Ep. 2: Level Talk with Rachel Field

Welcome to episode 2 of the Truth About Recording And Mixing hosted by Crackle & Pop!'s Johnny Sangster. This week's episode features mastering engineer Rachel Field for a discussion about mastering, vinyl in the current day, levels for streaming audio and the need for more women in audio. 1:00 - examples of phase discrepancies from a recent drum recording at Crackle & Pop! 6:25 - Listener topics - Zoom’s “original audio” feature 8:00 - Listener topic - beginner recordist & condenser mics 11:15 - Welcome Rachel Field / observations when listening to vinyl 15:20 - a little history on the loudness wars and what’s happening today with streaming. 21:40 - brickwall limiting and how that affects vinyl cutting 24:35 - Rachel’s mastering chain, box by box. 31:35 - which first, level or tone? 35:15 - using analog tape in the mastering chain 37:40 - recent projects in the mastering studio 39:50 - advice for the home recordists / mixers 45:20 - listener question about using spectrum analyzers 49:00 - listener question on navigating the mastering process and more on standards from streaming services. More info on what the various streaming platforms are doing to process files. 1:03:00 - why aren’t there more women engineers & producers? Resources for women in audio. 1:08:30 - more about Rachel’s path from student to engineer. Submit your questions for Johnny by sending us a voice memo or email to podcast@fretboardjournal.com. The Truth About Recording & Mixing is a bi-weekly podcast produced by the Fretboard Journal magazine, loosely based on our Truth About Vintage Amps Q&A podcast. www.johnnysangster.com www.cracklepopstudio.com www.fretboardjournal.com