Welcome to my mastering service page, let's dive right in. I have 17yrs experience and a professionally sound abated studio specifically designed for intensive listening, running a Pro Tools HDX system and all the highest regarded software/plugins in hybrid with tons of top tier analog outboard (Neve, Dangerous, Summit, UA, API etc.)
For monitoring I rely most heavily on my Focal Twin 6's w/sub but I check every master on Event 20/20's, a Bose speaker, Sennheiser & Avantone headphones, and finally apple ear buds. Unlike most mastering engineers I do a car check as well, before sending to clients.
Types of music that I master include Pop, Rock, Metal, Orchestral, R&B, Hip Hop, EDM, Punk, Funk, Indie etc...
Some cool things I've done most recently would be mastering a full length album for the band Swift Technique, mixed by grammy winning Phil Nicolo. My work led the band Deep Tissue to their first full length record deal this summer. One other project I did recently included members of CKY, Municipal Waste, Obituary and other popular heavy bands.
It's important to choose a mastering engineer who's fully aware and always considerate of the extremely diverse period of time we're living in, as pertaining to audio. To explain this, I would suggest we all think about the drastic difference in EQ and Loudness (for starters) when we listen to professional recordings of each decade. We're only just beginning to arrive at a moment when streaming platforms are adjusting loudness to make all sorts of music more fluidly enjoyable. That's a great win for the audio industry in my view, but we still have vast differences in EQ and also dynamic range from decade to decade, even year to year, many times depending on the genre of music and other variables.
What I can guarantee is a solid communication and understanding of the clients intention for their masters. It's not wrong to want the loudest possible version of your recording, should your music have to be heard in sequence with other loud material. It's also OK if you want your master to "pop" sonically with all the metaphoric bells and whistles that shimmer and sparkle in some of the most popular recordings. Last and not least, there's certainly something to be said for the master recording that can be listened to on repeat, non-stop and will never cause your ears to fatigue.
If it's starting to sound like your recordings are in good hands, that's because they are. Feel free to contact me directly to talk about your project.
OTHER SERVICES
Stems & Versions
Contact me for pricing on stem mastering and for versioning of your masters (i.e. loudest, brightest, punchiest, listenable). We can negotiate a fair price for multiple versions of your master as well as manageable mastered high resolution stems of your music for future proofing your work.
Session Work
I'm able to provide session playing for drums, bass & guitar at your request. I've done session work for films, as well as for internationally touring acts. More than 20yrs experience and of course, your instrumentation will be recorded in the most professional setting and format. Use the contact form for pricing & samples of my playing.
Editing
Another service I offer is audio editing. Over the years I've become a specialist in tightening performances. If you have a live drum kit that isn't quite in time but still needs to maintain all the feel, or you're having trouble getting rid of cymbal bleed without losing all the tone, please reach out. Or if your entire mix needs tightening, contact me and we can discuss pricing.
Mixing
I'm not currently accepting budget mixing work. If you have a significant budget, please feel free to reach out. My mixing work has led to some successes but is extremely intensive and therefore not cost effective at a limited budget. If you'd like to discuss further I can provide some sound advice or refer a mixer that I know and trust but I can't guarantee a cheap price.
Mastered by Aaron Van Allen
GEAR LIST
Equipment including but not limited to:
Outboard/Mic Pre/Channel Strip:
Aphex 204 Stereo Aural Exciter
API 550
Avalon 737
Black Lion Audio Seventeen dual parallel compressors
Dangerous Bax EQ
Dangerous Compressor
Dangerous Dbox
Kush Clariphonic Mid-Side Equalizer
Neve 1073
SPL Tube Vitalizer MK2-T
Summit Audio EQF-100 Full Range EQ
Urei 535 Dual Equalizer
Lindell Audio 7X Compressor
Midas Venice F32
Moog Analog Delay
Moog Ladder
SSL VHD
UAD Top Box
Universal Audio LA610
Warm EQP-WA x 2 (modded)
BBE Stereo 422A
Mics:
Shure SM7
Shure SM57 x4
Audix D2
Audix D4
Audix i5
AKG D12 x2
Sennheiser 421 x 2
Sennheiser e965
Oktava MK012 x 2
Avantone BV12
Avantone CR14
Neumann U87
Guitars:
Fender Custom Shop Strat Alder w/ Rosewood neck, 50’s humbucker w/ 69’ single coils
Fender Custom Shop Strat Alder w/ Maple neck, Pearly Gates humbucker w/ noiseless single coils
Fender 69 Reissue Telecaster
Gibson Les Paul Special
Fender 62 Reissue P Bass
Fender 60s Jazz Bass
Takamine Pro Series 6 acoustic
Taylor Dreadnaught acoustic
Baby Taylor acoustic
Amps:
1970’s Fender Bassman 50 Watt
Bickle 50 watt Custom Built Alexander Howard Dumble Clone
Vox AC4
Vox Brian May Deacy Amp
Marshall OG20
Orange TT15
EVH 5150
Drums:
Yamaha Rock Tour Kit(mahogany shells)
Ludwig Supraphonic
Tama Studio Maple Snare w/ wood hoops 6x14
Tama Studio Brass Snare 6.5x14 w/ 42 strand wires
Zildjian A custom cymbal set
Keys:
Yamaha P115 88 key midi keyboard
Microkorg
Monitoring:
Focal Twin 6 w/sub
Avantone Mixcube
Event Tuned Reference
Bose Soundlink II
Interfaces:
Avid i/o 16x16 analog x2
Digidesign 192 16x8x8 analog x2
Computer Hardware:
Mac Pro 12 Core 3.46GHz Processors w/128gb RAM
Mac Pro 8 Core 3GHz Processors w/ 32gb RAM
Pro Tools HDX
Universal Audio OCTO PCIe card
Universal Audio Satellite OCTO
Universal Audio Satellite Quad
Software:
Pro Tools HD 12, 2018, Ultimate
over 100 UAD plugins
Plug-in Bundles from:
Izotope (latest Ozone, Neutron, RX)
Waves
Sonnox
SPL
FabFilter
Sound Toys
Antares
Vienna Symphonic
Splice Sample membership
Ableton Live Suite