The engineer I chose to study is Mandy Parnell – best known for her work with Brian Eno and Aphex Twin, as long as her long term collaborations with Bjork. She has a very inspiring approach to mastering, in an interview with SoS mag she speaks about how important it is for the mastering engineer to have a ‘neutral set of ears’ and act as a ‘sounding board’ for individuals that have been working on a specific project for a long time. [1]
She also speaks about her fluidity with what software she uses, with her choice of DAW being largely down to how the artist has delivered the stems.
She also stresses the importance of loudness without limiting, since she masters on analogue hardware Parnell is able to achieve loud masters by having careful gain staging from her various compressors and an analogue mixing desk. Interestingly, she also uses EQs in the mid-range specifically to get more level out of a master. [2]
While Parnell is technically very good at mastering, her emphasis is always on the emotions of the music – which is something I have been actively trying to take on more often within my own workflow. She talks about seeing Miles Davis at the Royal Festival Hall and being incredibly disappointing by the sound quality. And then speaks on comparing this disappointment to her roots as a punk fan, where the quality of the record is questionable at best – but the rough, imperfect nature of the audio helps the raw emotions of the genre shine through. [3]
[1] www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Mandy Parnell: Mastering Audio. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aot-sWlIDjU.
[2] www.soundonsound.com. (n.d.). Mandy Parnell: Mastering Björk’s Biophilia. [online] Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/mandy-parnell-mastering-bjorks-biophilia.
[3] www.shure.com. (n.d.). Industry Insights: Mastering Engineer Mandy Parnell. [online] Available at: https://www.shure.com/en-US/performance-production/louder/industry-insights-mastering-engineer-mandy-parnell.
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