Mastering engineer Pete Doell (pronounced “Dell”) earned a degree in electronic music composition from the State University of New York at Albany before returning home to Boston, where he banged out the bass with various bands. He soon took up engineering, relocated to Los Angeles, and spent three decades behind the glass at studios such as Capitol and Sunset Sound Factory. Later he segued into mastering and has worked with artists including Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, and, in particular, trumpet titan Miles Davis. He now operates independently from his home studio.
Mix and mastering engineers often collaborate closely. Certainly, it’s always helpful to maintain fluid lines of communication. “When mixers send me their work, I give it the once-over and then tell them if there’s anything they can do that would make it more successful,” Doell explains. “I always want to start with at least a 24-bit file and a lot of clients even send 32-bit. My DAW can play 32-bit files but it can’t export them.”
Technology has made audio engineering tasks faster and more efficient, of course. But Doell often finds that same efficiency can mean that he has less time to work. “Now because there’s no manufacturing delay, people often wait until the last second to give me their files,” he observes. “They paint themselves into a corner because they can. You work so hard on these. Give yourself at least the weekend or even a week for everyone to review it."
“These days I’m all in the box,” he continues. “What I use depends on the style of music. Not everything needs an aggressive limiter. I just mastered a record by [former Wings guitarist] Laurence Juber featuring all-guitar instrumental versions of Beatles songs. He liked the mixes and didn’t want me to do much other than level-match them so that the transitions didn’t sound weird. The limiter can bring low level stuff up in a nice way. If I’m doing metal or rock, I might reach for a Neve limiter; something that has a lot more color.”
Prior to assembling his home mastering room, Doell had worked in a number of expertly configured spaces. What he took from those experiences helped him make decisions about his own setup. “After [former employer] Universal closed, I looked at about ten different studio situations,” he recalls. “They had isolation from their neighbors, but the room acoustics weren’t great. So rather than spend three thousand dollars a month for a room whose sound I didn’t like, I decided to build a place at home.”
Doell’s recent and upcoming projects include a 90-minute classical stream, which will be mixed by Tony Shepperd (Boyz II Men, Sheléa) and the Juber Beatles record. For the past decade he’s hosted the Wednesday LA Audio Lunch Bunch at Barragan’s Mexican Restaurant in Burbank, which is open to all audio adventurers.
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