Metal By Association

Maor Appelbaum is one of the most renowned mastering engineers when it comes to rock and heavy metal, and has been a longtime user of Weiss Engineering products. We asked him for a few minutes to talk about how our units have helped his work, and we also learned some interesting things about his thoughts on mastering in general.

– Hi Maor. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Before we touch on Weiss products, let’s talk about your background. Is it true you started off as a DJ?

Yes it is. I was a club DJ who played heavy metal. I also had an internet radio show and worked as a music journalist for different publications. I eventually became a broadcast engineer who did recording and mastering gigs on the side, and some of the genres I worked on were heavy metal, gothic, noise music, avant garde, dark wave, and industrial. As you can imagine, that kind of music didn’t take me to big studios (laughs). This was stuff you’d only hear in rehearsal rooms or underground venues, so I wasn’t a part of the mainstream music scene at the time.

Once I started working with some iconic metal acts, the genre association was emphasized.
Maor Appelbaum

– You moved to California in the late 2000s to work with Sylvia Massy at RadioStar Studios. How did that opportunity come about?

I’d mastered an EP for a band she produced, so I reached out and said that I had time off in the summer and would like to work at her studio in Weed, California. We emailed back and forth and she eventually invited me over. The original plan was to work at RadioStar and return home over the summertime, but the broadcast studio I’d previously worked at closed, so there was nothing for me to return to. As a result, I moved to California in 2007 and worked at RadioStar Studios for eight months in various positions, from assisting and recording to mixing and mastering. Once that was over, I moved to LA in the spring of 2008 and rented a small room in someone’s house. I got a day job at a music and pro audio store to pay the bills and would hustle for mastering gigs at night. I did that for a few months until it became clear there wasn’t enough time for both, so I left the store and focused 100% on mastering.

– You’re often referred to as one of the premier mastering engineers for rock and heavy metal. How did you build a reputation in that genre?

Well, I’ve mastered many different genres from blues, punk and hip hop to jazz, cinematic music and reggae, but people would rather associate me with rock and heavy metal. Once I started working with some iconic metal acts, the genre association was emphasized. Some of my first clients were Yngwie Malmsteen, David Ellefson and Rob Halford. I mastered albums for Rob’s bands Fight and Halford, and later worked with Sepultura and Cynic. The best-selling single came in 2013 with Starset’s “My Demons“, and one of my highlights was Faith No More’s “Sol Invictus” in 2017. As my career progressed, I ended up mastering for Sabaton, Sacred Reich and Dream Theater, all of which attracted more metal acts my way, but I also did blues albums with Eric Gales and Walter Trout, a rock album for Meatloaf and six prog rock albums for Yes.

– Given all the metal projects you’ve worked on, what are some characteristics of metal music that you notice when mastering?

Thrash and death metal from the 80s and 90s was less compressed, but if a band wants to sound modern, their music will typically be louder and more compressed. Also, the drums tend to be more prominent in the faster genres where the pounding of the kick and snare are important for impact. Having said all that, I don’t try to dictate what sound a record should have when I’m mastering. My job is to figure out what the vision of the project is and bring that out as much as I can.

– You’ve said some interesting things about your mastering process in past interviews. Let’s revisit some of those statements. One of them was, “The first thing I do in mastering is to pass the music through different pieces of gear to see how it reacts “. Why is that the first step for you?

Actually, the first thing I do is listen to the song so I can make decisions based on what I hear. If a record needs to be warmer or brighter, I might run it through some tube or solid-state gear. If the transients need to be better controlled, then I’ll use a different piece of gear to soften them. I also have different converters, whether A-Ds or D-As, so I’ll find whatever combination works best for the song. Choosing the right D-A is the easiest because I hear the unprocessed signal before it hits any of the outboard, making it simpler to choose the right converter. For the A-D, the converter is at the end of the gear chain, so the outboard combination will determine which converter works best, whether the sound needs to be more detailed, upfront, or laidback. So each one has its own sonic imprint.

I don’t try to dictate what sound a record should have when I’m mastering. My job is to figure out what the vision of the project is and bring that out as much as I can.
Maor Appelbaum

– Another quote from a past interview was, “I often raise the volume when I’m mastering. When working at low levels, you might hear some details that stick out but you don’t get to experience how the song bursts out of the speakers “. Isn’t that the opposite of what’s preached online where so many warn against ear fatigue from listening at loud volumes?

I speak with a lot of the top mastering engineers and many of them play their music super loud to get results. They don’t do it all day, but they might work for a few hours like that. Granted, we all have our average volumes that we’re happy with, but you also want to perceive it how the public does. And keep in mind that mixing and mastering are different – if a mix engineer is riding his faders, then sure, that could take a while and I wouldn’t expect him to listen at loud levels for long periods. But when a mastering engineer is EQing, he might need the music to be loud enough to hear the changes. If that’s counter to what YouTubers say, then I’d point out that context is everything. For example, it’s very common to test a mix in your car even though some car speakers can be sub-optimal, but since it’s a place where many people listen to music, it clearly has its benefits. So context always matters.

– Speaking of loud levels, another thing you’ve said is, “Not every mix can handle high levels. Some mixes can be pushed into the red and sound great while others don’t hold up “. Can you elaborate on that?

Sure. Some mixes sound good when cranked loud, but others don’t, and after a certain point they start to collapse and lose their structure. Also, certain elements will pop out in an unflattering way once you raise the mix volume, and if the limiter is hit too hard it’ll flatten certain sounds, causing them to overpower all other sounds. But it varies from mix to mix; sometimes you can achieve maximum loudness with a good mix balance, and sometimes not. I’ve mastered songs that would’ve sounded better if they weren’t as loud, but the client is the one who makes the final decision. Sometimes they follow my advice and sometimes they don’t.

– You’ve spoken out against over-processing on the master bus where mix engineers will either over-compress or use multiband processing to the detriment of the track. Can you elaborate on the kinds of things to avoid with mix buss processing?

I’m not against mix buss processing, but it can become a crutch if someone is trying to copy the sound of another engineer. I’ve seen situations where a mix engineer would’ve been better served by bypassing his mix buss chain and adjusting his levels. I’ve also seen people put ten plugins in a row on their mix bus and it only degraded the sound. Just because a certain mixer uses a technique doesn’t mean someone else will be successful with it. It might have worked for the first engineer’s sound sources, but it won’t with yours even with the same plugins and settings.

– Let’s talk about your use of Weiss products. How did you learn about us and what appealed to you about our gear once you started using it?

I heard about Daniel Weiss when he was still making gear for Harmonia Mundi Acustica in the 90s, and I started using Weiss gear about twelve years ago. My first unit was a second-hand EQ1-MK2, and I was blown away by the sound. It quickly became one of my go-to tools and I currently have the EQ1-DYN-LP model.

One thing that drew me to Weiss’ gear was that it’s tactile. The EQ1 has seven frequency bands and provides a knob for each one, so I didn’t need to open menus to make boosts or cuts. I could also make adjustments in 0.1 db increments on a hardware unit, and that was very uncommon in the 90s and early 2000s. Secondly, the quality was outstanding and you could hear how well-designed the equipment was; most digital EQs didn’t sound great at the time but the EQ1 was an exception. It was clean and clear, whereas its competitors sounded less so. We take it for granted today because plugin EQs have progressed so far, but transparency was hard to achieve in the back then and Weiss raised the bar for that. The company was ahead of its time, and I see myself still using your gear for years to come.

– Thanks for the kind words. What Weiss units have been a regular part of your chain?

I actually have three EQ1s and two DS1-MK3s, mainly for redundancy. I don’t want to get stuck if one of them breaks and has to be sent to repairs. I also have the Saracon, which is a software format converter that lets you batch process files in a quick manner. There’s been times when clients sent me weird file formats, and I wouldn’t have been able to convert them without Saracon. I once received files with a bit depth of 64 bits and I couldn’t open them in Pro Tools, so converting it with Saracon was a life-saver.

– You once said in an interview that the Weiss DS1 is one of the most-used mastering tools of the last two decades. How did you know that?

For years, the DS1 was a unit that many mastering studios used, whether as a limiter or de-esser. Back in the early 2000s, you’d typically see three de-essers everywhere: the DS1, the Maselec MDS-2 and TC Electronic System 6000. I can’t prove it for a fact, but from my experience I’d say it was the most used de-esser in the mastering industry 10 – 20 years ago.

– You’ve spoken very highly of the Weiss plugins created by Softube, but you seem to prefer the hardware. Why don’t you use the plugins since they have the same algorithms?

My studio is an ecosystem that includes clocks, converters and other units built up over many years. As much as the Softube plugins sound great, they wouldn’t slot into that system without me having to change my workflow, thus changing the equation of my sound. Even if the Softube plugins have the same algorithm as the original gear, the hardware units are located in a specific part of my chain that I can’t replace with software. But nonetheless, the plugins are great tools.

– There’s a promo video for a mastering class you did some years back where you demonstrate using the DS1-MK3. In the video, you said that the track would be better served if you processed it digitally. Why was that?

The video you’re referring to is quite old, but the reason I chose to stay digital was because of my converters and gear chain at the time. If I was mastering the same track today with a bigger arsenal of converters and custom gear, analog might have worked better. Back when I did the video, I didn’t have the flexibility to combine different converters with other gear, so going digital spared me from having to convert anything at all.

– Wrapping up, could you mention a few albums that Weiss gear has been used on?

– Wrapping up, could you mention a few albums that Weiss gear has been used on?

The EQ1 has been used on almost everything, from Faith No More’s “Sol Invictus” to the deluxe Band Edition of “We Care A Lot“. It was also used on Meatloaf’s “Braver Than We Are” as well as Yes’ “Heaven & Earth“ and “Yes 50 Live“. Rob Halford’s “Made of Metal” and Dream Theater’s “Holiday Spirit Carries On” also feature it, and other instances include Fates Warning’s “Darkness In A Different Light”, Voivoid’s “Synchro Anarchy“, Cynic’s “Kindly Bent To Free Us“, Sepultura “Kairos” and Sacred Reich’s “Awakening“.

– Thanks for talking to us Maor. It’s been great to hear about your background and use of Weiss gear. Are there any future products you think we should consider developing?

A hardware multiband compressor that has similar features to a plugin would be great. I know the DS1 can used as a dual-band compressor, but a dedicated multi-band from Weiss would be amazing. Alternatively, I’d love to see if you could develop digital saturation that sounds amazing.

– Thanks for talking to us Maor. It’s been great to hear about your background and use of Weiss gear. Are there any future products you think we should consider developing?

EQ1

“The EQ1 is the best-sounding digital EQ I have ever worked with. It’s so clear, naturally detailed, and easy to operate – no wonder it is so highly regarded.”
– Maor Appelbaum