For this SPL User Story, we had the opportunity to visit mastering engineer Duncan Ferguson at his studio, The Voltage Exchange, in East Nashville, Tennessee.
With a background as a touring and recording musician, Duncan brings a deeply musical perspective to mastering. His approach is minimalist and artist-first, focusing on preserving the emotional core of a mix while ensuring it translates beautifully across all playback systems. Operating out of his East Nashville studio, he offers mastering for digital, CD, and vinyl formats, including in-house vinyl cutting.
Why does he rely on SPL gear? Watch the video to meet Duncan Ferguson and find out.
Duncan is known for his work across indie rock, americana, alternative, and experimental music. Over the years, he has been mastering records for artists such as Sufjan Stevens, The War on Drugs, Big Thief, Angel Olsen, Japanese Breakfast, Car Seat Headrest, Hiss Golden Messenger, Tennis, Local Natives, and Bartees Strange – just to name a few.
Duncan about his SPL gear:
„SPL, man. The DMC alone, having a central workstation where I can connect everything together in my studio, makes cutting really, really easy.“
„Having the SPL console, with a number of different input sources on the desk, I can easily have a really quick workflow to do a test cut, listen to it, record it back in, evaluate what’s going on, and then redo that step over and over, and be able to flip sources around.“
„Having a master fader on the desk and then having the ability to check the mono and the difference – like mid-side information – really, really quickly on the desk. Everything is just really easily available and in front of me, and I’m able to move around without having to rewire or redo anything from other options that are out there.“
„And then having the Hermes connected really can supercharge that with all of my gear. I can have gear in any order. I don’t think that option exists on other units.“
„To have a fixed chain, especially in our really fast world, I think, is really limiting. Having multiple sources, a tape machine, a lathe, and then having to audition off a turntable sometimes just to check for quality with a cut – having that all hooked up to the DMC, and having all my other gear on the Hermes, everything is completely flexible. I can do anything I want. That was my draw into the SPL gear.“
„I couldn’t find a product that had what the Hermes is capable of.“
Vitalizer Mk3-T & Transient Designer 4 Mk2
„I’ve been finding that with the Vitalizer and the Transient Designer, if I get something in that maybe a mix is curated to be really compressed – kind of what we call overcooked a little bit for vibe and energy, and we want to retain that – I’m able to use these pieces of gear to get some transient back out of it and have a little more wiggle room and space to work while still retaining some of the vibe that was cooked into it a bit.“
„The Vitalizer is really great. It can open things up a bit, give a bit more depth in the image. If I’m driving the tube inside a little bit more, using the stereo expander with a little bit of bass compression, I’m able to control some low end and get a little more depth into the image with the Vitalizer.“
„Every piece of gear that I buy has to have a Swiss Army knife quality to it. The SPL world is completely that for me. I can do everything from classical all the way up to really, really loud pop music. My workflow through the SPL stuff – I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would be a much more frustrated engineer without it.“
If you want to know more about our Mastering devices, explore the
