Within this SPL User Story we want to introduce you to Justin Gray.
Justin is music composer & producer at Synthesis Sound, mastering engineer at Immersive Mastering and professor of music at the Humber College Lakeshore Campus in Toronto, Canada.
Justin is working in Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 “day in and day out”, on top of his stereo mastering and last but not least – he is a pretty heavy SPL user.
Lets find out why he chose to work with SPL Mastering and Studio devices and what he thinks are the benefits of our equipment.
We wish you lots of fun reading. Here we go!
IRON
The SPL IRON is my favourite mastering compressor in my collection. This compressor has the ability to bring strength and cohesion to mix in a very musical way. This compressor is all about gain staging, and when all the settings are dialed in just right, the IRON can really bring the music to life, even with very gentle gain reduction. The IRON certainly has a noticeable tone to it, but the design is flexible enough to allow me to adjust it to suit so many styles of music. I use it almost every day, and just love what it brings to my chain.
PQ
The PQ has been one of the primary equalizers in my mastering chain for many years. This EQ has an elegant and polished sound to it. Even without any active equalization, the PQ brings clarity to everything that goes through it. It has laser precision, allowing me to bring little details in the music to life with very subtle adjustments. I also love how the PQ widens the soundstage in a very musical way, especially when doing small high-frequency boosts.
PASSEQ
The PASSEQ is an incredibly smooth-sounding equalizer. I use it very regularly in my stereo-mastering chain. This EQ has the ability to open up the top end in a way that brings clarity to transients without any harshness. It is also equally capable of bringing presence to the low end in a very musical way. This EQ has seemingly unlimited headroom, is easy to recall, and is always a pleasure to work with.
Phonitor 2
To me, the Phonitor 2 is the greatest studio headphone amp ever made. As a stereo mastering engineer and immersive audio mixing/mastering engineer (Dolby Atmos and Sony 360), accurate headphone monitoring is critical to my workflow. The Phonitor 2 does exactly what I want it to do, which is to provide clean gain to any pair of headphones I am using. There is no noise floor, and I am rarely using even half of the available power this amp can generate. One feature of the Phonitor 2 that I love is its multiple inputs. In my studio, I regularly need to compare different sources in real-time. This amp allows me to easily toggle between various feeds, including stereo and binaural in my immersive work. I use the Phonitor 2 every single day. It is indispensable in my workflow.
Crescendo
The Crescendo is one of the most incredible preamps I have ever used. Tonally, this preamp is very honest to the source, while not being sterile. The headroom is truly endless and it is among the quietest pieces of equipment I have used. This preamp is able to bring life to everything from an old ribbon mic to a modern large diaphragm condenser. I love the ergonomics of the preamp, as it has made it very easy to integrate and effortless to use. It has become my go-to preamp for recording just about anything.
Find further information about Justin on his websites and social media channels:
Websites:
www.synthesissound.com – Mixing and Production
www.immersivemastering.com – Mastering
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/synthesissoundproduction
https://www.facebook.com/immersivemastering
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/synthesissoundproduction
