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 ATCs 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 ATCs 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 ATCs, I was comfortable and confident that I had made the right decisions, down to the subtlest of details."