Speaks Volumes - A Podcast About Mastering and Life Outside Mastering

Our guest today is Sarah Register, a mastering engineer, from New York City, NY, USA. Sarah has worked with The Shins, Lee “Scratch” Perry, John Mayer, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Donnas, and Wye Oak. We talk about early memories of experiencing music, starting out mastering records in NYC, managing your body and time, how community plays in to work and life, working with Kim Gordon, keeping physical...

Our guest today is Jeff Lipton, a mastering engineer from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Jeff has worked with Agnostic Front, Arcade Fire, Click 5, Throwing Muses, Superchunk, The Magnetic Fields, and Andrew Bird. We talk about process/quality control, getting started in the Boston music scene, Fort Apache, working with Stephin Merritt, how it used to be with A&R historically, video chats for mas...

Our guest today is Chris Gehringer - a mastering engineer from Edgewater, New Jersey.  Chris has worked with Dua Lipa, Drake, Ed Sheeran, The 1975, Rihanna, Harry Styles, and Selena Gomez, and is part-owner of Sterling Sound. We talk about getting started at Greene Street Recording, Trutone Records, and the Hit Factory, changes and evolutions in the music industry, teaching newer clients what mast...

Our guest today is Izzy McPhee - a mastering engineer from Bristol, England.  Izzy has worked with Dream Wife, Marla Kether, Walt Disco, and COWZ. We talk about getting started as DJ, mentorship, how the virtual mastering house Weird Jungle functions, the community of the Bristol music scene, building a studio in your house, managing routine, working in the box, and accessibility in the music indu...

Our guest today is Anna Frick - a mastering engineer from Boulder, Colorado.  Anna has worked with Wood & Wire, Billy Strings, John Denver, Clay Street Unit, Della Mae, The Grateful Dead, and Third Man Records. We talk about getting started at AirShow Mastering and the audio industry as a whole, the weight and responsibility of working on Glee, audio restoration with analog tape, being a metad...

Our guest today is Simon Lancelot - a mastering engineer from Paris, France. We are also joined by Speaks Volumes’ original creator, Dan Coutant. Simon has worked with Dijon, Mk.gee, Kelela, Hendrix Harris, Abel31, and Hovvdy, and Bren Joy. We talk about working with tape, taking risks and working out of your comfort zone, making pizza, and working with Dijon and mk.gee. This episode’s music is br...

Our guest today is Amy Dragon - a mastering engineer from Portland, OR. Amy has worked with Big Thief, Sam Prekop, Marisa Anderson & Tara Jane O'Neil, Silversun Pickups, and girlSperm. We talk about how having a background in social work and community advocacy can influence your workflow, cutting lacquers, being a DJ, listening to records as a whole, knowing when to do nothing, and the ope...

Our guest today is John Baldwin - a mastering engineer from Nashville, TN. John has worked with Lou Reed, Sly Stone, Emmylou Harris, Nancy Sinatra, Glossary, and The Jesus Lizard. We talk about persistence in getting an internship, not convoluting the process, leaning on Brian Eno for guidance, retraining yourself to not “grind” yourself until defeat, and getting outside to do things unrelated to...

Our guest today is Hallie Melton - a mastering engineer from Nashville, Tennessee. She has worked with Savana Santos, Amber Mark, and Nate Smith. We talk about how great it is mastering on headphones, work/life balance with a family, spacial audio in music, and our favorite limiters. This episode’s music is brought to you by Baywud from Los Angeles, CA. For more information on Baywud, head to: htt...

Our guest today is Ian Stewart - a mastering engineer, author, and audio educator from the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. He has worked with artists, including KRS-One and Mr. Lif, and he codeveloped the Baselane Pro plugin, released by Tone Projects, in 2022. He is currently an assistant professor at Berkeley College of Music and operates out of his home studio, Flotown Mastering which he f...

Our guest today is Natalie Bibby, a mastering engineer based out of London, England.  She has worked with Bimini, Cinderella Balthazar, Howard Lee — 真心話, 163 braces, Jimmy Eat World, and so many more. We talk about not working in a siloed environment, the future of spatial audio, talking on the phone with clients, having a sound of your own, mastering DAWs, the future of larger-than-life rock b...

Our guest today is Dave McNair - a mastering engineer based out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  He has worked with Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Los Lobos, Mavis Staples, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Sara Bareilles and many many more. We talk about transitioning from a producer to a mastering engineer, having kids and how that changes your life, Grammy anxiety, knowing when you are done, approachi...

Our guest today is Jessica Thompson - a mastering and restoration engineer, audio preservationist, studio owner, and mom based out of San Francisco, California.  She has worked with the Bottom Line, Caffè Lena, Woody Guthrie, Erroll Garner, and Barbara Dane Archives. Jessica has also mastered records for Kurt Vile, Pachyman, Michael Daves, Chris Riffle, Occurrence and many more We talk with Jessic...

Our guest today is Raelynn Janicke, a mastering engineer for Infrasonic Mastering, based in Nashville, TN. Raelynn has mastered and assisted on projects for The Shins, Kayla Hall, Nefesh Mountain, Talia Stewart, Big 50, and Eli Howard. We talk about family supporting our decisions, analog gear vs. plugins, our favorite plugins, keeping your body active, ATMOS’ relevance, the Hudson Valley music sc...

EP6 - Justin Perkins - Humans Mastering Our guest today is Justin Perkins - a mastering engineer and based out of Madison, Wisconsin.  He has worked with The Replacements, En Vogue, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Busta Rhymes, Jellyfish, Michael Franti & Spearhead, G Love, the Figgs and many more. Before transitioning to mastering full-time he also spent time recording and mixing at Butch Vig’s Smart Stud...

Our guest today is Jonathan Wyner - a mastering engineer and educator based out of Boston, Massachusetts.  He is the chief engineer at  M-Works Studios in Somerville and teaches at Berkeley College of Music. In 2021 he was president of AES, The Audio Engineering Society. He’s worked with Jean-Claude Risset, James Taylor, David Bowie, Aimee Mann, and Miles Davis, among many others. We talk with Jon...

Our guest today is Rachel Field - a mastering engineer based out of Seattle, WA, who co-founded Resonant Mastering. She’s worked with Pearl Jam, Brandi Carlile, Thunderpussy, and Whitney Mongé. We talk with Rachel about jumping in to the audio industry, mastering for streaming, running a mastering studio with multiple engineers, pricing, and we do a gear rundown. This episode’s music is brought to...

Our guest today is Jett Galindo - a mastering engineer and vinyl cutter who works out of the Bakery Mastering Studio in LA. She has worked on albums spanning a wide array of genres and artists including Barbra Streisand, Haley Reinhart, Weezer, and the La La Land Official Soundtrack. We talk with Jett about minimalism in mastering, how a degree in Psychology and a Filippine upbringing can help you...

Our guest today is Adam Gonsalves - he is a mastering engineer based out of Portland, Oregon. He owns Telegraph Mastering and has worked with Elliot Smith, Peter Buck, Willie Nelson, Sufjan Stephens, Vampire Weekend, The Jayhawks, and Team Dresch We speak with Adam about the proximity effect of your studio’s location, the struggles of building a mastering studio and he took Dan’s vinyl mastering q...

Our guest today is Maor Appelbaum - a Gold and Platinum awarded, Grammy nominated & Juno winning mastering engineer based out of LA. He’s worked with Faith No More, Dream Theater, Rob Halford, Meat Loaf, YES, & Today Is The Day, among others. We talk with Maor about taking breaks, analog vs digital, gear choices, business strategy and, investing in gear. For more information about Maor: ht...