Independent audio mastering in Portland, OR by Brad Boatright. https://linktr.ee/audiosiege Audiosiege Engineering is an independent audio and music production studio located in the heart of the Portland, Oregon independent music scene.
We offer professional mastering and production to recording artists worldwide. With roots that extend deep into the Hardcore, Punk, Metal, and Alternative music scenes, Audiosiege employs a perfect combination of experience, skill, and knowledge with the finest in both analog and digital audio processing. We've worked on records by Sleep, High on Fire, Modern Life is War, Nails, Sarabante, Noothgr
We offer professional mastering and production to recording artists worldwide. With roots that extend deep into the Hardcore, Punk, Metal, and Alternative music scenes, Audiosiege employs a perfect combination of experience, skill, and knowledge with the finest in both analog and digital audio processing. We've worked on records by Sleep, High on Fire, Modern Life is War, Nails, Sarabante, Noothgr
Operating as usual
Remember kids… recycled denim is a fantastic acoustic material, so don’t toss those jeans into the trash! And always check the packing material in boxes. You’d be surprised to find it used for shipping purposes as well. I’ve gathered around 20-30 square feet of it from packages alone.
Open door policy/Game of inches… Sometimes, simply cracking a control room door can help with low end buildup in problematic areas, and it’s one of the simplest bass traps. Note the magnitude difference here at 93 Hz with the storage room door closed, open 8”, and open 22”. While it’s only a few decibels, it’s still a consistently measurable difference that can alter the accuracy of your monitoring environment.
I guess I should sweep the floor next.
Philly hardcore punk legends Rambo the punk rock band return and sign to Relapse for the release of 'Defy Extinction' out November 4th! R.A.M.B.O.'s first full-length since 2006!
Pre-Order & watch the "Defy Extinction" at orcd.co/rambo-defyextinction
This one’s a masterpiece that I’m quite proud to have mastered. Hoaxed “Two Shadows” will be out next month on Relapse Records Recorded and mixed by Gabe Johnston here at Falcon as well!
Pre-Order 'Two Shadows' Here: http://bit.ly/hoaxed-twoshadowsDigital Downloads/Streaming: http://orcd.co/hoaxed-twoshadowsSubscribe to Relapse Records Channe...
Worked really hard on this one. Recorded and mixed by Taylor Young at Studio 606 and The Pit Recording Studio, mastered at Audiosiege.
The music video for our New Single "You Must Die" is PREMIERING in 15 minutes at the link below! We'll see you there in the chatroom so let us know what you think!
https://youtu.be/YrhdsMBBjlo
Here’s one that I’ve been silently excited about for a long time… Before the iconic Dead Moon, there was King Bee. And Doomtown Sounds is releasing their recordings on vinyl after they were meticulously restored and mastered at Audiosiege…. A couple fun facts about this one: my old landlord, Mark Sten, played bass in the band, and Toody’s brother Pat, who played drums, built a guitar case for me about twenty years ago. “More than 40 YEARS IN THE MAKING!
Doomtown Sounds, in collaboration with Toody Cole and the surviving members of the band, is proud to present the release of the KING BEE album, containing a dozen unreleased studio and live songs recorded between 1977 and 1981. King Bee was Fred Cole’s late 70’s band, and their music occupied an important position in Fred’s development as a songwriter.
This often-overlooked part of Fred’s career saw him combining elements of his 60’s roots with this new sound called punk rock, and it was this synthesis of styles which led to the Rats, and, eventually, to the creation of DEAD MOON.
I’ll need to make this a bit smaller, but I’m happy with the proof of concept here… Using a Cricut machine to make die-cut index lines.
Gum balls.
photos by Sidney Stauts Texas death metal quintet TRIBAL GAZE is preparing to drop their monstrous debut LP, The Nine Choirs, through Maggot Stomp in September. As the band begins their massive North American tour with Creeping Death, 200 Stab Wound, and more, the label unveils the record’s cover ...
More automation. I do this a lot, to preserve or enhance impacts and dynamic shifts. It takes a bit of extra work and time, but it’s worth it and something I consider part of the job. Think about this next time you choose a mastering engineer.
New plaque for the studio door
Here’s another MaxxBass preset that I’d love to share. This one is just subtle enough to add some low end extension without getting out of control, and, on the right source, it’s one of those settings that you don’t notice right away, but miss when it’s bypassed… similar to a properly adjusted Baxandall EQ’s low shelf. The preset can be found in the Waves sub folder of the presets, following the link in bio. Have fun, and let me know what you think.
This is the tenth summer I’ve spent working in the current location of Audiosiege. Through all the summers before, with the exception of a few vacations here and there, I spent five full days a week in here without air conditioning. As I’m a bit paranoid of electrical interference from fans, and, generally, not a “fan” of the noise floor boost that comes with them, I’ve sweltered while toiling in this room. But I’ve never complained, and I’ve considered myself lucky to be in this position, even if that position is in front of tube gear on 100 degree days. Besides, there are records that need mastering, and I’ve always been determined to do my best to circumvent or overcome any challenges. But when I took Tuesday off, my good friend and studio partner, Mark Kaeder, got on the roof and routed two HVAC ducts to outlets right above my seating position. With a forecast of 101° Fahrenheit today, one of the few things that could make me happier than having air conditioning is knowing that someone did something nice for me. Time to bake a few cakes I reckon. Thanks Mark! ❤️
Gear check morning
Compressors… these are some of my favorites in the digital realm. The incredibly versatile Tokyo Dawn Kotelnikov GE probably gets the most use. Cytomic’s The Glue (not only for its clipping section) is my favorite SSL style compressor plug-in. The digitally vintage Waves LinMB, which I’ve used for a long time, has a certain sound that just works well. One my recent favorites to compliment my analog version is the Rocksonics MB-3X, and for optical style compression with a touch of color, the UAD Fairchild is a tough one to beat.
My favorite clipping plug-ins: The incredibly underrated Event Horizon from Stilwell Audio, KClip Pro from , StandardCLIP from (both being top shelf pieces), and the clipping sections from the Limiter 6 GE, DMG Audio’s Limitless, and The Glue from Cytomic. Last but definitely not least is the new Soft Limit plug-in from
Mornin’
Album Premiere: Ashenspire – ‘Hostile Architecture’ - Decibel Magazine
Scottish avant-garde metal project Ashenspire demolish power structures on their new LP, "Hostile Architecture.
Photos from Escuela Grind's post
I’m looking forward to in Portland tomorrow, and excited to speak about DAW workflows and efficiency in mastering!
I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, despite already having an Apogee Rosetta 200 & 800, and a whole bunch of clipper plug-ins. AD converter clipping is a technique I’ve employed quite a bit over the years, but levels always have to be within a pretty narrow range of the clip, or you’ll get nasty intermodulation distortion on low end swells and long fades where transients aren’t present. Software clippers have partially replaced DA clipping for me, but there’s still something about hitting the input of the converter just right. Apogee improved their clipping circuits a lot over the years as well… the early units would just sound nasty when clipped, with audible clicking and popping. These days I use a Lavry for my conversion, which has its own fantastic clipping circuit, but the Rosettas are still some of my favorite sounding converters and the Soft Limit feature on them, which I almost always kept engaged, is a big reason why. So far, I’m impressed with this one, and the price is right… it’s free. The second two photos are from the manual and show a little bit of what the clipper does to the waveform.
This latest set of meters is about to ship to and is an exercise in minimalist restraint. It’s a 2U unit featuring a poplar face, reinforced with aluminum. Front-mounted rotary switches provide three choices of meter ballistics, and calibration adjustment screws are accessible from the back, next to potentiometers for adjusting the brightness of the lights. I’m quite happy with it.
Mark spent most of yesterday installing and configuring some new gear and software in Studio A here, namely a Mac Studio, a UAD Apollo 16 and a UAD Apollo x8p. Despite keeping myself busy in my mastering room, this is an exciting addition to the other side of the hall, and should provide some extra resources to freelancers, while keeping the existing Apogee Symphony conversion as an option as well.
Waves Q-Clone is phenomenal. I’ve used it to clone the curves of some of my favorite DR-MQ5 settings, and the accuracy is astonishing. I’ve linked to my Q-Clone preset folder in the comments, and it can be found with a few other fun presets.
I’m excited to be speaking about advanced DAW workflows with Justin Perkins from Mystery Room Mastering on July 7th at The Sapphire Mastering Conference in Portland, Oregon. The conference is being held from July 7-8, and more information can be found at the link below.
-Brad
http://thesapphire.org/conference/conference2020.html
The new Locrian release “New Catastrophism”, their first release in seven years, will see its release on 2xCD/LP/Digital on Aug 12. Monolithic and immersive dark ambient/experimental/drone being the paramount expression with this opus. Alongside “New Catastrophism” LOCRIAN will also be releasing the “Ghost Frontiers” EP that will come as a bonus disc with the CD edition, a bonus digital download with the LP, and released through all digital channels on Aug 12.
New track/pre-orders are now live here: https://linktr.ee/locrianmusic
LOCRIAN is a prophetic voice of decline. From the band’s inception, it has comfortably straddled both the experimental and metal underground, weaving themes of apocalypse, urban decay, environmental destruction and birth/death/rebirth throughout its multifaceted and genre-defying releases. The trio formed in 2005 in Chicago and features Terence Hannum (synthesizers, vocals, tape loops), André Foisy (guitars, electronics), and Steven Hess (drums, electronics). Over their sixteen-year history, Locrian have released six studio albums, three collaborative albums, and numerous limited-edition releases.
“New Catastrophism” and “Ghost Frontiers” was recorded and mixed by J. Robbins, mastered by Brad Boatright, and features artwork by Trevor Paglen with design by Chimere Noire.
“New Catastrophism” track listing:
1. Mortichnia
2. The Glare Is Everywhere And Nowhere Our Shadow
4. Incomplete Map Of Voids
3. Cenotaph To The Final Glacier
“Ghost Frontiers” bonus EP track listing:
1. Witness The Collapse Of Geologic Time
2. The Chasm Of The Future
With software-based Baxandall equalizers, one could do a lot worse than Variety Of Sound’s free Baxter EQ plug-in. Compared to the UAD Dangerous Bax, the curves are slightly different, and there seems to be a bit of subtle harmonic content being added, but it’s a great equalizer that can easily and quickly give a stereo mix or sub-mix a light-handed loudness that you may miss when bypassed.
The freshly built VU meter box, calibrated, installed, and functioning flawlessly. The first switch is for power, the second inserts different value capacitors across the meters to control ballistics, and the third engages the output to the left/right meter behind it (pictured in the final photos).
Apparently, my new hobby is building meter boxes from scratch. I wanted to build a four meter box to hang on the back of my desk, tilting the meters down a bit more to keep the lights out of my eyes, so I decided to build this one from some poplar slabs I had. I’ll be soldering everything today, and should have it in place and functioning tomorrow.
Wow. Thanks so much to Graveir and Longing Maw, not only for entrusting me with mastering these great sounding and beautifully packaged albums, but also for sending them all the way from Australia to my doorstep! Chuffed!
Hardware multi-band compression is so fun.
Always cut at zero!
The Foote Control Systems P3EX is such a unique and wonderful compressor, with a huge tone, thanks to the Edcor transformers on the ins and outs. Without a doubt, it’s my favorite hardware comp when transparent compression isn’t needed, and the RMS detection is executed flawlessly. This thing just makes things bloom in a way that’s difficult to describe without having heard it.
15 SE 15th Ave
Portland, OR
97214
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I’ll need to make this a bit smaller, but I’m happy with the proof of concept here… Using a Cricut machine to make die-cut index lines.
Hardware multi-band compression is so fun. #rocksonics #mastering #masteringcompressor #masteringstudio
Always cut at zero! #mastering #mixing #audioediting
New video: Mic Droppings! Three situations in which “dropping the mic” is acceptable.
Secret weapon for punch, thud, and crack. #mastering #masteringstudio #analoghardware #dbx
INTRODUCING THE BREAKER!!! The Breaker is a REVOLUTIONARY new plug-in wrapper from Audiosiege, designed to give you that final 1% of analog realness. Immerse yourself, with THE BREAKER!
A scientific test of cables in the studio. #mastering #mixing #recording #masteringstudio #audiomastering #musicmastering #audiophile #analog
If an analog EQ sounds good enough to warrant channel matching this tedious, it’s worth having.
💫 The more you know
Here’s a great technique I’ve figured out for noise reduction, using @izotopeinc RX8 Advanced. When the Spectral De-Noise module gets too aggressive and eats into musical content, rather than adjusting the curve manually, use the lasso tool to select the noise, from which it learns the noise profile.
I prefer old, weird pieces of hardware over blank rack panels, even if they don’t process audio. This scene from Airplane is probably why.
