Matthew Gray

Matthew Gray is the senior mastering engineer behind Matthew Gray Mastering.

As a young man with a passion for music, Matthew began his musical journey by learning to play the drums from an early age, followed by playing drums in churches from the age of 14, and joining a rock band in his early twenties. Over the next 18 years Matthew performed and recorded with numerous bands he was involved with.

His passion for music performance soon developed into a passion for sound engineering.

After full-time study in sound engineering in 1999, Matthew became a commercial radio producer for Austereo. His skills as a radio producer were well recognized during this time and have earned him national and international recognition. While at Austereo, Matthew became active in recording and mastering several local, national and international bands including the likes of Travis, Jet, Eskimo Joe, Evermore, Superjesus, Sarah Blasko and Killing Heidi.

In 2000, Matthew established ‘White House Mastering’, a vehicle to mastering various projects on a part-time basis. Buoyed by his natural flair and great results, Matthew opened ‘Matthew Gray Mastering’ midway through 2005. Matthew Gray Mastering soon became Brisbane’s premiere dedicated full-time mastering service.

In 2013, Matthew’s pursuit of excellence led him to purchase a warehouse in Brisbane’s north-west and engage French designer Thomas Jouanjean of Northward Acoustics in Belgium to design a world-class mastering facility, the first room in Australia to embrace the FTB design philosophy. The new room has seen thousands of projects come through the doors attracting a wide range of high profile international and local artists including: Giorgio Moroder featuring Sia, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears whose singles saw number 1 chart success in the Billboard Dance charts; Melanie Martinez whose single achieved Platinum in the USA; Violent Soho’s single ‘Like Soda’ which charted well on Triple J’s Hottest 100; and The Screaming Jets album Chrome which has been lauded by critics and well supported by national radio.

Over the course of his extensive career Matthew has mastered tens of thousands of titles, with clients from all over the world including USA, UK, Singapore, Russia, Japan and Brazil as well as servicing Australian artists both locally and nationally.

Matthew Gray has become one of the most prolific mastering engineers in the world today.

Michelangelo Custom Tube Mastering EQ

We’ve recently installed a custom tube Michelangelo mastering EQ built by Chris Hendy at Hendy Amps in the USA.

This EQ is stereo ganged and acts like a broad shaping tone control for the mix. With the “Aggression” (tube drive), “Bass”, “Mid”, “High” and “Air” controls along with some custom mods that include a cleaner signal low impedance or a more coloured high impedance switchable option, the EQ becomes extremely versatile and quick to dial in. The EQ points and curves are also extremely musical, allowing broad shaping of the mix with precision control. The sound is deliciously smooth andbigdue to the minimalistic circuit and the all-tube and transformer signal path. This rounds out our analog EQ collection very nicely: with four analog EQ’s to choose from, there is an EQ that suits every genre and mix style.

Book your job in today to hear the Michelangelo in action on your next project.

When a Buzz is music to the ears

The Buzz Audio REQ-2.2 True Class A Resonance Equalizer is based on a classic passive resonant circuit but with the adjustability and flexibility of a modern mastering EQ.

Our particular REQ-2.2 is the mastering edition with recallable Elma pots. It was originally purchased in June 2009 but since then it has been back to Buzz Audio to get all the latest revisions along with further custom modifications specified by Matthew. The changes have improved the transparency and enhanced the sound of the circuit beyond the off-the-shelf unit.

We love the Buzz Audio REQ-2.2 because it is modern, clean, clear and detailed and can be used on most styles of music. Compared to our other workhorse mastering EQ, the Sontec MES-432C, the REQ-2.2 retains more of the source details. The REQ-2.2’s sonic fingerprint, while highly desirable, is more noticeable than the Sontec’s which tends to meld into the music invisibly even though it has a slightly softer/smoother presentation on transients.

In use the REQ-2.2 is extremely flexible with its variable slope shelving, half dB steps, 72 frequency choices and low frequency transformer saturation options. The Buzz Audio REQ-2.2 ME sounds ‘expensive’ and allows significant boosting of midrange and highs without making the sound harsh.

The Buzz Audio REQ-2.2 is just one of the many choices we have available at Matthew Gray Mastering which allows us to get the right sound for your project every time.

The Phoenix mastering compressor by Thermionic Culture

The Phoenix is an all-tube variable-MU compressor that is hand built in England by Thermionic Culture.

This compressor’s ability to compress very musically, massaging the music while adding a richness and depth really impresses us. The side chain filter options allows it to compress without compromising the punch of the kick or the clarity of the high frequencies. The Phoenix also works very well in Middle & Sides processing and in combination with the faster/punchier API 2500 VCA stereo compressor.

Suitable for a wide range of music, you’ll find The Phoenix in our mastering rack for many years to come.

Ampex ATR-102 and why analog tape sounds so good

Analog tape sounds amazing on the right project, which is why we have gone to significant effort and expense to have a custom modified Ampex ATR-102 two-track mastering tape deck right here in the studio.

The ATR-102 is the last mastering deck to roll off the Ampex assembly line before they ceased manufacturing in the late 1980’s. Our machine was sourced from the University of Wisconsin, from where it was shipped directly to ATR Services for a complete internal rebuild with the highest grade components. This rebuild also included an exchange of the stock electronics for Aria Class A Reference Series electronics and flux magnetics mastering grade half-inch heads which gives it maximum transparency and detail.

Our ATR-102 was initially biased and aligned for Quantegy GP9 half-inch tape, but this tape has been unavailable since Quantegy closed its factory doors in 2007. Today the only companies producing analog tape are RMGI (formerly Emtec/BASF) with their 900 and 911 series tape, and a new company, ATR Magnetics, a sister company to ATR Services. ATR Magnetics have produced arguably the best sounding analog tape around. It is similar sounding to Quantegy 456, while able to maintain a higher operating level similar to Quantegy GP9. Our ATR-102 is now set up to run the ATR Magnetics tape.

Why analog tape?

Analog tape has the ability to subtly compress a mix in a very natural manner, and has what can only be described as a ‘gluing’ effect – giving a mix more cohesiveness by controlling and absorbing transient peaks in a way that no other compressor can hope to do. Analog tape can also add subtle harmonic distortion which helps to give a mix depth and width while softening harsh mid and high frequencies and adding a robustness to the lower frequencies.

The Ampex ATR-102 tends to work best on rock, metal and hip hop styles, and even folk or acoustic-based music that needs ‘warming up’. Where it doesn’t work well is when a mix is already quite compressed, dull or heavy in the low frequencies – in these cases the tape only tends to exaggerate these areas.

Mixed-up converters: Antelope Audio’s Pure 2 vs Forssell’s MADA-2a

It’s been several years since re-evaluating my AD and DA converters but I had recently been hearing good things about Antelope Audio’s Pure2 Mastering AD/DA Converter, so I contacted George at Soundtown in Perth, Australia to arrange a test drive. I was keen to see if it improved the main converters I’d been using for the past five years.

Soundtown delivered the Pure2 and, after configuring the converter, I was ready to start testing.

I recalled a track I worked on earlier in the week, an electro track that had a nice kick and bass line and a well-recorded male vocal. This is the track I would use for all tests.

I started by converting with the Forssell MADA-2a for DA & AD with DA playback at 96kHz and A/D capture from the analog chain at 44.1kHz. Once I substituted for the Pure2, my first impressions were extremely positive: the tonal balance was very natural and true to the source, and didn’t seem to get in the way of the music or the feel and emotion of the track. It was surprising to me how close it was to the presentation of the Forssell, however the Pure2 had marginally more weight in the lows while the highs were mellowed a little more, both being areas I felt were intrusive on some mixes. The Forssell is slightly wider and has more high end detail, although we are talking about quite a small margin of difference. Overall I was greatly impressed. The second test I did was a straight hard-wire loopback test at 96kHz. Which is something I like to do with all the converters I test. The loopback of the Pure2 was very favourable and sounded as close to the source as the Forssell did (each having slightly unique interpretations).

Where it became particularly interesting was mixing and matching the Forssell with the Pure2.

I tested the Pure2 DAC with the Forssell ADC. This also sounded more full in the lows but more natural and balanced overall. This presentation also sounded quite true to the source. In this configuration I was hearing both units compliment each other and bring the best qualities of each converter to the forefront. Ultimately, I tested the Forssell DAC with the Pure2 ADC, which produced a result I wasn’t expecting; the combination was slightly wider and deeper with superior transient detail, yet it was fuller in the low end than the Forssell MADA-2a doing both ends of the conversion. A result which was extremely musical and leapt from the speakers.

I was convinced: the formidable sound of the Antelope Pure2 for AD duties in combination with the Forssell MADA-2a covering DA was the way to go. I called George at Soundtown and let him know he wouldn’t be getting the evaluation unit back.

In the pursuit of excellence – Forssell vs Pacific Microsonics

Having the best available A/D and D/A converters in the studio means that we are able to capture and monitor every nuance & detail that our analog mastering chain provides very accurately and without compromise.

That’s why we recently conducted a mastering converter shoot out in order to find the very best converters for our mastering suite. We tested the Lavry Gold AD122-96 MkIII, the Cranesong HEDD 192, Prism Orpheus, Prism Dream, Prism ADA8-XR, Pacific Microsonics HDCD Model 2 & the Forssell MADA-2. The converters were put through their paces very carefully in order to reveal the most consistent performer. What we were looking for in our conversion was transparency, detail, focus and the best imaging.

The two converters that stood out were the Forssell MADA-2 and the Pacific Microsonics HDCD Model 2. The Forssell MADA-2 is a brand new design that designer Fred Forssell has been perfecting through prototypes over the past few years. The Pacific Microsonics is a discontinued converter from the 1990’s which is rare to find in the used market because few units were produced, and they are highly sought after. (Matthew Gray Mastering had purchased a Pacific Microsonics after auditioning some test files from a unit in Sony mastering, New York, and finding a unit for sale in Hollywood.)

Once the Pacific Microsonics HDCD Model 2 was set up along side the Forssell MADA-2, we found only very small sonic differences between them. As both units had been in use at Matthew Gray Mastering over the past several months on a wide variety of projects, Matthew was able to get to know the sonic signature of both units in greater detail. The results of this extended listening revealed that the Forssell MADA-2 was the superior converter for both A/D and D/A conversions. The MADA-2 now has pride of place on the analog mastering processing chain.

After much deliberation Matthew decided to sell the Pacific Microsonics unit in favour of a second ‘modified’ Forssell MADA-2 unit to be a back up A/D for the first MADA-2 while also taking over the Pacific Microsonics as the primary monitoring D/A converter.

In the pursuit of excellence, it was hard to refute the Forssell MADA-2. So hard, in fact, that we are now an Australian distributor, so let us know if you would like pricing or a demo unit.

We hope you enjoy listening to the results of these converters on your next mastering session with Matthew Gray Mastering, where we care about even the smallest of details to give you the best sonic result for your next project.

Digital-to-analog converter shootout: Cranesong Solaris vs the rest

In our never-ending quest to apply the latest design breakthroughs to enhancing and improving our mastering process, we recently compared three popular DA converters from leading manufacturers to the ones we already have in our rack. Here’s the full list:

• Dangerous Convert2
• RME ADI-2 Pro
• Cranesong Solaris
• Antelope Audio Pure2 (which we already own)
• Forssell MADA-2 (which we already own)
• Dangerous (Chris Muth)
• Monitor DAC (which we already own)

We placed the DA converters ahead of the analog compressors and equalisers and tested the units in a very precise manner, level matching all the converters’ reference levels to within +/- 0.01dB to ensure a level playing field. While we found every unit to be a quality piece of gear up to the task, we added the Cranesong Solaris to our rack as the primary choice for DA converter. The Cranesong Solaris was a clear standout: everything sounded more connected and fluid, yet alive, like the sound was leaping off the speakers. For a moment in time, we forgot all about the converters and were just immersed in the music filling the room; it was like the sound was coming from a band in the room rather than the speakers. We put this down in part to improved clocking techniques, the advanced jitter suppression and an extremely well-designed high-end analog output stage.

The tonal balance was spot on: extremely natural and, while flattering on great mixes, it didn’t gloss over any problem areas; in fact it tends to reveal issues in a detailed manner. The Cranesong Solaris is natural and organic and as such suits pretty much any style of music.

We found it really difficult to fault the Solaris and, when paired with one of our Analog-to-Digital converters (Antelope Audio Pure2 AD or Forssell AD), it’s a real thing of beauty to master music through.

What about the other converters?

We like to have two sets of DA converters that compliment each other in different ways so we can choose the one which benefits the music we’re working on. While the Crane Solaris came out on top, our Forssell MADA-2 DA is a great converter, with its presentation being slightly more flattering hence favouring pop and EDM styles; we’ll be using both the Cranesong Solaris and the Forssell MADA-2 ongoing.

The Dangerous Monitor DAC will remain our primary monitoring DA converter, but at some point we may consider upgrading it with another Solaris, as the Solaris also excelled as a monitoring DA converter.

Stage 3: Final assembly

The final stage of mastering involves the assembly of your project into the format you require.

This can include track sequencing, fades, gaps between songs to create a flow for your release, as well as PQ codes, ISRC codes and CD-Text which is all completed before the audio is packaged in the format you require. (As an example of a common format, for CD manufacturing a DDP or CD master is produced followed by error checking and quality control checking.)

In recent years it has become even more important to have your masters prepared correctly for each delivery format in order for your music to translate well on these mediums. This includes level and EQ balance for optimal playback on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Tidal etc. We also have extensive experience and knowledge in mastering specifically for Vinyl.

6. Check that the stems sum to match the full mix
Most importantly, once you’ve exported all stems, bring them back into your DAW and check that they add together to correctly recreate the mix. There are various reasons why they might not perfectly match; here are a couple of the more common reasons:

Duplicated effects, for example when vocals are sent pre-fader to a reverb. Depending on the DAW settings, that reverb might end up on both the vocal and the instrumental stem; double check that all effects are printed only once to the appropriate stem.

Non-linear processing on busses, for example compression on the mix bus. The stems will not perfectly match the full mix because the processing acts differently when printing separate stems; you might need to key the bus processing when exporting the stems by feeding the full mix to their external sidechain inputs so that they behave properly.

7. Include a full stereo mix when delivering the stems
Providing a reference mix enables the mastering engineer to do a quality check and confirm all elements of the mix are present in the final stem-mastered product.

Vinyl mastering

At Matthew Gray Mastering we can master your project for streaming platforms and vinyl at the same time.

There are a number of criteria which need to be met in order for a project to be considered ready for vinyl cutting. In order to meet these criteria, some of the things we address during the mastering session include:

Ensure bass is mono up to 100Hz and that its not overly pronounced below 40Hz
Reduce excessive sibilance and high frequency content such as cymbals, hi-hats and shakers
Control the dynamics without excessive levels or distortion
Masters for vinyl are delivered to the client or vinyl cutting plant as 24-bit stereo interleaved wave files.

Check out our tips for releasing your project on vinyl.

tips for releasing your project on vinyl

Vinyl has made a steady resurgence in recent years, and a number of indie and commercial bands have been jumping on board and getting small runs of vinyl pressed. We’ve been mastering for vinyl for some time now and we know a lot about the vinyl process. Here are some tips which you might find useful when considering releasing your next project on vinyl:

Decide on how many songs you want to put on the vinyl and work out the total running time of your single, EP or album. Why? Because this is a critical factor in working out what size record is suitable, what speed is best and how loud it can be cut. For example, if you have an album of songs and it works out to be over 22 minutes of music per side, there is a good chance it will need to be cut at lower levels to prevent distortion and may not sound as good especially on the last couple of songs on each side of the vinyl; in such a case you may have to factor in the cost of getting a double album cut and pressed. See below for our recommended running time chart.

Get your songs professionally mastered for vinyl. There are a number of areas to consider when mastering for vinyl in order for the finished record to sound it’s best, and I’ve seen people waste a lot of time and money when skipping this very important step.

Leave yourself plenty of time to get vinyl reference cuts and test pressings done and send them to us to check that there aren’t any technical issues with the vinyl cutting, plating or pressing before approving the rest of the copies to be pressed. In other words, don’t set your release date or album launch date until you’ve worked out how long these processes can take. Time may vary depending on factors such as the cutting engineer’s schedule and how many jobs the pressing plant are working on. It’s better to give yourself too much time than not enough.

Use someone reputable for the vinyl cutting. If you’re wanting the best quality, or if you need to fit a lot of songs on each side, or if your vinyl needs to be cut loud or you’re on a budget, we recommend talking to us for an appropriate vinyl cutting vendor for your job.

Apple Digital Masters

Matthew Gray is on Apple’s official Apple Digital Masters Providers List.

What does Apple Digital Masters really mean?
In an effort to improve the quality of music digitally distributed through the iTunes music store, Apple have responded with Apple Digital Masters (known until August 2019 as Mastered for iTunes [MFiT]). Apple’s aim is to ensure that the masters produced by approved Apple Digital Masters engineers maintain the highest fidelity right up to the point of the AAC encoding process.

For Matthew Gray Mastering this means supplying Apple with 24-bit files with sample rates up to 96kHz that meet Apple’s standards. Apple supplies the ‘Apple Digital Masters mastering tools’ to check that the levels of the audio won’t compromise or distort the AAC codec and to ensure that the audio supplied to them meets the Apple Digital Masters standard.

The result is a 256kbps M4A file which marginally exceeds the audio fidelity of the traditional CD format, i.e. 16-bit 44.1kHz PCM, and far exceeds its MP3 counterpart regardless of the MP3 codec or bit rate. The icing on the cake is that the 256kbps AAC (M4A) file is approximately six times smaller in file size compared to the equivalent 16-bit wave file, making it ideal for digital distribution and streaming over the internet.

Not all digital distributors can accept Apple Digital Masters files; those who do treat the Apple Digital Masters files as a separate release and charge accordingly.