AI mastering is fine for some releases and wrong for others. An honest guide to which is which, from a studio that mixes indie and alternative music.

In a heavily controlled studio environment, spending hours managing the dynamic range of an isolated drum kit is a calculated procedure. But on a live stage, capturing the uninhibited, chaotic energy of a human performance results in massive, erratic volume spikes that fundamentally challenge the mathematical limits of digital recording technology. The Problem: The persistent industry obsession with extreme loudness causes engineers to apply digital brickwall limiters to alre

In 1967, Aretha Franklin arrived at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to record her first session for Atlantic Records. She had been through several years of recordings for Columbia that had produced nothing that matched what she was capable of. Within the first session at Muscle Shoals she recorded I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You). It is one of the greatest vocal performances ever captured on tape. The question of why that recording exists in that form is partl