it sounded like something with flats too me and maybe a hint too mellow in places when other things kicked in, I thought the bass perceived volume dropped just a touch at those times. But that's me listening more to the bass in that instance.[/quote]

Cheers Twincam and thanks for the vote mate! Interesting point about the bass being a little too low in the mix... that's a recurring theme for me. I think it comes from being a bass player and being a bit self-conscious about not wanting the bass to be [i]too[/i] loud as a consequence. I'll take that comment on board and tweak it up a little next time.