Since lockdown, our engineering team have been helping with creative and technical tips for creation in self-isolation. ⁣From recording and processing studio vocals at home to the fundamentals of a home recording set-up, but we now wanted to hear from you!

We received over 200 questions for our mixing and mastering engineers and we posed as many as possible to Senior Recording Engineer Andrew Dudman, Assistant Engineer Andy Maxwell and Mastering Engineers Alex Gordon and Oli Morgan. In our first instalment we hear from the mastering team, with Oli and Alex answering your questions on how they landed their role to tips for keeping dynamic range in a master. You’ll find the set of questions they cover below the video.

@Ccolbeck: How many and which different output devices do you usually used to check a master?

@Logan_thegarbagepart: How many hours do you usually spend mastering an EP or album?

@MixedbySujal: What is your mastering chain?

@JoeShaferMusic: If you get a project with a bad mix – how can you mask that in mastering?

@BammBamm_Music: What room correction tools have you used that you like?

@M1N3Music: Do you believe producers can master their own work?

@Will.__.K: What education should I take to work in mastering?

@harrynotyoung: How do you keep a dynamic range without losing loudness?

@AlexBrightMusic: What are your favourite compressors and EQ on the master bus for orchestras?

What is the ideal headroom to send a mix to master?

What percentage of mastering is software plugins versus hardware nowadays?

Richard Pike: I've been wanting to chat top someone about cassette mastering for a while. Do you find that different music reacts differently mastering for tape?