Maor Appelbaum (Faith No More, Limp Bizkit, Yes)

With a background as a staff engineer for the renowned record producer Sylvia Massy Shivy at Radiostar Studios, the mastering engineer and musician Maor Appelbaum is now the owner of Maor Appelbaum Mastering in Los Angeles. His discography spans more than 500 releases and thousands of songs, including music by Limp Bizkit, Yes, Rob Halford, Faith No More, Sepultura, and Yngwie Malmsteen, to name just a few.

Tell us how you view the role of the mastering engineer in the chain of experts (producer, mixer, mastering) that typically work on a song before it's released.

Mastering is the final creative and technical part of the production chain that brings an objective ear and a new perspective to the song or collection of songs, album, or soundtrack. The mastering engineer can listen to the song fresh, unbiased, and optimize it.

As a mastering engineer, I can hear the music in a different mindset and enhance it, clean it up and add color as needed. I can also put more or take out the low end, high end, or mid-range, and boost and clean in specific areas to give it a better presentation.

And then there is the need to make the music fit for the different listening systems and formats. So, in this way, It's one more step that lets us refine the sound of the song and allows the listener to connect and engage with the music.

What equipment are you gravitating towards in your mastering process?

In my studio, I use a hybrid combination of equipment from analog and digital, including custom-built hardware and modified gear that has been designed for me. I really like the challenge of finding the right tone for the song.

I audition the different gear from the selection I have for optimal performance. Certain things fit certain songs, so there's never just one way to go. There are so many options to take the sound in different directions. So you find the one that fits the vibe of the song.

The challenge is always to find the gear that makes the song sound more organic and cohesive with whatever the producer or mixer's intention and vision for it is. That could be warming it up, saturating it, deepening it, making it more punchy, tighter, more bright, more immediate, or upfront. A combination of gear will help achieve this.

What are some of the more common issues you detect in a mix that comes from an independent artist or producer as opposed to what you might come across working with the major label releases?

Nowadays, you get great mixes from both indies and majors. There are times where there are issues with the sound. It can also happen with signed artists. In some cases, you can hear there is a problem with the subs or it’s too bright or issues that come from acoustic problems in the room or from over-processing.

Maybe there were reflections in the room, or too much low end or low mids.

Sometimes producers don't hear all the levels right as their speakers are limited in their range, or people work for too long in an environment that is fatiguing.

Generally, the more that people are experienced with dealing with these issues, the better they can do the mix. But sometimes it's apparent that their room (acoustic space) is compromising the quality of their work.