The Sound-O-Mat, located in Portland, Oregon, is a post-production audio and video studio that has been in operation since 1998. A wide variety of services are offeredsee our Web site for what services we offer. And feel free to ask questions and submit posts!

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Q & A: How Do You Work With Clients?

Q: How Do You Work With a Client?

A: Almost all of the projects we’re worked on have been done like this:

• First, simply discussing, in person, over the phone, or best by email (so we can print it out and refer to it) about what the artist is hoping to get, what they would like improved, etc.

• Next, we then get CD/DVD masters or download WAV/AIFF/etc. files, and start working based on that discussion, calling/emailing any time we feel we’re not on the right track.

• In the end, we produce at least three masters that the artist can pick their favorite of to release:

1. First is a “pre-mastering” version that has all the work mixing, EQ’ing, filtering, correcting DC Offset Bias (always) and normalize.
2. The second (or more) are a mastered copy done to try to get exactly what the artist is looking for, or better.
3. The last master is “on the house” - if we think there’s a better way to do the post-production and mastering, we do it the way we think it would sound best.

Since we’re Music Sluts and listen to everything (2000+ LPs and 6000+ CDs in the studio) we’re most often than not “spot-on” with our version. It’s not what the artist was thinking, but having us give a different perspective, 95% of the time they end up using our own “this is what we think would sound best” bonus master.

And that makes us happy!

Q & A: Who Are Our Clients?

Q: Who Are Your Clients?

A: All of our Business Comes from One of the Following:

• Working with a friend or acquaintance

• A reference from one of the above, friend-of-a-friend

• Musicians who read our credits on an LP/CD they thing sounds great

• Musicians who have hearing-loss and/or trust “another set of ears” will help

• Label owners we’ve worked with and know our work is excellent

• Artists who have past release(s) on a label and know we do top-notch work

Unfortunately we have only received credit on about 1/3rd of the LPs/CDs/DVDs that have been released.

We’re being very particular about this, since about 1/3rd of our work comes from someone reading that we worked on a project that they think sounds simply amazing,  and contact us about what they’d like done. And we work hard to live up to those high expectations.

We’ve found that business cards are necessary but useless, and have never generated a job. Still, a must to have and give out.

So if you’re reading this, and considering having us work with you, please drop us a line!

The Sound-O-Mat Grand Re-Opening!

Welcome to our Grand Re-Opening!

The Sound-O-Mat, located in Portland, Oregon, is an audio and video mixing, production, post-production & mastering studio.

Our specialties include:

• Post-Production and Mastering of CD/DVDs before professional duplication. We always provide three+ masters for you to choose your favorite from.

• Mixing and Producing for recorded tracks where another perspective is useful, esp. for those without pro monitors/headphones doing “home recording” and/or musicians with hearing loss.

• CD/DVD Authoring for professional duplication to ISO standards, including disc artwork design, layout, and mock-ups using any templates provided by your duplication house of choice (in Portland, we use NW Media.)

• Info, photos, parts, and repair of “analog tape echo” effects, specializing in (Tape/Space/Chorus) Roland Space Echoes.

• Live Sound Engineering and Recording, including a dozen mics specifically chosen to produce the best results from recording live performances. We don’t sit behind the sound desk; we walk about to make sure you sound good everywhere in a club.

Note: We are not a recording studio, but can arrange to record at other studios, set-ups for special projects, and live recordings.

We are very open-minded & flexible, and willing to work in different ways. Please see our philosophy page to see why we think you’d love working with us!

Testing Testing, One, Two, Three

Just once during a sound-check for a live show, we wish whomever does the mic check will recite poetry, or freestyle it, or hell, song lyrics? Nope. Just “Test, TEST, test” and “Testing, One, Two, Three, Testing.” Really, it’s a test? We get it. Entertain us instead, please?

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Oh, wait… we just did it ourselves. DOH!