Using AI for mastering?
Tobias Fischer is your host for the Behind the Beat Podcast. Each episode features one of the most exciting producers of our time for an in-depth exchange. This episode is all about Enyang Urbiks, who, in her Berlin mastering studio, is celebrating the art of precise listening.
For our interview, Enyang has invited me to the Urbiks Studio, a wood-panelled oasis located in Berlin‘s Funkhaus complex.The equipment used here was originally designed for renowned colleague Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto) and Enyang and her partner Jan have embedded it in the stunning, elegant elements of Belgian company Northward Systems. While Enyang prepares a wonderful tea in the kitchen, I set up my equipment in the intense calm of the control room - it‘s easy to imagine spending many hours here in total concentration. In doing exactly that, she has built up a remarkably diverse portfolio of releases from a wide range of musical styles.
For Enyang, mastering is all about creating a certain stability, the feeling that every element of the mix is vibrating at exactly the right frequency. This may sound esoteric, but it is rooted in a long, daily, and most importantly hands-on practice. She learnt her craft through countless hours and mastering sessions in Japan, where she got a job in a studio almost overnight. The hard work has paid off and today artists from many different genres rely on her taste, feel and, above all, her empathy.These include, for example, Venezuelan sound artist Arca, whose legendary „Kick“trilogy Enyang mastered.
Many of her clients return for follow-up projects - despite the fact that AI now offers perfectly usable results at a much lower cost.The reason is simple: good mastering is neither black magic, nor can it ever be treated like any other job. It is a collaborative process that teases out the universal resonances and inner beauty from a deeply personal product.