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By Pete Foreman
 Record making evolves through various stages. Producers grind out on
their MPCs or keyboards to get the track to sound precise, mixing
engineers successfully blend elements to a cohesive unit, and a
mastering engineer swoops in at the end to save the day.
Stephen
Marsh is a engineer that understands the importance of that final
stage. With credits on Grammy award winning projects, as well as
mastering experience that stretches over several genres of music,
Stephen has earned his stripes in the music industry.
Those
"stripes" have allowed him to continue as a mastering engineer from his
own Hollywood, California Studio. Mr. Marsh took a few minutes out with
BeatDynasty. com to discuss everything from how much you might expect
to pay a mastering engineer, to what an aspiring engineer can do to get
a foot in the door. Take notes
BeatDynasty. com: Who are some of the artists that you've done mastering work for?
Stephen
Marsh: Ginuwine, The D.O.C., The Pharcyde, Jon B, Sunshine Anderson,
B2K, Adina Howard, J Boog, Bang Loose, Jennifer Hudson, Fergie, Beyonce.
BeatDynasty. com: What made you want to get involved in the mastering side of music?
Stephen
Marsh: Happenstance really. I was doing recording and mixing when a job
opened up in mastering. Once I took it I realized I heard music the
right way for mastering.
BeatDynasty. com: Are you involved in any production or mixing? Or are you strictly a mastering engineer?
Stephen
Marsh: I don't do much production any more, but I have in the past .
They keep me pretty busy in the mastering room these days, not that I'm
complaining. That said, mastering, especially with indies, has a lot of
cross-over with production these days. I find myself doing more
'producer' type tasks in mastering than I used to do. As the role of
producer has shifted from overall responsibility for all aspects of a
project to just musical concerns, the engineer has to take on some of
the organizational roles to make sure the project comes in on time and
budget. Creatives don't deal well with deadlines in most cases, you
have to be pleasantly pushy!
BeatDynasty. com: Let's talk
mastering environment. What are some key elements to having a proper
environment to master a record in?
Stephen Marsh: Proper
mastering environment for me is really all about elimination of
distractions. Whether they be acoustic issues, not having the right
gear for the job, noise from people down the hall etc etc. If you're
comfortable, can trust the environment, trust your gear and how it's
sound will translate what it sounds like and what it feels like, you'll
be able to master most effectively in my opinion.
BeatDynasty. com: What type of equipment do you use? Is it mainly outboard gear or plugins?
Stephen
Marsh: We're outboard here, both analog and digital. As with any
high-end house, it's primarily modified or custom pieces that have
proven their worth over the years, integrated into a workflow that
allows for maximum impact with minimum noise and distortion. I don't
get hung up on what something is called ever. If a piece helps me do my
job, I'll want it regardless of brand or who else bought it. We have
Plug-ins available as well though seldom have an issue I can’t handle
with traditional outboard.
BeatDynasty. com: How long does it
generally take to master a song? What are some of the nuisances that
might make the time longer?
Stephen Marsh: One song, pretty
quick, maybe 15 minutes of actual EQ time, if I don't know the group.
Then with conversion, edit and assembly/print time it takes about
double that or longer to be finished and walk out the door. Processing
wise it doesn't take long with good mixes. If it takes much longer,
your mix isn't happening!
BeatDynasty. com: How does that factor into cost out of the artist's pockets?
Stephen
Marsh: This is a very good question to ask while comparison shopping. A
lot of engineers will quote by the hour and not tell you how much they
get done in an hour. I routinely do albums cheaper than guys that
charge as much as $100 an hour LESS than I do, because they work at a
slower pace. Keeping in mind that one of the advantages of an outside
mastering facility is an objective ear. I don't want to spend too much
time with one song unless it needs extra help, and that extra help
generally has to do with fitting it in an album context more than
anything else specific with the actual song.
BeatDynasty. com:
How do you respond when you get a crappy mix? Is there anything a
mastering engineer can do to straighten that out?
Stephen Marsh:
I have a pretty strict policy on confronting bad mixes. I've never been
willing to take someone's money and give them back crap and I don't
think it would win me many friends!
I'll generally contact the
mixes and see what the deal is. Sometimes it's as simple as 'I didn't
know they were mastering so I put some L2 on it. I'll pull it off and
re-print the mixes for you.' Sometimes it's 'That's all we have, the
files are gone.' Bottom line, you do what you can to get the client the
best you can give them with what they've got. Be honest and realistic
with everyone involved about what to expect. I have in the past refused
to do entire albums because the mixes just weren't there and I didn't
feel right taking money to master them. I've never regretted those
decisions.
BeatDynasty. com: For independent artists, what type of budget would they need to get their album mastered?
Stephen
Marsh: You pay for experience in mastering, not gear. Anyone can buy
gear and pretend, and you generally get what you pay for. That said,
there's sort of four general markets going right now for indie
mastering.
One is the random internet or bedroom mastering guy.
You've probably never heard of them, you won't find an address listed
on the site but, you will find a handful of quotes from some people
you've also, never heard of before. These people come from all walks of
life but are generally young kids or out-of-work mixers. I don't
recommend these places but they'll do a record for like $199!
The
second is the new name guys or regional guys (I would fall into this
category). We're blue collar guys like most of our clients out there. A
mix of major label and indie clients, a good, verifiable track record
and 10-20 years experience. Plan on spending about $100-$150 on average
per song.
The third is the Late night sessions with an assistant
to a name guy or regional guy. You're looking at less experience here
but that may be made up in enthusiasm if the project doesn't have too
many twists and turns and you catch a good engineer. Pricing will
generally run about the same as a a 'new name' or 'regional' guy
believe it or not as only the biggest facilities offer this kind of
thing to cover their REALLY high overhead.
The last is the 'big
name' guys with 30 plus years of experience. There is no sales pitch
required but, plan on spending $3000 to $6000 for an album with a big
name engineer. There's only about 15-20 of them out there too, so book
early!
BeatDynasty. com: What advice would you give somebody interested in getting into the mastering side of record making?
Stephen Marsh: Apprentice under a mastering engineer you admire and see eye to eye with.
BeatDynasty. com: Any last words you want to add in?
Stephen Marsh: This interview was brought to you by the words 'session,’ ’master,' and by the number one.
Check out Stephen's Website at www.Stephenmarshmastering.com
Or connect on his myspace page at www.myspace.com/MasterMarsh
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