Carl Saff Mastering is a full-service mastering facility in northwest Chicago. I have been tracking and mixing records since 1995, but mastering has been the primary focus of my engineering work since 2000. I offer extremely competitive rates and I'm happy to master one of your tracks at no cost to give you a sense of what my service can do for your music. My goal is to make sure the mixes you've worked hard to perfect receive the best possible presentation for your listeners, and I won't accept payment unless you are completely satisfied with my work. Carl Saff 08-13-07 T.W. Walsh, a great Boston-based musician and recording engineer, has a new engineering blog called "Bounce to Disk." He was kind enough to interview me for the blog recently. The article can be read here. 04-17-07 Pauline Oliveros reissues! I don't normally like to call attention to individual projects that have passed through the studio. However, it's not every day that one has the opportunity to work with a true musical pioneer. Pauline Oliveros is a central figure in 20th century minimalist, electronic and tape music, a vanguard artist whose work has had tremendous influence on generations of adventurous musicians. I was thrilled to recently remaster the upcoming reissues of two of her earliest (and long out of print) recordings, "Accordion & Voice" and "The Wanderer." It was very humbling to work directly with such a legend (she's a sweetheart!) and I'm very proud of how these releases turned out. Both reissues should be available this Spring on Important Records. 03-27-07 New gear updates! I have just received a pair of API units to add to the desk: the API 2500 bus compressor and API 5500 dual-mono equalizer. The 2500 has become known as one of the most flexible and colorful compressors available today. Though I tend to favor compression that is difficult to detect, the 2500 will be my "go to" compressor for more agressive compression effects. The 5500 is a reinvention of the classic API 550 series of equalizers, including the 550M, a unit which has found favor in a number of well-known mastering facilities for it's wonderful control of the low and lower midrange frequency ranges in stereo mixes. Next month, I will be installing a pair of PMC IB1 full range monitors. More well known in Europe (where they can be seen in use at the BBC, for example) than in the states, these monitors are quickly becoming a popular choice for mastering suites due to their midfield size, superb low end extension and incredible midrange and high end detail (without any of the ear fatigue other "revealing" monitors seem to cause). Later this spring, I will be accepting delivery of a Requisite Audio L2M mk. III tube limiter. This is the as-yet unofficially announced successor to the now-famous L2M mk. II limiter (pictured below). Only 30 or so of the new mk. III units will be produced this year, and I'm happy to be one of the few facilities who will be installing one. The mk. III features a new limiter feedback control that can add harmonic information to program material, increasing detail and presence in ways not possible with mere EQ. 01-01-07 Happy new year from Saff Mastering! 2006 was the studio's best year ever, and 2007 is already shaping up to be another great year, with even more gear upgrades and some exciting new releases on the way (see the clients page for a sampling). Some news items: I have just purchased a Millenia Media NSEQ-2 mastering equalizer. This EQ is well-known amongst mastering engineers for it's pristine and transparent equalization. I'm excited to announce that my NSEQ-2 will be modified by Fred Forsell. His replacement board for the NSEQ-2 is getting rave reviews, transforming the NSEQ-2 from a merely transparent EQ into a very sweet-sounding and euphonic device. I hope to have the modified NSEQ-2 in my desk by the end of the month. The rates page has been modified to accomodate a slightly different job cost structure. It has also been updated to include a project cost calculator. Hopefully this will make it even easier for prospective clients to get ballpark figures for their jobs. Beginning February 1st 2007, my rate will undergo another slight increase -- from $4 per minute of audio to $5 per minute of audio. 09-05-06 Beginning October 1st, 2006, my engineering fee will change from $3 to $4 per minute of mastered audio. 08-19-06 Next week, I will be accepting delivery of my first analog mastering EQ: a Manley Massive Passive tube equalizer. Good times! And there's even more analog gear coming in the not-too-distant future... 06-18-06 I'm happy to announce the arrival of my first piece of analog mastering hardware -- a Crane Song STC-8/M. Widely regarded as one of the best-sounding and most flexible compressor/limiters available today, I'm excited to bring the level of quality associated with this piece of equipment to my clients' projects. This is only the first of several analog processing components I'll be adding to the studio in coming months. Stay tuned... 01-29-06 With more and more projects coming in on reels, I have decided as of Feburary 1st to do away with my policy of not charging for shipping. Most jobs cost between $4 and $12 to ship, so this will not result in a major impact to overall project cost. I have also extensively updated my clients page. 09-14-05 A quick notice that my rates will be changing ever so slightly on the 1st of October. Somewhat higher, but still quite affordable, I assure you. Also, the MCI JH-110C deck has been in house for about two months now and she sounds beautiful. Bring on the reels! 05-19-05 I purchased a Lavry Engineering LavryBlue M.AD824 analog-to-digital converter this week for eventual use with the MCI JH-110 mastering deck that is arriving in a couple of weeks. Very excited to give this converter a whirl, as it is known in mastering circles for providing a quality of conversion previously attainable only with converters costing 5 to 10 times as much. Also, construction on my new mastering room will begin this weekend! This is earlier than anticipated, but the time is right, so here goes nothin'. Pics and floorplans coming soon... 05-03-05 Some new gear in the studio. I recently purchased a Bryston 4BST power amplifier (my current-hungry Dynaudios are much happier now!). And, in a month or so, I will be accepting delivery of an MCI JH-110 stereo mastering deck with 1/2" and 1/4" headstacks, completely refurbished by Amp Services in West Palm Beach, Florida. This means I will soon be able to waive the transfer fee for analog masters (I was using other facilities to handle those transfers, but can now do them all in-house). Exciting analog-to-digital converter upgrades and new control room designs/pictures to be announced soon!