John Greenham has collaborated with numerous renowned artists from almost all genres of music in his more than 20-year career as a mastering engineer. He has been involved in successful albums and singles worldwide and has won several Grammy Awards for his work. His studio is located in Los Angeles, California and is considered one of the top addresses in the industry.
In an exclusive studio talk with HOFA-College tutor Simon Götz, John shares insights into his extensive experience in the music industry, as well as technical considerations and processes involved in professional mastering for successful artists of all styles.
John Greenham gives you these 5 tips for your career as a mastering engineer.
1. Develop your own sound
As a mastering engineer, it is important to develop your own unique sound. Then people will get in touch with you because they want a certain sound. John says: “Artists do suggest that they want to work with you based on other work that you have done.”
You might think that different masters of the same song done by different mastering engineers will sound quite similar and the difference between them is subtle, but it’s not: they will be quite different from one another. Every mastering engineer has his own aesthetic, and this determines how he feels the music should sound. Your challenge as a mastering engineer is to choose the equipment that will help you achieve the sound you hear in your head.
The key to a certain sound is to know the equipment that you are using very well – no matter what you are working with. It is important to know its strengths and weaknesses, the conditions under which it sounds good and when it does not.
In John’s opinion, this is also the reason for Billie Eilish’s success: For their first work they had no special equipment – and it won a Grammy. The reason it worked: they worked really hard and got to know the equipment they had really well, so they got the sounds they wanted out of it. In that sense, it’s not really helpful to focus on the most expensive equipment because it doesn’t necessarily give you the sound you want or allow you to develop your own sound. To achieve this, you have to be inventive with what you have.
In a nutshell, the goal of mastering according to John is: “Try to make [the song] so that it’s really engaging. That’s it. It’s all about the music we work on, it’s all about the artist, really, and we are just trying not to screw it up, hopefully.”
In a conversation with Grammy Award winning record producer and audio engineer Toni Maserati, he summed it up nicely: “When I send something to mastering, I want it to come back sounding better. It has to be better. Whether it’s a little bit better or a lot, I don’t care, as long as it’s better.”
2. Increase the dynamics in your song for louder masters
How loud your master will sound on a particular streaming platform is not really predictable in John’s experience. Among other things, it also depends on the style of music and the arrangement. If there are just a few elements – like a bass, a snare, some chords and the vocal – the music can sound pretty loud on the streaming platforms. In addition, “if you want your music to be loud, then build in quiet sections into the arrangement; then your average (level) will be lower (and the level won’t be lowered by the normalisation algorithm as much).”
Most mixes that John gets are already pretty loud. So basically, he does his best to make them sound as good as possible, without paying too much attention to the LUFS meter. He usually sends the finished masters to his clients in 44.1 kHz and 16 or 24 bit, to ensure compatibility to various playback systems.
3. Consider these tips when working with analog outboard gear
Good analog outboard gear can add something special to the sound and make it more interesting. Unfortunately, this kind of gear is expensive. Thus, from a business perspective, it probably only makes sense to invest in outboard if the return on investment is high enough to justify the expense – unless money is not an issue…………..
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