Recording
Matt Kennedy (mixedbyTheEngineer) works out of World Class Recording Studio, Empire Sound in Dallas TX (gear, microphones, instruments). Recording your project with a professional engineer like Matt is the first step to making a great record. It is the underlying foundation in which your project is built upon. Utilizing only the best microphones; vintage large format SSL and Neve recording/mixing consoles; racks and racks of outboard gear; and great comfortable spacious environments. Recording can be done to either analog 24 track 2 inch reel to reel or state of the art Pro Tools systems. Matt can also travel anywhere to record at your preferred your studio, he has successfully ran full tracking sessions at: NRG Recording Studio Los Angeles, Power Station Pompano Beach Florida, Bunker Studio Brooklyn New York, and Cleartrack Studios Clearwater Florida.
Mixing
Mixing is taking all of your recorded and produced elements and blending them together with equalization, compression, effects, volume, automation and panning to create your song. It is the single most important process in creating a great record. Mixing is performed on Empire Sounds world-class SSL 4048 E/G+ console utilizing API, Neve, Manley, Focusrite, Urei, Empirical Labs and more outboard gear. Matt has spent thousands of hours perfecting his craft to provide you with industry-standard perfection. He has an impeccable precise ear, vast amounts of musical knowledge combined with a seamless creative workflow.
Mastering
Mastering is the final step before releasing your music. It is a technically involved creative process finalizing the overall loudness, frequency spectrum, and tone of your music. Matt approaches mastering the same way as playing an instrument or singing a song, the feeling of your performance and mix is a direct connection to your audience. Matt uses an accurate monitoring system with Augspurger 2-15’s with Tad speakers powered with 6000 watts, Focal Twin BE near fields with Focal 12″ sub and Yamaha NS-10m’s. Paired with analog processors: API 2500, Focusrite Red 3, Manley Elop+, SSL 4K Mix Buss Comp, Empirical Labs Fatso and Summit Master Class A Tube EQ. Mastering is approached preserving and accentuating the performance, feel, and dynamics for optimal sound quality playback on any device, creating the best connection with your audience.
Dolby Atmos Mixing
The future is here with Dolby Atmos Mixing for music creating an immersive audio listening experience for your audience. Dolby Atmos is an object-based 3D surround sound environment that converts to any speaker configuration including any surround sound systems, to Apple Music’s Spatial Audio, or Binaural Audio on any other stereo listening environment. Dolby Atmos is here to stay, is quickly becoming a standard music delivery format, and is really, really freaking cool! Dolby Atmos mixing is done on a 7.1.4 Kali Audio speaker system with a Intonato Monitor Management System and Controller at Empire Recording Studio C Room. A Dolby Atmos ADM master file will be delivered (which is ready to be immediately uploaded to streaming services) along with ref files.
Music Production
Matt has helped produce hundreds of recordings. He plays a key role as apart of the creative team. From writing, musical arrangements, hiring and producing session musicians. What ever your projects needs he can help you take the necessary steps to get your project from dream to reality.
Editing and Vocal Tuning
There is always “behind the scenes studio magic” that no musician will ever disclose in the linear notes of an album, but lets face it, it happens with almost any project. If your tracks need to be fixed or a little extra love, that is OK, Matt can handle everything. Vocals can be tuned, drum timing can be fixed, wrong instrument notes can be adjusted and anything else that involves a kazoo.