Strictly Analog Mastering - CD VINYL MP3 ONLINE

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:30 +0200

WEBFLYER 2009

[english] MAINFRAME MASTERING is an audiophile mastering + production studio in Frankfurt City, Germany, established by producer / engineer Frank Marheineke aka MAINFRAME. We offer HI-END ANALOG MASTERING, mix-engineering, audio-restoration and recording services at surprisingly low rates. We commit ourselfes to give you the best experience in sound you ever imagined! Try our online service - it's tremendously sounding, reliable, personal, with very fast turn-around times and guaranteed to your satisfaction. If you like your sound to be fat, punchy, warm, deep, crisp and loud, our service is definitely for you. Call +49-069-95956990 or email for a prompt appointment. [prices/rates]

[deutsch] MAINFRAME MASTERING ist ein audiophiles Mastering und Produktions Tonstudio im Herzen Frankfurts am Main, gegründet von Musikproduzent und Toningenieur Frank Marheineke, alias MAINFRAME. Wir bieten professionelles ANALOGES MASTERING, Hi-End Tonbearbeitung, Audio-Mischung, Ton-Restauration und Mikrophon-Aufnahmen zum erstaunlich niedrigen Preis! Das Beste aus Ihren Aufnahmen und Darbietungen zu holen ist unser wichtigstes Ziel, deshalb haben wir uns dazu verschrieben Ihnen die beste Sound-Erfahrung anbieten zu können, die technisch und künstlerisch machbar ist. Probieren Sie unseren Service aus - das Ergebnis klingt Erstaunlich, unser Service ist zuverlässig, persönlich und schnell. Wenn Sie Ihren SOUND fett, ausdrucksstark, warm, knackig, musikalisch, laut, 3-dimensional und detailliert mögen, dann ist unser Service für Sie! Für Informationen und schnelle Termine rufen Sie 069-95956990 an oder einfach per email. [preisliste]

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Studio Slideshow 2009

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:19:00 +0200

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THE PHOENIX tube master compressor

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:29 +0100

THE PHOENIX TUBE MASTER COMPRESSOR

The british THERMIONIC CULTURE PHOENIX MASTERING COMPRESSOR with SIDECHAIN filters resides in my studio ! I am considering this machine as being the funkiest and best sounding vari-mu style (think Fairchild) compressor ever build. With it's extended attack and release times and a 3 way sidechain filter this beast not only offers all one can wish for functionaluity-wise, but also it's incredible transparent and crisp sound makes it a perfect addition to my mastering chain for all styles of music. The input gain stage can be driven to get that harmonically rich saturated sound and the threshold can be set to give just that glue and goo to the sound that is needed. Even only as a tube amplifier with no further compression it makes sense at times when the signal has already perfect dynamics - just ride the gain and enjoy the hot glowing tubes doing their part. The compression itself works so natural and transparent that most of the time no further limiting is needed to get the hottest signal ever, and that is just fine as people realise that limiting is actually killing sound. The unit is connected all the way with VOVOX cabling, even the power line - and the sound gets even smoother and more open. Many thanx to THERMIONIC CULTURE and to VOVOX for letting me have such a nice combo ! link

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OYAIDE BLACKMAMBA power-cable

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:06:43 +0100

OYAIDE_POWERCABLE

At the Musikmesse i got to know Mr. Kenji Takechi from OYAIDE ELEC, Inc., a high-grade audio cable manufacturer from Japan. He kindly sent me their new finger-thick power-cable BLACKMAMBA. Here's my observation notes, 2 independent runs ABX, replacing a standard IEC cable: # Summit Audio EQP200-B : The sound is very dynamic, less stressed and less condensed/squeezed. It sounds relaxed and noble, the mids are very transparent, the highs smooth and clean, bass is deep, dimensionality (width and depth) increased. # Millennia NSEQ-2 / discrete mode : The sound is solid and stable, assertive, compact. The lower mids appear lighter and the upper mids stronger, bass is round and broad, highs are shimmery, the overall bandwith seems increased. # RME Fireface800 : The sound is fast, attacks articulated, direct. The upper mids seem accentuated and the overall impression is extremly tight with an increased bandwidth, even though the dimensionality has not changed here. # Thermionic Culture Phoenix (replacing the Vovox power cable) : Comparing it with it's contender, this one is the toughest to detect. I find that spectrum, dynamic and depth are very similar, while the Oyaide sounds a tad cleaner and and the vovox a little more straight forward. This could be caused by how much distortion there is left in the power distribution or simply by cable-design. I can't decide wich one i like better, but one as an engineer is at least left with an option ;) - Although all differences i experience are in a certain felt range of ca. 5-10%, this small changes can make a very reasonable difference. After one more day of observation i'd really like to have all the rest of my regular power cables replaced with high-grade ones as there certainly is an advantage and gain in sound. Power cables are having a bit different effect on diverse units depending on the gear construction and function, but you can say there is a quality in sound that is evident on all tested units: for OYAIDE that's clean, transparent, solid and noble. I think that's great to get yet more sound out of your hardware: converters and interfaces, that's where i like it applied the most by now ! OYAIDE NEO

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We talk club'n'rock

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:26:08 +0100

WE NEED MO' BASS

When it comes to MASTERING it might be the first and most important step for the artist or label to be finding the right engineer for the job. As product manager and label owner myself i was often selecting the mastering house on the music style i thought they can do best - and that was often a complex choice. Then i got dragged deep into professional mastering myself, attending all sessions, organizing the best vinyl cuts and pressing plants, watching, learning - and finally working as a freelance engineer myself! Now, almost 10 years later, having developed my own studio to a state-of-the-art audiophile analog mastering facility, most of the time i'm mastering and producing club music, like drum&bass, house, nu-jazz, dub, electronica and hiphop, but i find myself more often doing jobs for the more acoustic oriented styles of jazz, folk and rock music. My personal goal is to put the bass back in music and still have a crisp topend and defined mids - you can't do that well with digital code, in the end digital limiting is the death blow - hence my favour for the best analog gear available. I’m constantly experimenting with various hardware and signal/power/digital-cables for a coherent, complementing system and am happy to have assembled some incredibly sounding analog gear as my mastering chain to fit my very demanding criteria of sound that is transparent, detailed & punchy but also warm, organic, 3D’ish & loud ! myspace

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MAINFRAME gets VOVOX Purum certification

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:49:19 +0100

VOVOX PURUM CERT

MAINFRAME MASTERING got officially announced as member of the VOVOX PURUM scroll, a label provided to those studios attaining the highest standard of sound transmission using exclusively and consequently VOVOX SOUND CONDUCTORS. It was very unexpected to me to receive this honor, but proud to present it within this photograph. VOVOX is a specialized brand in producing sound conductors / cables at a new, almost esoteric level of approach and claim. so, i must say, they have succeded. This is not your ordinary cable, but an ultra transparent transmitter of signals in between the signal chain, and not only that but providing the same technology to the adapt of digital and power cables. After weeks of extensively testing these entities i came to believe that these are far superior to any other brand i was using before. And no, i'm not getting paid for this, it cost me an awfull lot of money... but very worth it! link

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230V pure green electricity - we are powered

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:49:09 +0100

"Ich bin gerad aufgewacht, hab meine Augen aufgemacht , Für einen ersten Schritt ist es nie zu spät , ich habe angefangen, ich hab jetzt Ökostrom, Ich will mein Leben, weil es sonst ein andrer lebt, Es ist nie zu spät ..." the encouraging text of MIA's song ÖKOSTROM is one of many possible expressions of small things we can do to change life for a better. MAINFRAME MASTERING is now powered by a greenpeace recommended provider/producer of green electricity - meaning NO NUCLEAR POWER, insignificant CO2 EMISSIONS and based on 100%RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES. Don't fall for the RECS certificate swindle - please join this movement and get real... what else can you do ? atomausstieg-selber-machen wiki

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MILLENNIA NSEQ-2 Class-A equalizer

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:51:43 +0200

MILLENNIA_NSEQ-2

Time for a change, time for new millennia ! The supreme class-a discrete/vacuum tube program equalizer MILLENNIA NSEQ-2 has arrived at my studio to complement the SUMMIT PASSIVE EQP-200B. The so called "twin topology" unit got tubes, but where it really shines is its discrete operational mode. build like a tank to survive every coming new age mastering war, ehm... trend, there's a reason this one has found home in many world-class mastering studios, and that's ( - artificial pause - ) it's SOUND ! Yep, cat's out of the bag ;)) This is a straight "no color" unit, unbelievable transparent and clean but than delivering the biggest bottom, the smoothest angel like hi-end and super solid mids. I needed to change the internal jumper settings of the LAVRY DA10's output to unbalanced (pin2 hot) to match the input section of the NSEQ-2 wich was running pretty hot soundwise - but then... this unit IS running hot - like an atomic pile! link

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DAN LAVRY DA10 - hands-on D/A shootout

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:28:51 +0200

D/A shootout

Well, it's been an intense week shooting out the winners of another D/A-converter pre-selection shootout by Mr. Guido Apke. on my table are the newly build DANGEROUS MUSIC DAC-ST converter by Chris Muth, the USB version of my beloved BENCHMARK DAC1 and the latest from DAN LAVRY, the LAVRYBLACK DA10. To my surprise the candidates do come with their own distinct character in sound, even when they all claim to be perfectly neutral by measurement. the DANGEROUS DAC-ST imparts a fantastic clear, dynamic sound while somewhat attenuateing the upper mid-range and cleaning-up the lower mids; this is really excellent for all sorts of brass and metal build instruments with a big WOW! factor, on the downside it can also bring up some sibilance and edginess in vocals. I love the BENCHMARK DAC1 for it's punch and felt neutrality on the almost every style of music. The LAVRY is excellent in sounding deep, wide and warm, the upper midrange sounds very smooth and clean due to less electronic induced distortion. The unit's just a BIG pleasure to listen thru - packed with a feature set you won't miss (switchable mono/stereo, polarity, 1db stepped level) the LAVRYBLACK DA10 definately stays in my studio for fully featured D/A conversion duties ! link

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Testimonials

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:07:14 +0200

[i just started collecting recent comments from my clients - more content is coming! i know, i know, should've done this earlier already ;) ]

[..] "chris hat mir gestern die ersten sechs songs unseres neuen albums mitgebracht, die du gemastert hast. als produzent, engineer, sänger, gitarrist, keyboarder und accidently auch noch drummer der scheibe konnte ich die sachen echt nicht mehr hören... ...aber jetzt klingt das ganze ja nach... ...HOLY SHIT - klingt das G-E-I-L!! - hatte gerade echt spaß an dem zeug! das musste ich nur mal loswerden :-)" - Stefan Wendling, Skullboogey

[..] "..du bist echt ein wissenschaftler ;-) dein soundfile klingt wirklich sehr gut (auch wenn ich's nur über meine kopfhörer testen kann) - auf jeden fall macht's einen unterschied! ich danke dir aufrichtig für deinen einsatz. wenn du tracks wirklich schon durch dein setup durchgejagt hast, dann mach hin!!!! wie kann ich das denn wieder gut machen?!?!´danke auch für alle korrekturen, jetzt ist die sache rund!!! " - Lars Bartkuhn

[..] "Fett ists geworden. Habs mal über 3 Anlagen im Laden gehört... Was mir sehr gut gefällt - Ich hab meinen Hallraum noch nie so genau gehört nach dem Mastern !! Kommt wohl durch die analogen Sachen. Bei digitalen Masterings geht der Raum irgendwie immer drauf. Geil ! Der Bassbereich ist auch sehr gut. Schön straff - genau wie de oberen Frequenzen. Nerven nicht und vor allem am Ende, wenn der etwas aufdringlichere Bass noch dazu kommt hatte ich etwas Schiss, das da die Mitten nerven könnten. Is aber nich ! Die Höhen sind auch sehr schön angehoben und nerven noch nicht mal über ne RCF PA. Das will was heissen !" - Shureshotz

[..] "I'm very happy with your mastering ! It souds much better. Thank you for this and I mail you soon for the next song." - Bodylight Soundservice

[..] "...besonders begeistert mich, dass dein master analog und ohne limiter entstanden ist und trotzdem den gleichen pegel hat. zwar sind bei meinem die höhen präsenter, dafür aber auch garstiger. da vertraue ich jetzt deinem ohr. sehr schön. der geht jetzt ohne weiteres so raus, zusammen mit dem kabuki-remix. coole worscht!" Beatkonexion

[..] "i think you did a good job man!:) i found the sound more open with more harmonics...this is nice more kick too,more analog and organic. i was in my studio today and i listened to the tune you mastered...it's really good! so keep doing what you are doing also to the other songs...eheh:) - Mop Mop

[..] "Everyone i have played the master for is happy with it, and says it sounds like a finished record, so i'm happy, too ! being that i can't personally tell anymore... listened to the songs to much" - Tom Freeman

[..] "die cd ist angekommen und auf heavy rotation ;-) der tikiman track ist auch hammer mäßig geworden.. total klasse..." - Philipp Maiburg

[..] "dear frank, thanks for mastering my solo project!" - Raphael Sebbag

[..] "Hallo Frank, vielen Dank für Dein mastering - klingt genau alles richtig so!!!!!!" Scheibenreiter

[..] "Klingt klasse!!!" - Ingo Sänger

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