Your Song is Mixed.
You want the best audio mastering possible
to make it stand out.
I am listening.
Audio Mastering . Mixing .
Stems Mastering . Restoration .
CD/DDP - Streaming - MFiT - Vinyl
Stephen has forged a career enabling emerging artists to achieve their musical vision. Experience across many musical genres has sharpened a unique skill set focused on mastering and music production.
Having begun engineering for the love of recording live bands, Stephen honed extra skills as a studio audio engineer at Umbrella Sound in Toronto beginning in 2001. He absorbed all mastering duties at that facility after the departure of mastering legend João Carvalho in 2002.
By 2005 Stephen left Umbrella to focus on engineering/drumming with the band Elliott BROOD, who have since garnered a Polaris Prize Shortlist, Gemini Award Nomination and 5 Juno Award Nominations (one win).
Modest Heights Music was formed in 2012 upon moving to Hamilton and establishing a newly equipped treated room under the modest height of Hamilton “mountain”.
In 2015 Stephen was selected to participate in a mastering academy at iZotope HQ under the direction of Jonathan Wyner (president; Audio Engineering Society 2021). The eight participants traded ideas on mastering and gave feedback to the software development team during the creation of Ozone 7 (mastering software) and RX6 (noise reduction software).
In 2020 Stephen made an analytical presentation to the AES Toronto chapter featuring his comparisons of software vs hardware versions of EQ, compression and tape emulation. He is currently finsishing an independent study of mastering for vinyl vs final product, comparing the methods of lacquer and direct metal mastering (DMM).
A/B EXAMPLES
Compare these original mixes with my masters
"Mastering is my great opportunity to help people realize the sonic potential of their work.
Every mix is different and I get great joy in discovering what I can do to make each one sound incrementally better than when I receive it. Compilations are a welcome challenge”.
Monitors:
Focale Twin6 BE, Evolution Audio MMMicroOne, KRK V8 Series 2, Avantone Mix Cube
Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, Shure SE535 IEM headphones
Hardware:
UAD Apollo 8P
UAD Apollo x8
UAD Apollo twin MKII
UAD Satellite Quad
API A2D dual channel preamp
AEA RPQ3 dual channel preamp
Chandler Channel TG1 w passive EQ (2x)
Drawmer MC3.1 Active Monitor Controller
Drawmer 1970 2 ch preamp/compressor
Empirical Labs Distressor EL8-x (2x)
Furman HDS-6 Headphone Distribution System
Furman M-8Dx power conditioner (2x)
Lexicon LX200 reverb
Schitt Magni Headphone Amplifier
Assorted additional preamps,compressors, gates, EQs, mics
Software:
Wavelab 11, Protools 2023.12, RX7 noise reduction, Melodyne 5, Autotune Realtime, Room EQ Wizard, FAB, iZotope, UAD, Plugin Alliance, Waves, Soundtoys, Klanghelm, Acustica, Pulsar, oeksound
Modest Heights employs the latest conventions in mastering for CD, streaming and vinyl.
More than anything the FOCUS is on making YOUR MUSIC sound as GREAT as possible !
