Mastering Engineer
Antoine Valton delivers professional audio mastering from Centraldubs studio in Bern, Switzerland, helping you achieve the best sound possible for your music.
He also works with his own setup, depending on your project, needs and budget.
Before specializing in mastering, Antoine spent a decade primarily in live sound and event production, as well as working as a technical advisor in France.
He holds a degree in sound engineering from the European Technological Institute for Music Professions in Le Mans, where he graduated in 2014.
He is also a member of the Audio Engineering Society, continually exploring and expanding his expertise in all areas of sound engineering.
What is Mastering ?
After recording and mixing, mastering is the final step in music production before distribution. It serves as a polishing and quality control process for the work done up to this point.
The goal is to achieve the best possible sound for the intended medium, whether digital (via streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Tidal, or Spotify) or physical (such as vinyl or CD).
The audio must also maintain optimal quality across all playback systems, whether for home listening, car radios, clubs, or headphones, to fully engage the listener.
It is a complex task that requires a delicate balance, as every decision affects the entire track. Unlike mixing, which focuses on individual instruments or groups, mastering impacts the overall sound. This makes critical listening on a highly accurate reproduction system essential.
During a mastering session, the sound engineer will focus on balancing the frequency spectrum, dynamics, and stereo image. Using high-precision tools (such as equalizers, compressors, de-essers, and limiters), whether digital or analog, corrections are made only when necessary and in the interest of the music. The audio engineer also sets the loudness level to suit the music’s potential and genre.
Finally, he will bring cohesion to all the tracks by sequencing them, adjusting fade-ins and fade-outs, and embedding the necessary metadata into the files.
- Stereo mastering for digital platforms, CD and vinyl
- Audio editing and restoration
- Vinyl master lacquer cutting
Monitors : Bowers & Wilkins 800 Nautilus, powered by Classé Audio monoblocks amplifiers
Converters : Crane Song Solaris, Merging Technologies Hapi MKII
DAW : Steinberg Wavelab Pro
Software : Tokyo Dawn Labs, Algorithmix, Weiss Engineering, and more
Hardware : Maselec, Buzz Audio, Whitestone Audio, API, Dangerous Music, and more
Disc cutting lathe : Neumann VMS 70
Monitors : ATC SCM20 ASL Pro MKII
Headphones : Sennheiser HD600 with custom EQ and Meier crossfeed
Converter : RME ADI-2 Pro FS R
DAW : Steinberg Wavelab Pro
Software : Tokyo Dawn Labs, DMG Audio, Weiss Engineering, Voxengo, and more
Please provide the relevant informations listed below :
Company/label, phone number, email, first name, last name
Track order and number (if you release on vinyl, on which side, as follow A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, etc..)
ISRC & EAN/UPC codes if needed
Any note you seem relevant (if there is a particular noise to not remove, what do you expect from mastering, etc…)
Format(s) in which the project is being released (CD, vinyl, streaming services)
Please leave 1 second blank before and after your audio in order to prevent glitches.
Please don’t clip, distort, your master bus and leave headroom. Loudness will be adjusted during the mastering process.
Files accepted are WAV or AIFF, no lossy codecs.
Please keep the same Sample Rate as your mixing session, don’t do conversion (upsampling or downsampling).
Bit depth accepted are 32 bits floating-point (no dithering applied) or 24 bits integer (apply dither, preferably TPDF).
If you mixed with a limiter on your master bus, please provide both files with and without it in order to get the best possible sonic result.
Please indicate your payment method (bank transfer or PayPal).
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need further informations or advices.