AlgoRhythms Mastering
(212-517-8177)
AlgoRhythms Mastering
(212-517-8177)
About Us
Welcome to AlgoRhythms Mastering!
We are New Mexico's Premier full service digital audio mastering facility for the discriminating musician and producer.
We are 100% dedicated to music mastering and tape restoration/transfers. We don’t record, mix, do video, film, or voiceover work.
Music mastering is what we do, and it’s the only thing we do. If you want the most experienced and professional finishing touches for your project, you want someone recognized for excellence. That’s Michael MacDonald at AlgoRhythms Mastering.
With more than thirty-five years of experience operating in New York City, AlgoRhythms moved to Santa Fe, NM in 2016. We have mastered more than a twelve hundred commercially released recordings in all genres of music from all over the world.
AlgoRhythms Mastering is the only Certified Apple Digital Masters mastering facility in New Mexico.
Please look around and feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding our work, or how we might add your name to our growing list of satisfied clients.
algorhythmsmastering.com
(212) 517-8177
Michael MacDonald, owner and chief mastering engineer, is a two time Grammy winning recording/mix/mastering engineer. He was named "Best Mastering Engineer 2018 and 2022" by the New Mexico Music Awards.
In addition to his Mastering work, he was the Senior Instructor for Recording Arts and Sciences at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, retiring in 2020.
State of the Art Digital
Prism ADA-8XR
Prism AD-2
Weiss DS-1 mk3
Weiss Saracon Resampling
UAD complete plug in library
Vintage Analog Gear
Ampex ATR 102
Ampex MX10/Neve 1264 line mixer
Studer B67 mkII and Revox A700, A77mkIV
Gates Sta-Level
Teletronics LA-2a
Neve 31102
Telefunken V72a
Spectra Sonics 101 line/mic amps
AKG BX-20
AlgoRhythms/Western Electric CIA custom Inductor amplifier
AlgoRhythms/Western Electric 101a passive inductor network
Services
Full service mastering in all musical genres, specializing in Jazz, Rock and Acoustic music. We also specialize in analog tape transfer using Ampex, Studer and Revox tape machines.
Certified Apple Digital Masters (ADM) studio maximizes your Apple iTunes release as well as Spotify, Napster, YouTube and other streaming services.
We embrace the R128 measurement systems, including LUFS scale and True Peak, which are optimized for the highest fidelity and dynamic range for 21st century streaming delivery systems.
Room and Monitors
Our carefully controlled listening environment was designed by Fran Manzella of FM Design Ltd.
Our main monitors are Dunlavy SC4a loudspeakers powered with Aesthetix Atlas amplifiers. To keep the purest signal path possible we use no active preamp. Instead, volume levels are controlled by a Placette passive attenuator system and interconnect wires are custom designed by Ambient Labs.
Our secondary system is a work in progress: McIntosh 225 tube amplifier and a pair of JBL 4311 monitors. This vintage 3 way speaker system, with original Alnico drivers, has been carefully restored and was a studio favorite in the late 1960's and '70s.
Rates
Our rates are competitive with our esteemed competition. But our results and attention to detail is unrivaled.
Please tell us about your project and we will design a mastering budget that fits.
Equipment List
Magix Sequoia Mastering Workstation 192/64 bit x2
UAD-2 Octo with complete UAD plug in library
Lynx AES16e digital audio pci card x2
RME HDSP-9652 digital audio pci card
Weiss Saracon resampling software
Plug Ins from UAD, Waves, SoundToys, Nugen, Sonex, DMG Audio, Sonarworks, and others
too numerous to list.
MetricHalo SpectroFoo Complete metering FFT system.
a/d and d/a
Prism ADA-8XR 192/24 ADC/DAC
Prism AD2 96/24 ADC
Lynx Aurora 16-VT
Crane Song Avocette 192/24
Benchmark DAC1 192/24
Lucid Technologies Clock-X8 Word Clock distribution amp
M Audio CO3 Digital Format Converters
Digital Domain FCN-1 Digital Format Converter w/ bit scope monitor
AlgoRhythms/Lundahl AES / SPDIF Format Converters
outboard digital processing & midi
Weiss DS1-MK3 digital compressor / limiter
Waves L2 UltraMaximizer digital limiter
Mcintosh MB20 Bluetooth transmitter
Meridian 518 DSP processor
MOTU Midi Time Piece AV
outboard analog processing
Custom Ampex MX10 vacuum tube mixer with Neve 1264 line amps
Manley 16x2 vacuum tube Mixer
Manley Massive Passive Stereo Program EQ
Gyraf Audio G-24 Passive Cadmium Compressor
Maselec MPL-2 Peak Limiter/ DeEsser
Teletronix LA2a Vacuum Tube Compressor/Limiter
Gates Sta-Level Vacuum Tube Compressor
Klark Tecknik DN-780 reverb
Eventide SP2016
AKG BX-20 Reverb
API 5500 Mastering EQ
Western Electric REP 101a transformer network (these 100 year old line
transformers are terminated and wired with same age WE solid core wire
and WE lab precision resistors. This "old school" set up sounds absolutely amazing!)
Altec/Peerless Hi Frequency Passive EQ
with Spectra Sonics 101 line/mic amplifiers from the Record Plant East console
AlgoRhythms/Western Electric/UTC Custom Passive Transformer M/S network
AlgoRhythms/Western Electric CIA 111 (Custom Inductive Amplifier)
Telefunken V72a line amplifiers
Neve 31102 Mic/Line Preamp Equalizers
Neve 1024 line amplifiers
FunkLogic AP-302 AlgoRhythmic Prosecutor
Dolby 361 A noise reduction
Dolby SR noise reduction
dbx 180 series 1
dbx K9 noise reduction
monitors
Dunlavy SC 4a
Dunlavy SC-1
JBL LE-8T single driver full range speakers (AlNiCo version)
JBL 4311wxa classic studio monitors
Acoustic Research AR18
Aesthetix Atlas monoblock amplifiers
McCormack DNA-1 monoblock amplifiers custom modified by Steve McCormack
Placette Audio Passive Attenuator Monitor Control
Dorrough Loudness Meters (mastering scale)
Vintage API Console VU meters
Ferrum HYPSOS/OOR Headphone Amplifier
Sennheiser HP600 headphones
Grado PS2000e Headphones
Radio Shack "Auratone" type cube speakers
Tivoli Model Two Stereo FM radio
analog tape recorders
Ampex ATR 102 1" 1/2" or 1/4" 2-Track (rebuilt by ATR Services)
with Flux Magnetic extended response heads stereo)
Studer B67 1/4" 2 -Track (rebuilt and modified by John Klett)
"butterfly" heads, NAB and CCIR 30 and 15 ips custom rebuilt motors,
ceramic capstan, external Lambda 24v p/s for analog cards
Studer B67 1/4" Quarter Track playback deck for those old home recorded and semi-pro tapes 3.75, 7.5, 15 ips
Revox A700 1/4" Quarter Track and 2-Track CCIR NAB 3.75, 7.5, 15 ips
Revox A77 MKIV quarter track 7.5, 3.75 ips
Revox B215 Cassette Recorder
dat and cd recorders/players
Tascam DA78HR DTRS 8 track 24 bit recorder
Tascam DA45HR 24 bit DAT recorder
Tascam DA30 ll 16 bit DAT recorder
Tascam CD-RW2000 CD recorder/player
Sony CDP-D500 CD player
Tascam CD-D4000 CD duplicator
Sony PCM F-1 w/ Sony 410 Beta Deck
Sony PCM 501 digital audio processor
lp vinyl playback
Marantz TT15S1 turntable
McIntosh C2700 vacuum tube preamp
CD disc checkers
Plextor Professional CD diagnosis software for checking C1, C2, and CU disc errors
NERO SurfaceScan CD error check software
miscellaneous
Z Systems 32x 32 Digital Patchbay w/ midi automation
Signex Smartpatch 40x40 analog patchbay w/ midi automation
Leader 60mHz dual trace scope
Separate AC circuits for analog and digital/computer equipment
Equi=Tec Balanced AC power conditioning for all analog equipment
Tripplite UPS Battery back-up power supplies for computers
Custom Bucking Transformers 120v/115v AC for vintage equipment
Digital Cables:
Belden Media Twist Hi Speed / Hi Bandwidth cable. Apogee Wide Eye AES/EBU and S/PDIF
Analog cables:
Goertz Alpha Core silver speaker wire
Ambient Labs Music Wire custom XLR and RCA wiring
FM radio transmitter broadcasts output to Tivoli Model Two Stereo FM radio for "ON AIR" check
Sprouts of Santa Fe Coffee, fresh brewed and strong
News
We've recently added some new equipment:
After two decades of peerless service, I've retired the McCormack SMc DNA-1 monoblock amps, replacing them with Aesthetic Atlas monoblocks. This is a tube/hybrid hi-power design that significantly upgrades the main monitor chain and is THE best amp I've ever heard with the Dunlavy SC-4 monitors.
Grado PS2000e Headphones and the Ferrum HYPSOS/OOR Headphone Amplifier/Power Supply. This is a substantial upgrade to the headphone monitor system previously used.
Due to the tremendous increase in requests for vinyl mastering, we've also added a Marantz TT 15S1 turntable to replace our faithful but old SOTA Comet. The Comet was great but Marantz is a significant improvement for critical vinyl lacquer master auditions and playback. in addition to the Marantz TT, we ugraded to a Mcintosh C2700 vacuum tube phono preamp. These two items provide an all analog,, extraordinary LP playback experience.
We had our Ampex ATR 102 analog tape recorder completely rebuilt by ATR Services. Several modifications helpful in mastering were added in addition to the regular rebuild. We can confidently say that this machine now exceeded the original factory specs and is sounding absolutely outstanding. This is the analog tape sound at its apogee.
Last year we rebuilt our Studer B67 recorders. These are fantastic sounding machines and in my opinion are superior sounding to the more known A80 series. You owe it to yourself to hear 15ips record/playback using a B67 set up with CCIR EQ curves. This is THE sound of Rock'n Roll!
We also refurbished our collection of analog tape noise reduction systems, including Dolby A, Dolby SR and dbx. We are the only facility in New Mexico that offers full service record and playback of 1/2" 1/4" widths, all tape speeds and head formats as well as complete noise reduction decoding. And of course we can bake tapes!
We've added a Prism ADA-8XR 8 channel analog digital/digital to analog converter, significantly upgrading our analog insert and monitor path. Stay tuned for an announcement for our new audio computer workstation.
Congratulations to Leslie Pintchik and Scott Hardy on having their original music chosen for the soundtrack of Orson Wells's recently discovered movie "The Other Side of the Wind". Michael MacDonald recorded, mixed and mastered this material at Ambient Recording Studios and AlgoRhythms Mastering.
Professional Tips and Advice
Save $100 at your next mastering session.
Here's how to save at least $100 on your next mastering session.
1. Choose your final mixes before before arriving at your mastering session. Sometimes that may not be possible because you need your mastering engineer's opinion or want to listen to the difference between a digital and an analog mix. But if you narrow your decisions before your session begins, you'll save money by reducing auditioning time, which is billable time.
2. Document your source material and make sure it is correctly formatted. Don't bring in a hard drive with hundreds of files with names like:
01 track-L.aif
01 track-R.aif
02 track-L.wav
02 track-R.wav
03 track-L.bfw
03 track-R.bfw
etc.
Put your final mixes with their proper titles in a separate folder called Final Mixes for Mastering. Be sure that your titles and songs match. Failure to do this requires your mastering engineer to go fishing in order to harvest the correct files. This is a waste of his/her time, which translates into a waste of your money.
3. Make sure you know and you tell your mastering engineer ahead of time what format, sampling rate and bit depth your mixes are in. If you have mixes with different formats and sampling rates, letting your mastering engineer know ahead of time will streamline and shorten the load in process because he/she can optimise their proceedures for maxium efficiency.
4. Don't assume your mastering studio has the same kind of computer or software that you used in the mixing studio. Most Macs can read a ProTools formatted hard drive, but many PCs can't. Ask beforehand.
5. Get your mix files or tapes to the mastering studio a few days before your session. This allows the studio to check and verify, or catch a problem before your session begins. If there is a problem, there's usually enough time to fix it, preventing a missed deadline or you being billed for time that isn't productive.
6. Decide on your song sequence before the mastering session. It's okay to change your mind later, but have a first version sequence to start with. Deciding what order your songs belong in while in mastering just runs the meter unnecessarily.
7. Provide the correct title and spelling of each tune at the beginning of the session. The mastering engineer will only have to enter the proper information once, rather than have to first enter something incomplete or incorrect and then take time to correct it later.
8. Obtain your UPC and ISRC code information before the session. Don't wait until the end of your session to mention you will get them later. If you do, then more time will be needed to create a new master with the information you could have brought to the session at the beginning.
9. Prioritize your problems so your mastering engineer will know how to allocate time to best solve your most important concerns. This will help prevent your session from running over budget because too much time was spent dealing with the trivial matters first.
10. Limit those attending your mastering session to the absolute minium. Each additional person will add at least 30 minuites to your final bill. If your session turns into a "hang", you'll be paying for an expensive party rather than the creative musical finish you had hoped to achieve.
Following these steps will save at least 1 hour of billing time and produce a better final product because your mastering engineer can concentrate on being the creative professional you expect, rather than spending time and money on problems that could have been solved before your session began.
Stay Tuned
More to follow.
More Information
About Me
Why Santa Fe?
Why Santa Fe?
1994 GRAMMY WINNER: McCoy Tyner, Journey, Large Jazz Ensemble
1992 GRAMMY WINNER: McCoy Tyner, The Turning Point, Large Jazz Ensemble
1983 Music soundtrack Recording Engineer for Academy Award winner Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval
2002-2020: Senior Audio Recording Instructor - Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University
1983-
1994 GRAMMY WINNER: McCoy Tyner, Journey, Large Jazz Ensemble
1992 GRAMMY WINNER: McCoy Tyner, The Turning Point, Large Jazz Ensemble
1983 Music soundtrack Recording Engineer for Academy Award winner Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval
2002-2020: Senior Audio Recording Instructor - Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University
1983- Present: Chief Engineer/Owner AlgoRhythms Mastering Studio NYC and Santa Fe, NM
1976 BA – St. John’s College, Santa Fe, NM
Why Santa Fe?
Why Santa Fe?
Why Santa Fe?
I’ve loved Santa Fe since I went to college here. And when I graduated, I promised myself that someday I’d come back to stay. After 30 years of a successful career recording, mixing and mastering in New York City, it was time for a change.
As much as I love New York, I don’t miss the crowded subway commute or the noise. I traded that for
I’ve loved Santa Fe since I went to college here. And when I graduated, I promised myself that someday I’d come back to stay. After 30 years of a successful career recording, mixing and mastering in New York City, it was time for a change.
As much as I love New York, I don’t miss the crowded subway commute or the noise. I traded that for a ten-minute drive to work, where I see snow capped mountains and breathe clean air.
My clients hail from around the world and usually don’t attend sessions; it doesn’t matter to them where I do my work. And I’m delighted to meet new friends and clients from the Southwest who need my mastering skills.
I have to admit that I miss two things from New York City: my old friends and good sushi…delivered!
Honestly, I couldn’t be happier than I am in Santa Fe, providing world class mastering services to the Southwest and fulfilling a long-standing dream.
Download the AlgoRhythms DDP Player
Here are links to download a fully functioning DDP player. You can audition your file set and burn a CD.
To install the AlgoRhythms DDP Player on either Windows or Mac, follow these steps:
- save the appropriate .zip file for your platform to a folder on your hard drive
- extract the zip fil
- run the extracted executable app
The AlgoRhythms DDP Player is now installed. During the first startup you will be asked to enter a key.
Clients can obtain this key by emailing a request. Once installed you will not need it again.
Listen to your music, check logs, ISRC, UPC/EAN, and meta data for errors and burn a fully functioning CD.
You can use this software for any DDP files you receive in the future, even ones from another places. And its free!