DDA MASTERING by Enrico Mantini

SOME BITS ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Enrico Mantini here... Thank you for reading this !
Some of you may know my name as a producer or DJ, but not everyone knows that I am also a Sound Engineer, having graduated in 1993. I recently earned a Mastering Engineer qualification in 2016, and I have been professionally active since the mid-nineties as a studio engineer and as a live front of house engineer.

DDA Mastering is a professional facility I have created, specifically aimed at the Electronic Music industry, where I have been working for the past 36 years.
I developed it with the clear aim of delivering high-quality, distinctive masters on a budget, whether you need to release music on vinyl, CD, or simply distribute it as files.
Despite offering an affordable service, I never compromise on Quality !
Delivery is available within a standard 3-day timeframe or a 24-hour express option.
I listen carefully to each song I receive and make decisions based on the genre and client preferences.
As an audiophile and hardware enthusiast, I have developed the studio's listening environment with great precision. The mastering process is entirely analogue, assisted by vintage 1990's Vacuum and Tape technologies. The only two digital stages in the analogue path are the source and destination.
The result is a well-balanced master that sounds good on any device.
My treatment provides dynamic mastering that preserves the life of your song, respecting its dynamic range and musical quality, while still making it sound Loud and Clear..
When processing your source for digital distribution, I adhere to the streaming standard of -14 dB LUFS, with a maximum RMS peak of 10 dB for EDM music.
As an engineer, I specialise in Electronic Music, House, Techno, Hip Hop, and EDM in general.

Here's what my mastering process can do for your music:

°Improve the overall intelligibility of your mixdown
°Raise the overall volume of your song (RMS level)
°Fix minor mixing errors
°Eliminate unnecessary pops and clicks
°Equalise your song levels
°Widen the stereo image
°Make your music sound good on any device
°Remove phase issues or technical mistakes

You can send your song via WeTransfer, Dropbox, or any online cloud service. I will return the master for your review and approval.
One revision is included.

Ask for a Quote

90s Hardware

The studio is exclusively equipped with hardware from the 1990s, which I jealously do not reveal, having spent years searching and drawing on my extensive experience as a sound engineer. Analogue compressors, multiband limiters, and equalisers are used to achieve a warmer, vintage sound in your music.

Tube Technology

I use valve pre-amps and compressors, as a standard in the analogue signal path, which add a unique vibrant touch and warmth, as well as wideness to Your Music.

Analog Tape Mastering

Upon request I can record the source material on tape to add that kind of extra ’Magic’ to Your Tracks. Both wheel to wheel tape or cassette technologies are available in the studio, spanning from a cleaner tape tone to a gentle dirtiness.

How to Prepare Your Music

For best results, bounce down or export your mixes as stereo interleaved .wav or .aiff files. Choose a bit depth and sample rate that match the resolution settings you used during recording and mixing. For example, if you recorded and mixed at 16-bit/44.1kHz, provide a stereo .wav or .aiff file at 16-bit/44.1kHz. If you recorded and mixed at 24-bit/48kHz, provide a stereo .wav or .aiff file at 24-bit/48kHz, and so on. I can work with audio files up to 32-bit/192kHz resolution. Please do not resample your music at a higher resolution than your original recordings, as this only increases file size without improving quality.

Please remove any master or main output compression, limiting, or maximising plugins you may have used solely to boost the volume of your mix. Otherwise, I cannot undo the negative effects of excessive compression or limiting, which may compromise your mix. If you avoid making your mix as loud as possible and allow me to adjust the final volume, I can achieve sufficient loudness while preserving natural dynamics and punch. True artists understand that loudness does not necessarily mean good sound. Focus on creating a balanced, solid, and clean mix, and let me set the final track volume during mastering.

Also, please ensure that your final stereo audio mixdown is not clipping. If you are unsure, set the master output level to -6 dB, or even lower if necessary, so that the maximum master volume peaks are between -1 dB and -3 dB.

Finally, always double-check your music before sending it, making sure of the following: 1) file integrity 2) there are no signal drops from start to finish 3) it is the correct version or song you want to have mastered.
This will help avoid any extra work that will inevitably result in a double fee.

Vinyl Mastering

Vinyl cutting is an art form in its own right. The last vinyl cutting lathes were produced in the early 1980s. It is quite remarkable that we are still using this equipment, considering how much the world has changed in the past 40 years.

Appreciation aside, while the cutting lathes are truly magnificent machines and, when properly maintained, stand the test of time beautifully, the format itself was not designed to reproduce the kind of loud and often distorted music we have today.

Vinyl is an analogue format and sounds excellent, but it does have some physical limitations. Digital formats such as CD and MP3 can reproduce anything, whereas vinyl is less forgiving.

This is where my mastering engineer skills come into play. I must ensure your music is engineered and treated to get the most out of the vinyl medium, so that my process allows the cutting engineer to cut your vinyl without needing to make any further changes to your audio source.

My MPC Sample Library

The sampler has been my first love and the main ingredient in all my productions. I would say I have been ‘cooking’ my own samples for some time now and, as far back as I can remember, it was 1988 when I first began exploring sound design on my very first sampler, an Ensoniq Mirage Mark I. In the following years, I mainly worked with Akai samplers such as the S900, S950, S1000, and S3000, but I also focused on Roland’s S330 and S550 for specific productions before eventually moving to the MPC. I built my own personal library, which has been used in many of my releases. I am now sharing some Sample Packs via my Bandcamp profile and will gradually release more, so if you are interested in sampling and are looking for distinctive sounds, I invite you to give them a try, especially if you are an MPC user.

About Samples

Sample packs have been created mainly using the Akai MPC 1000 and MPC 5000, and are ready for use in high-quality 44.1 kHz, 16-bit format with most recent Akai MPCs, such as the MPC 1000, 2500, 4000, 5000, X, Live, Live II, One, Touch, MPC 2 Software, as well as with any contemporary hardware sampler or DAW. All samples have been taken directly from original sound sources such as synthesizers, drum machines, or microphones, without passing through any mixer. In some cases, they have been processed using the MPC filters or effects.

Welcome to DDA Mastering, a professional online Audio Mastering service