Sequoia/Samplitude

Tim Dolbear - North American Product Specialist

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UAD-1 and UAD-2  Presets

An interview with...
John Scrip of Massive Mastering
 

Tim Dolbear :
What is your day to day?

Massive Mastering:
I usually try to have some sort of "game plan" ready from the day before, but those are so often "modified on the spot" by the time I actually get things moving. Generally, I try to have the "biggest" (longest, most difficult, whatever it may be) project of the day opened up first. Assuming all goes well, I send audition files to the client and move on to authoring projects that have been OK'd for shipping. Later in the day is "shorties" -- Editing, singles and the like. Then of course, the books... Mix in a few breaks here and there for hanging around the forums. I moderate the mastering forums at StudioForums and Studio-Central - Neither are very busy forums, are there any "very busy" mastering forums?, but I'm somewhat of a "forum junkie" in the first place. I'm hooked. All that and plenty of coffee, if the weather's nice, I get a little "throttle time" in on the bike. Post office, bank runs - any excuse to get a little ride in...

Tim:
How did you end up in this line of work?


Massive Mastering:
I was chief engineer at the JEM Music Complex in Chicago (mid-90's) and although we never offered mastering services, "ITB" was still a very expensive proposition at the time, I was the guy who normally attended mastering sessions on behalf of many of our recording clients. One day, the owner came up and gave me the "Hey, why don't we offer basic mastering services here?" talk. Kicking and screaming, I was the guy who had to make it happen. Actually resented the situation for quite a while, but it was pretty obvious that among the engineers there, I was the guy who was more "cut out" for the process. After a while, we got into a nice groove -- I'd AE during tracking, another engineer which was typically, Jason Walsh would mix, I'd handle the "mastering" -- "Mastering" as in "A Finalizer and some basic software" which really wasn't an ideal scenario - Especially after attending sessions in some rather impressive rooms with some rather impressive gear selections. But it actually worked out pretty well with the limited gear on hand.

A few years down the line, the owner of JEM ended up selling the studio -- Jason Walsh found himself in a position to acquire the whole place. So the guy I hired was my new boss, but he didn't have the capital at the time to keep me on as a full-time employee. I stayed on as a freelance engineer while I built up a "more proper" gear inventory and space to break out on my own. It worked out pretty well - I already had a small list of "regulars" and Jason ended up moving & rebuilding the studio (now Farview Recording). We still toss projects at each other constantly.

Tim:
What type of work do you do? Music/VO/Sound for picture/Video?

Massive Mastering:
Mostly independent artists and indie music labels. A little sound for video here and there, quite a bunch of dance companies and academies. I learned the hard way that authoring a proper disc isn't as easy as it seems sometimes. Some of my favorite "regulars" -- and arguably some of the easier work, relatively speaking. Very precise, as it always is - But less worry about "sound quality" and more on volume consistency and "fool-proof" discs, so they can take them anywhere and not worry about a "less seasoned" FOH guy at the board.

Tim:
How is Samplitude/Sequoia used in your work flow?

Massive Mastering:
Almost every project starts and ends in Samplitude (currently, 11.1 Professional). I can line up an entire project, head & tail the files, spacing, rough apparent volume, any sort of "surgical" issues -- All of that can be done before I even start making adjustments on the analog chain. But of course, I can make all those adjustments while monitoring through the analog chain. I'm not about to give up analog processing, but there's so much quality "digital horsepower" under the hood in Samplitude that the analog gear, though still a vital part of the chain, can be used in a much more subtle manner. Digital surgery, analog shaping. And with the wonderful sound quality of those "stock" plugs - the EQ, EQ116, the AM-Suite - I rarely need to dig around through a list of third-party plugs to get the sound I'm looking for.
And specifically for mastering -- Being able to edit and assemble, run out through the analog chain and back in, edit the PQ, CD TEXT, add ISRC's and burn a compliant production master without ever leaving the program? That's all business. Nothing else can touch it. The spectral cleaning and restoration bundle are just icing on the cake.

Tim:
What is your favorite feature(s) of Samplitude/Sequoia

Massive Mastering:
How can anyone possibly not say "Object-based editing?" Totally changed everything about my work flow. Actually confused the hell out of me the first time I saw it. But an hour later, you couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Being able to line up an entire project in such a "linear" fashion and be able to tweak each one of those objects in any way you want while being able to affect that entire track in a "global" manner without even bringing additional bussing into the picture? How do you beat that? You don't. On the rare occasion that I have to mix a project, it's completely off the hook. Any mixing engineer that hasn't tried it doesn't know what he's missing. It's like automation on steroids. And once you use it, everything else sucks.

http://www.massivemastering.com

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Interview with Steven Slate


Steven Slate – his industry standard drum software can be heard on the biggest hits from artists such as Train, Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback, and more. Tim Dolbear asked Steven about his daily work and how Samplitude & Sequoia is connected to it.

Tim Dolbear (MAGIX):

What is your day to day?

Steven Slate:

I like to divide my day between running my audio companies (Slate Digital and Yellow Matter Entertainment), and working on music.  I'm still actively engineering, mixing, and mastering each week.

Tim:

How did you end up in this line of work?
 

Steven:

Well, like most people in the pro audio industry, I started out by being a musician. I played guitar, bass,  and drums, and initially started getting into recording solely to record the songs I was writing.  Then the bug hits you and the next thing you know, recording becomes a real passion.  

Tim:

What type of work do you do?

Steven:

I work with music. I write for a lot of new artists, and I mix and master albums each week.  One of my latest projects is working with guitar legend George Lynch.

Tim:

How is Samplitude/Sequoia used in you work flow?

Steven:

We use Sequoia on our mastering rig, and its a lovely software.  The ease of use, intelligent features, and smooth workflow make it the ultimate solution for mastering.

Tim:

What is your favorite feature?

Steven:

One of my favorite features is how easy it is to make surround DVDs right from the program.
 

Tim:

Since you are also a Software plug-in creator, can you tell us about your new FG-X Mastering Processor?

Steven:

There are a lot of different processors available to make things louder during the mastering stage, but we decided to try a very different approach.  The FG-X using a new process called Intelligent Transient Preservation, which analyzes individual peaks and produces a saturation curve that is optimized per transient to ensure the most transparent sound.  The result is the ability to increase the level of a mix without altering the punch and dynamic impact.

The samplitude team wants to say thanks to Steven for this interview!
Website: http://www.stevenslate.com/

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Interview with Tim Dolbear, Eclectica Studios

  
What is your day to day?

Since becoming the product specialist for Samplitude and Sequoia back at the beginning of 2010, my day to day has changed. I have cut out most production work, though I still do some, and now I mostly focus on mixing. For the last 12 years, I have been a full-time audio engineer and studio musician, but now my days are filled with MAGIX and my nights are filled with mixing and mastering, so I am very busy all the time. In the last month, I have mixed tracks for a Latin artist out of Texas, a Euro pop artist out of Las Vegas, and Synth rock track from Norway, mastered a project from Iceland, and been working with a singer/songwriter out of Austin.

How did you end up in this line of work?

I used to be a lead guitarist for many acts out there in the late 80’s and 90’s. I got to play with Sammy Hagar and many others, but while on the road in Colorado, I ran into Keith Olsen at an industry thing and after hearing my solo album, he said “you should be producing.” He then took me in and mentored me, help steer me through the industry a little. That was in 1998.  In 1999, My wife and I opened Eclectica Studios which existed in Montclair, California until we moved it to Austin, Texas in 2006. So really it’s the old, “musician turned studio rat” story.
In the past I have worked with, produced or performed with Sammy Hagar, Tim Bogert (Vanilla Fudge), Billy Sheehan (Mr Big, David Lee Roth), Jamie Oldaker (Eric Clapton, Frampton, Ace Frehley), Phil Brown (Little Feat, Steve Perry), Larry Thompson (James Brown, John Denver, Otis Redding), Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys), Raging Saint and the list goes on.
 

What type of work do you do? Music/VO/Sound for picture/Video?

Over the years, I have worked on a few sound for picture projects, wrote and recorded soundtrack work, and radio shows, but the bulk of my work has always been music. Projects tracked elsewhere in the world are uploaded to my ftp server for mixing. It’s a smaller world today then even just a few years ago. We named the studio Eclectica because we have such a wide range of clientele. From Irish folk to Metal, Pop to rap, and of course, I get the rock and metal bands coming by because of my history with Keith Olsen. But my favorite genre to mix is pop and rock.
 

How is Samplitude/Sequoia used in you work flow?

It’s everything. My DAW story is like most: I started on Cakewalk 3.0 and followed it up thru Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, all in conjunction with analog and digital recorders. In 1999, I jumped to Logic Audio Pro. I used it until 2004 when I had to finally jump since it was no longer supported on Windows. I looked seriously at Samplitude, Nuendo, and ProTools, and the pressure was on with PT, but I loved everything about the demo I tried out of Samplitude and made the leap, and have been in love with it every since. Yes, I used to get people asking me if I use PT, and we do have a crappy little PT Mbox we use for converting over sessions sent to us, but I tell them straight out, “yes we have Protools, but we work on Samplitude (or Sequoia,)” and they either say “I’ve heard of that, that’s supposed to be really high end,” or they say, “What’s that?” And I simply explain to them that Samplitude is way beyond and out of PT’s league. Nowadays, no one asks. Clients are hiring me and don’t care if I am using a 4-track cassette, they just want my skills. I always say, sell yourself, you are the only unique product you have. Anyone can buy equipment, and just because you have a nice kitchen, doesn’t mean you are a great cook.
Samplitude Pro and now Sequoia, handle every aspect of production for me. The main system here is a Windows 7, 4-core machine, and all I have loaded is Sequoia, Video Prox2, and my ftp client. So from tracking, to editing, to mixing and mastering, and the final CD prep, Sequoia handles it all.
 So when I get a project in for mix/mastering, any format conversion and prep work happens within Sequoia. All the restoration and fixing, places where the audio is clipped, and noise issues, are all handled by Sequoia. Everything -- from the mix and master to the burning of the final CD – it’s all handled with that one program.
I also am a big fan of Universal Audio and have been on board with them since Mackie was partnered with them. I beta test with them and now with my position at MAGIX AG, I have direct lines back and forth between the two development teams. My goal is to make sure the two lines stay tightly interfaced.
 

What is your favorite feature(s) of Samplitude/Sequoia?

Too many to list really, but besides the obvious answers like the Sound and Object based editing, I love the mixer skins with the long throw faders, finally you can mix with a mouse! Also Comparisonic, I cannot live without it anymore. Vandal for reamping, and having a phase reverse on the mixer or simply by key command. Also Stereo Editors on the Aux sends. The new EQ116 and essential plug in suite. Audio quantizing and audio markers for turning drum hits into midi notes, then the midi Velocity Dynamic to set the drum note and randomize it. The totally customizable GUI. And in Sequoia, the Cross fade editor, being able to deliver DDP, edit video objects and export video. The Cleaning and restoration suite. I have some of the $5,000 restoration plug-ins from other companies and the C&R suite for Samplitude and Sequoia are as good in almost all cases, and they are built in, so they always work.
 

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