Imperial Mastering

21/06/2024

European friends, I will be in Europe with Melissa Mari from July 2nd - 16th to play Obscene Extreme Festival and visit friends. We will have some extra time between events so I wanted to make our schedule public.

We arrive Amsterdam July 2nd and will rent a car and drive south towards Brussels to meet with my drummer for practice. We have two days open at this time. Then we will drive from Brussels through Germany to Czech Republic on July 5th to play a festival on July 6th. Then we head back to Brussels Sunday July 7th to drop off our drummer and the next day we travel to Normandy France to visit friends and see Mt. St. Michel. After this we head back towards Horst Netherlands in Limburg to see friends and from there back to the AMS airport. We have about 4 open days in this two week period.

Eventually we would like to find a place to rent in the Netherlands (or elsewhere) for 1-2 months so we can stay longer and play more festivals. If anyone has any ideas in this regard, please let us know as well. Cheers to all!

28/05/2024

Latest Imperial Mastering news blast

Hi everyone, Colin Davis of Imperial Mastering here. Just a quick update to remind you that we are always here if you need us! About half of our clients are musicians who are mixing their own albums. It is these artists who benefit the most from our services because we offer important feedback that helps them nail their mixes. But even professional engineers benefit because it’s so hard to stay objective when you have had your head in a mix for months.

Our free test masters let you know where you are and what might need to be adjusted. Then when you’re ready for mastering, our rates are super affordable. Not to brag, but you also benefit from having the Imperial Mastering name associated with your release! Imperial has been involved with countless metal releases for over two decades and is truly a stamp of quality in the metal music world!

Get in touch if you need us!

Colin Davis / engineer

Website:
www.imperialmastering.com

Contact:
[email protected]
925.305.1616 Austin, Texas CST

Metal Music Mastering and Production by Colin Davis. Death metal, black metal, power metal, thrash, djent, progressive metal and all forms of heavy music are our specialty!

15/04/2024

Regarding mastering your album. In my experience, 80-90% of the time, my test masters beat the quality of the recording engineer's in-house master or that of competing mastering services. There are many reasons for this. One thing is for sure, there is no reason not to try a free test master at Imperial Mastering. Get in touch with me at any time during your recording process and I'll help you get everything in order so that when it comes time to master, we will be in the best possible situation. Feel free to email or call me if you have any questions or post below! [email protected] 925 305 1616 CST Texas. Cheers!

25/03/2024

2024 is getting off to a good start with ten new clients that we welcome into the Imperial Mastering circle of friends! Congrats to all and we look forward to working with you again on future releases!

Maimed, Amputate, Carnalis Amatoria, Kirkebrann, Nautilus vs. Pangolin, Vesperwynd, 413 CZ, Paria, Platinum Monkey and Su***de Conspiracy

If you are wondering what Imperial Mastering can do for your music, just get in touch! Test masters are free and we are happy to help you with mixing feedback as well!
https://www.imperialmastering.com/

And...if you're needing help setting up or upgrading your home studio, we also offer studio design consultations!

Call, text or email if you have any questions at all!
[email protected]
925.305.1616 Austin, Texas CST

Cheers!

Colin

Metal Music Mastering and Production by Colin Davis. Death metal, black metal, power metal, thrash, djent, progressive metal and all forms of heavy music are our specialty!

02/03/2024

Was a pleasure mastering this for the MAIMED guys! Link to single track in comments!

New song link below!

We’re proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with our friends at Sevared Records to bring you the debut full-length by brutal death metallers Maimed. Maimed is a band featuring members of Necessary Death, Between the Killings, and Crypt Rot that celebrates 90s-style brutal death. “Propagate Onslaught” is a story told over nine tracks set in a fictitious medieval world of death, war, and destiny. The album is the product of years of work intended to celebrate death metal’s rich history. One way of observing this is through the guest appearances on the album, which include prominent figures from death metal’s glory days up through some of the sickest new musicians in the scene.

You can begin your journey now with the opening track streaming through Death Metal Promotion on YouTube. “Herald of Maelstrom”, immerses you in the album’s world and features a guest solo by Takafumi Matsubara of technical grindcore titans Gridlink.

The album will be released on April 19th, 2024.
The CD will be co-released by Sevared Records and Sewer Rot Records and will be distributed worldwide.
Sewer Rot Records will release the album on cassette in North America.
Deathstare Records will release the album on cassette in Europe.

The onslaught begins now!

21/12/2023

Here's a Christmas gift idea, re-master one or more of your old demos or albums with Imperial Mastering and give it its proper place on your wall of history!!

15/12/2023

Discounted X-Mas pricing for mastering is in effect now! Get in touch! Link in comments.

26/11/2023

Are you a metal musician recording your own music at home? We know how difficult that is. Its hard to think straight after months of fine detail work. Perhaps consider hiring Imperial Mastering to master your music. We specialize in metal! For a very affordable rate we will give you essential feedback to help you make those final mixing tweaks and then take over the mastering so you can finally relax. You'll know that your mixes are in good hands with us and that your album or single is the best it can possibly be! We are also offering 10-20 % discounts before the end of the year!
https://www.imperialmastering.com/

14/11/2023

When you're recording with musicians all over the world, who is taking care of making sure everybody is using the right gear and methods to insure a pro result? You might consider having me come in as a consultant to iron out all these little things so that when your mixing engineer gets the tracks, they are exactly what he wants to hear. And if you don't have a mixer, we can talk about that as well. Cheers!

30/10/2023

If you want to improve your home recording situation, feel free to ask me any question about gear, signal flow, monitoring, anything. I'm happy to respond here.

24/10/2023

Imperial Mastering studio in Pacheco, CA. 14" thick double walls, isolated power, 1.00:1.4:2.1 room size ratio, Dunlavy Aletha monitors, Spectron Musician II power amp, Classe CP-1 Preamp, Mytek converters, Monster interconnects, diffusion and absorption by Auralex.

Need a consultation about your own home studio build or gear upgrades? Contact Colin at imperialmastering dot com

23/10/2023

Studio design and metal music production consulting. I've been quietly consulting on home studio design and metal album production for 20 years but I can see that its now time to formally bring back my consulting operations. For now, visit my consulting page on the Imperial Mastering website. Link in comments. For a very reasonable price, I can save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary spending and countless hours of frustrating trial and error in studio design or metal album production planning! I look forward to talking to you about your plans!

18/09/2023

Metal music production in central Texas! I am now located in Buda/Austin Texas and we are open for full production recording, mixing and mastering for metal bands. I don't think there is any other veteran metal music producer in the Austin area besides myself although there are many studios that metal bands have been using with varying results. If you are in this area and want to work with someone who really knows this music and how to produce it, get in touch. My pricing is also very affordable right now. Call / text me at 925-305-1616 to discuss your project and you can listen to my past productions on my website. Link in comments.

06/08/2023

How can I get the best possible results from mastering?

The first thing to recognize is that there is no standard for a “good recording” or mastering job. Every album is its own unique artistic creation with its own sound. Some people like an old-school organic sound, some people like a polished modern production. Some people like guitars loud and up front. Others like the drums to be louder, etc, etc. Some people care about making their albums sound “loud” while others want high fidelity and don’t care about that.

When an artist asks a mastering engineer for a test master they usually do not know exactly what they want, and if they, do, it’s often difficult to describe. They just “know it when they hear it”. So the mastering engineer has to use their own best judgment. This is why it’s common to make 2 or 3 test masters for a band during the final mixing phase.

The first test master that is sent back is often “average”. It gives the artist a chance to hear what their mix will sound like mastered but it’s usually not“perfect” on the first try.

After the first test master comes back, if the band is not satisfied with the sound they should try to describe to the mastering engineer, as accurately as possible, what they want changed. In most cases, the changes that the artist is looking for will need to come from the mix engineer but sometimes the mastering engineer can fix it up. If the mastering engineer can’t fix these issues, the artist can give the test master back to the mix engineer and they can discuss what changes need to be made in the mix. Then they can provide a new mix to the mastering engineer for an updated test master.

It’s very common that the band and/or the recording/mix engineer cannot make the mix sound quite as good as the band would like it to sound. This is just reality and there are many reasons for it. Some reasons are based on the band’s playing and their gear choices. Other reasons are due to the mix engineer’s experience or personal style.

Often the artist goes to the mastering engineer to try to “fix” what they don’t like about the mix. This is only possible to a small degree, so its best to get the mix as good as it can get before sending it out for mastering.

To get the best possible results from mastering do the following: (you can also send this section below to the mixing engineer):

Find a couple albums by other artists that have mixes similar to the sound you are going for and show them to the mix engineer.

Tell the mix engineer to “pre-master” your mix by “moderately” compressing and limiting the mix at the master bus. Use this pre-master for your own listening purposes, but then when making a mixdown file for the mastering engineer, “fully bypass” all master bus compression and limiting and generate a 24 or 32 bit WAV file at the original project sample rate. Also its best not to use EQ on the master bus when mixing. Instead, make adjustments in the mix channels to get the desired results.

Before you send your mixdown file out for mastering, listen to your engineer’s “pre-master” on your own stereo systems and work with him until you are totally happy with the result. Compare your mix with other albums that you like and keep making adjustments until you have done the best you can do. Then send that mix out to the mastering engineer. He will then make a test master and if there are still things that need adjustment, you can go back to the mix engineer one last time and make final adjustments.

If you follow this process you will be happy with the mastering because usually the mastering engineer will make a better master than your mix engineer’s pre-master. In some cases, the mix engineer’s pre-master will sound quite good and you may even decide that you don’t need outside mastering. When you send your mix to the mastering engineer, also send your mix engineer’s pre-master so he can try to beat it.

More advice: If the outside mastering engineer’s version is better than your mix engineer’s pre-master but you are still not satisfied with the results, ask for another test master and that will probably satisfy you. If you are still not happy, my best advice for you is to trust the mastering engineer because he is more experienced and will probably give you a master that is close to the best your album can sound. This is assuming you are working with an engineer who is an “actual” mastering engineer with many years experience. You now have to accept the results.

Most of the time, artists get very anxious as their album production nears completion and they tend to over-analyze the sound. They tend to over amplify small issues and get caught up in small things that don’t matter that much. My advice is that after the mastering process is complete, do not listen to your album for at least 6 months and then go back to it. All those little things will have disappeared and you will be much happier with the results than you were in the days of production. Also, every album production is a learning experience and no band is completely happy with everything about their own albums. But hopefully they learn a lot each time and every new album is an improvement.

Know this: Your fans do not hear music the way artists and engineers do. They are in a different world of sensory experience. They care about the “vibe” and the song themselves. As long as your production is clean enough so that it sounds acceptable on most stereo systems, your fans will enjoy your music. Most music fans are not audiophiles that will care if the snare drum is a little too quiet. They definitely will not care if your album is 1 or 2 db louder or quieter than another band’s album. That’s not what music fans listen for. Yes, as artists and engineers we should try to make our albums the best they can be, but after we have done that, in most cases, an artist’s work will be fully appreciated by their fans.

Visit Imperial Mastering online at imperial mastering dot com

22/05/2023

How Loud Should My Album Be? By Imperial Mastering (Link in comments)

Before I explain how loudness works in mastering, let me first say that when I master an album, I always make sure that the average loudness of the mastering is competitive with other releases in the same genre, but I try not to over compress or limit tracks so the music retains the right amount of punch and sounds good when cranked up loud as well as being clear and high fidelity in headphones. If you have a preference in this regard, just let me know.

The “loudness war” is actually over now due to the way streaming services treat average volume, which I discuss below, so it’s not necessary to make one’s album loud just for the sake of it. It’s more important to make it balanced, punchy and clear. I try to make albums competitive within the genre they exist in. Metal albums will always be louder while folk and world music albums will not be treated in the same way.

Now, when artists and engineers speak about the “loudness” of a song or an album, they are referring to the perceived loudness when compared to other albums. The compression aspect of the mastering process limits the dynamic range of music and this gives the impression that the music is louder because the less frequent peaks are pushed down, allowing the average level to rise. The more these peaks are compressed, the higher the average loudness can be.

There are very good practical reasons for limiting dynamic range during mastering and it is part of the way modern music sounds, but the loudness war was very damaging to music and had no practical purpose.

What was the loudness war? As recording and mastering technology progressed over the years, it became easier to compress music to make it “louder”. By the early 2000’s record labels started pushing mastering engineers to make their releases louder. The entire situation was always silly because no music fan spends their time switching between CDs to discover which one is louder. If a listener wants the music louder, they just turn up the volume k**b! Making an album louder “out of the box” is not a selling point for 99.9% of music fans. They don’t prefer music that has been mastered louder. But the labels pushed this for a while and then artists picked up on the fashion and for about 15 years, pop, hip-hop, rock and metal bands wanted their albums mastered “loud!”

The problem with this is that after a certain point, the music starts to distort and becomes tiring on the ears. Modern mastering technology allows us to make albums loud without “obvious” distortion, but when we listen closely to a loud album all the way through on good speakers or headphones, we realize that it’s not as clean as it should be and its fatiguing to the ears. Often older albums are re-mastered by record labels and sometimes they master them too loud and the fans notice this. They often prefer the older versions that are not mastered as loud.

Then in the late 2010’s when streaming services like Spotify and iTunes became the most popular way to listen to music, things changed. These platforms apply an algorithm that lowers the volume of loud tracks and raises the volume of quieter tracks so that the listener doesn’t have to adjust their volume as tracks from different artists are played back to back, similarly to the way radio stations process music. Because of this, most albums mastered today are actually turned down on streaming platforms. If you want to see how much a mastered track will be turned up or down on a streaming platform, upload a track on the Loudness Penalty website to find out.

Although this trend is dying, still some artists request loud masters and some mastering and mixing engineers still think people want this and they send out test masters that are far too loud. If you are evaluating test masters by multiple mastering engineers, try not to be flattered if one mastering engineer’s master is louder than another’s. Try to listen in different stereos, at different volume levels and see which one has the attitude and tonal balance that suits you. Try to compare on headphones and listen for clarity and fidelity.

My advice is that if you are requesting a test master from a mastering engineer, ask him/her to make your music sound competitive in the loudness department, but tell them you prefer clarity and quality over max loudness. If they are good, they will probably deliver a better quality master than if you had not said anything. Most of the time, you can ask for an adjustment so if you believe your track is too loud or not loud enough, just let them know.

19/04/2023

Are you in search of a mastering engineer to re-master an older release or to master a new album, EP or single? Let's talk about "loudness" for a minute. When people talk about their mastered album sounding "loud" what they mean is that it has been compressed and limited so that the peaks are cut down, while the average level has been brought up. When done cleanly, this can give your music a frontal, aggressive sound which happens to be a good thing in metal music. There are other practical reasons for this as well, but when this is overdone, as it very often is, it sucks the life out of your music.

Before streaming services, record labels liked this because they thought it made their releases competitive. If you played a louder version next to a more dynamic version, people would prefer the louder version on first listen. But only on first listen because the louder version gets tiring to the ears after a while, especially on headphones.

Now that most music is consumed via streaming services (and on headphones) this entire situation has changed because Spotify, Apple Music and other services actually "turn down" loud masters. So what you want is a nice balance between that up-front sound of a loud master with clarity and dynamics that retains the life of the mix and its fidelity.

If you are comparing test masters between mastering engineers, try not to be so concerned with the "loudness" of a master but listen into the music for depth, fidelity, proper equalization and make sure the cymbals are not distorted. Crank it up loud if you have a clean home or car stereo. When you are requesting a test master, tell the engineer to pay attention to loudness but not to push it too hard. A competent engineer will settle on a good balance once they know that you are not concerned with the loudness wars and they will usually appreciate that.

If you are interested in hearing what Imperial Mastering can do for your new release or for re-mastering an older release, just get in touch. Test masters are free!

imperialmastering dot com
imperialmastering at gmail dot com
facebook.com/Imperial Mastering

24/04/2022

Imperial Mastering specializes in METAL music mastering and production. We offer free test masters. Founded 2002 by VILE guitarist Colin Davis. Affordable, friendly and high quality results!
https://imperialmastering.com

15/04/2022

Saturday's Zoom call info is below. (2pm CST) You are welcome to ask questions about anything related to recording, mixing, mastering. See you there! If you can't be there, you can email questions to [email protected] or here on FB and I'll address them. You can then watch the video later when I post it. Cheers!

Imperial Mastering Zoom meeting
Time: Apr 16, 2022 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87254566581?pwd=NHdkeVZ4NEJSQllVWHUwQVdNUXhxdz09

Meeting ID: 872 5456 6581
Passcode: 534111

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

08/04/2022

Free recording Q&A with Colin Davis of Imperial Mastering and VILE.
Would you like to ask recording questions to a 25 year metal music engineer? Well I am now doing free Zoom calls to support you guys. Anything related to recording, mixing, mastering, live sound, gear and studio design. If you can't be there, you can message me your questions and I will answer them on the call. You can then watch later when I repost the meeting video. The first Zoom call will be Saturday April 16th at 2pm CST (Central Texas time, 8pm London) The link to the Zoom call is: http://imperialmastering.com/zoom
See you there!

I now conduct Zoom meetings for musicians and home engineers. This is a chance for anyone to come on a free conference call with me and ask any questions they may have about recording, mixing, mastering, live sound, room design or anything related to audio engineering. Next meeting:Saturday April 16...

17/12/2021

20 year anniversary coming up!

13/12/2020

Metal musicians and fans: You can hire a professional metal producer to help you write and record a top notch single (Colin Davis of VILE). If you are a solo musician or even a music fan who has some ideas, this is perfect for you. I will take your song, in whatever form it now exists and transform it into a professional release. If you need me to play guitar, bass or program drums, no problem. If you need me to bring in studio musicians, I have those connections. Get in touch with me and we can discuss your project!

Colin Davis
imperialmastering.com
[email protected]

05/12/2020

Rollin on! Mixing, mastering...Stay in touch!

27/10/2020

These little Dunlavys are getting the job done nicely at my temp studio in Buda TX! I check bass with the Audeze LCD-X cans and mids and highs with these guys (and the JBLs). Same drivers as my big boys back in Cali so I feel very much at home with these guys. Feel free to contact me about your mastering or mixing project! Rolling over here without a hitch!

19/07/2020

Just finished building my mobile mastering rig. Ill be checking your mixes on these bad ass Audeze headphones while road tripping this year!

19/07/2020

Mastering and mixing never got touched by the virus... live shows got screwed though. Stay in touch! I'm here when you need me!

24/06/2020

I’ve been mixing a number of singles lately. Its been great! Get in touch if you need a single song (or a couple) mixed. There’s a few sample mixes on my site if you want to check them out.
http://www.imperialmastering.com/recording-and-mixing/

Besides mastering, I also record and mix metal albums. Sometimes I produce albums from the ground up, other times I mix albums that were recorded by other engineers. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can record at my studio in the East Bay. If you are located abroad, you canContinue r....

18/04/2020

Haven’t skipped a beat over here! Get in touch if you need mastering folks. [email protected] 925 305 1616 call or text.

12/02/2020

Got some updates. First, don't hesitate to call or email me concerning mastering, I do free test masters! Secondly VILE will play NL Deathfest and Dreamerfest in Europe (May 1-2), California Deathfest (June 27) and Chicago Domination Fest (July 30). Thirdly, Stench of the Deceased will be re-released on vinyl on Hammerheart Records soon, as well as on cassette by Zim Zum Entertainment in Indonesia. Cheers!

Imperial Mastering FB: http://facebook.com/imperialmastering
Main Website: http://imperialmastering.com
California Deathfest: https://www.facebook.com/californiadeathfest/
Chicago Domination Fest: https://www.facebook.com/chicagodominationfest
NL Deathfest: https://www.facebook.com/NetherlandsDeathfest/
Dreamerfest (FR): https://www.facebook.com/ledreamer.Fest/
Hammerheart: https://www.facebook.com/hammerheartrecords/
Zim Zum: https://www.facebook.com/zimzumentertainment/

07/12/2019

New single from The 01Experience is out today!

26/10/2019

VILE vocalist position is now open. Can lead to permanent position or stay temporary. We will be playing Vegas Deathfest, Chicago Domination Fest, LA deathfest and Netherlands deathfest in 2020, plus 10 dates in Europe in April. This cannot be your first band, you must have touring experience and be a confident and energetic frontman. You must sound true to the original style in such a way that your voice and presence will be a welcome addition to the VILE sound. If interested, send links to live videos (must send live video performances) and any other information you want to share to [email protected] Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEmihqq-FSo

Sentenced to Live by Vile from their newest album The New Age of Chaos. I do not own the copyrights to this song. It is stictly for entertainment purposes on...