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26:25 – Remembering John Davis’s MPG Awards
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Classroom Contents
A Family Legacy of Sound - Felix Davis and the Spirit of Metropolis Mastering
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- 1 00:00 – Introduction at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick
- 2 00:06 – Felix on joining Metropolis and his father John Davis
- 3 00:14 – Working with Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin remasters
- 4 00:42 – Felix’s first paid job: quality checking Led Zeppelin CDs
- 5 01:07 – Remembering his father and continuing the Led Zeppelin cuts
- 6 01:26 – Advice from John Davis: “Jimmy wants it loud”
- 7 01:49 – Staying busy and building a career in mastering
- 8 02:09 – Starting out as a runner and learning from the ground up
- 9 02:35 – Inside Mastering Room 5 “Dylan”
- 10 02:47 – Hybrid workflow: blending analogue and digital
- 11 03:01 – Signal chain overview: Prism converters, desk and outboard
- 12 03:27 – Maselec EQ, Avalon compressor and Summit EQ explained
- 13 04:09 – Using analogue for tone and digital for precision
- 14 05:00 – Balancing colour, clarity and control
- 15 06:19 – Why Felix uses digital limiting for recall and flexibility
- 16 07:45 – Mastering engineer superstitions and favourite gear
- 17 09:19 – Tube gear, heat management and room workflow
- 18 09:41 – Moving from assistant to mastering engineer
- 19 09:47 – Monitoring with PMC and Audeze headphones
- 20 10:26 – Working remotely and checking mixes on headphones
- 21 10:48 – Dolby Atmos mastering downstairs at Metropolis
- 22 11:32 – Stereo vs 5.1 and immersive formats
- 23 12:26 – SPL headphone monitoring and crossfeed
- 24 13:08 – Spotting clicks and pops with headphones
- 25 13:15 – Favourite plugins: Ozone and FabFilter Pro-L2
- 26 13:45 – Pushing yourself creatively and avoiding habits
- 27 14:12 – Managing brightness and sibilance
- 28 15:13 – Tape, transformers and smoothing transients
- 29 15:32 – Cultural nuances in de-essing
- 30 16:08 – Avoiding “lisps” when mastering vocals
- 31 16:38 – Working on Chinese records with Paul
- 32 17:02 – Comparing converters: Prism vs Lavry Gold
- 33 17:32 – Keeping the chain consistent and reliable
- 34 18:20 – The 250 Hz conversation: low-mid weight and punch
- 35 19:27 – Why removing too much low-mid kills impact
- 36 20:34 – Mastering for TV and playback translation
- 37 21:02 – Masters optimised for laptop and phone speakers
- 38 21:22 – Steely Dan levels vs modern pop on Spotify
- 39 22:00 – Mastered for iTunes and Apple Digital Masters
- 40 22:59 – 96kHz workflow and high-resolution mastering
- 41 23:30 – Loudness philosophy: serving the song, not the meter
- 42 24:42 – Mono bass and using elliptical EQ
- 43 26:03 – Balancing width and punch in the low end
- 44 26:25 – Remembering John Davis’s MPG Awards
- 45 26:55 – Why mastering should never feel like “going to the dentist”
- 46 27:33 – Demystifying mastering and learning from experience
- 47 28:21 – The mastering engineer’s evolving role
- 48 31:10 – Preparing mixes for mastering
- 49 31:47 – Closing reflections
