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'Ratatouille', T.Bone Burnett, Lylywhite, Matchbox 20,
all at Gavin Lurssen’s, The Mastering Lab:
Hollywood, Ca:
Because high-profile projects so often involve big-name producers,
whose calendars look like a well-played round of Tetris, earning the
right to master those high-profile projects is dependent on a
proven ability to deliver a timely product that’s perfect the
first time. And the ability to do that, of course, depends on
the skills, judgment, and tools of the mastering engineer.
With a formal education from the Berklee College of Music, years
of study under Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab, and an informed
musical intuition gifted to precious few in the industry, Gavin
Lurssen of Lurssen Mastering has catapulted himself into the
upper echelons of the mastering world in only 16 short years. He
has personally earned two Grammys; numerous records he has
worked on have earned nominations and wins; and he is credited
on dozens of chart-topping projects. A crucial component of
Lurssen’s success is his 5.1 system of ATC SCM150ASL monitors.
They provide him with the unflinchingly honest reference that he
uses to perfect every project – with minimal studio time and no
mistakes.
A big part of the mastering session involves finding flaws that
somehow managed to hide during tracking and mixing. "The
ATC's
let me hear way into the audio and identify problems that may
have eluded those on the project," Lurssen said. "When the
participants of a project sitting next to me hear those problems
too, I sometimes get compared to a school teacher… like I’m
grading them or something! Anyway, everyone knows that those
problems need to be found and corrected, which is why my phone
rings."
Lurssen recently worked with T-Bone Burnett and Mike Piersante
on Disney’s latest CGI animated feature, Ratatouille. "In order
to create a proper tonal balance, it was vital to hear every
detail of Ratatouille’s orchestral score," Lurssen explained. "I
have a huge responsibility to get the audio in the exact
position it needs to be the first time; T-Bone and Mike can’t
afford to go back for tweaks. The ATC's told me exactly what was
going on with that mix and guided me in the judicious use of
processing to perfect it."
Lurssen also worked with fabled producer Steve Lillywhite on the
latest Matchbox 20 EP, which is set to be released along with a
collection of their greatest hits. Lurssen’s long-time
friendship with Lillywhite (which grew over a number of chance
encounters at a local sushi restaurant) and his work on Matchbox
20 guitarist Paul Doucette’s solo project, The Break And Repair
Method, got him the job. Lurssen recognized the importance of
the EP, which will be the immensely popular band’s first release
in several years: "It was important that the new project held
itself to contemporary standards in terms of level, tonal
structure, and dynamics. I know it sounds like a contradiction
in terms, but a well-mastered project sounds both dynamic and
consistently loud." There’s obviously art is his science!
While working on the very best of systems, Lurssen recognizes
that Matchbox 20 fans will often play the product of his labors
on the very worst of systems, along with everything in-between.
He compares this well-mastered project to a performance: "I
wanted to get the performance right so that the new EP will
light up whatever space it is played in. The challenge is to
make sure that all the dials are in just the right places to
make that possible. With the no-compromise design of the ATC's, I
was comfortable and confident that I had made the right
decisions, down to the subtlest of details."
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