interview series (4) – Bob Olhsson

Bob, you are a professional recording and mastering engineer for over thirty years and already legend. What is more important: The ability to hear or the ability to use the right device according to the context and to apply the right adjustment?

You need to BOTH be able to hear AND find the right device and settings! Probably the most important thing to understand is that just raising the volume a tenth of a dB. will always sound better. All comparisons must be checked with the average level compensated. Otherwise, it’s easy to wind up with something that’s louder but far worse sounding.

Another challenge is mastering for what the recording needs and not what your monitors want. Our goal is for it to sound great everywhere. The best way I’ve found to tackle this problem is sticking to broad strokes unless I’m removing distractions. If a half dB. sounds different but not better, I’ll generally leave it alone.