The music industry landscape has evolved tremendously during the last decade; digital sales have outstripped physical ones, singles sell better than albums, and digitally driven independent music production now leads the market. It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change, we often hear. If major labels see it as a tragedy, at least one small company sees it has an opportunity to embrace change… Quantum-Music is a company that is specialized in making independent musicians sound as good as mainstream artists at a fraction of their budget. Quantum-Music is also known for helping its clients to promote themselves and sell their music in this new era. The founder, Chris Dion, mastering engineer and enthusiastic entrepreneur, discusses with and Entertwine about the current music industry.
Could you tell us a bit about your musical background? What led you to pursue a career in the field of audio mixing and mastering?
Chris: Sound engineers often are old-time musicians that have been forced to recycle themselves because they haven’t been able to breakthrough, but have been around long enough to get sufficient studio experience. I would say this path makes sense for a lot of people.
In my case, it is a completely different story. My father was a world-class live sound engineer, and he had the habit of bringing me to his work. He was also designing speaker. So without being aware of it, my ears were trained since my very young age to become audio engineer. When I started making music as a teenager, although I didn’t master well the music theory, I already knew how things were supposed to sound sonically. I recorded and mixed few demos here and there, and these quickly caught the attention of audience. In other words, I have rather a audio engineering background rather than a musical one.
I guess, the reason I pursue in this field is simply because I was a natural at it, and because it was (and still it) an obsession of mine. I’m always trying pushing the barrier, get a better sound, getting closer and closer to big budget productions with the means I have. Slowly, I’m expanding the studio, reaching always a high level of definition.
What led to the formation of Quantum Music? Could you tell us about day-to-day operations?
Quantum-Music is simply a natural extension of myself. I was mastering records anyways, but I figured out it would be better if I was branding myself. Having a company gives me the opportunity to build something bigger than myself. For now, it’s just myself, but I like the idea of a company that continues to grow even when I’ll not be around anymore.
The day-to-day operation is pretty slick and straightforward. Since I work from home, I don’t waste time commuting. I get up early in the morning; make some coffee and work on records. I work very long hours, but take many coffee breaks to keep my mind sharp and my ears fresh. I also work at crazy low volume, so I love work during the night, while everyone else is sleeping and the city is incredibly quiet.
I also spend a lot of time communicating with my client to offer them the best support I can, which I do on the phone during my pauses. Not only about the job I’m doing for them, but also about how they should commercialize and promote their music.
What is the significance of the company name? Do you have any long-term goals for Quantum Music at the moment?
Few years ago, I followed a coaching program that helps people to become more successful with their businesses. My coach often used the expression “achieving the quantum leap”, referring to the change of electronic state of an electron within the atom. It is commonly use in popular jargon to represent something that is brought to the next level almost instantaneously. Having a master’s degree in Applied Science and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, it just made sense to have a science-related term in the company name. It just made sense because I use a scientific approach in my day-to-day activities.
As for my long-term goals, I always liked the idea of having a huge mastering studio, with impressive racks of equipment with a set of speakers that cost as much as a house. However, since the capital cost to build one is just crazy, I’m simply not there yet. Recently, I had the opportunity to join venture with other bigger names. Together, we would have had something closer to what I had in mind, but I am the one who backed off. I figured out it was just more effective for me to work from home, build my own thing and get a heavy load of work done every day. I love to keep things simple.
On mid-term objectives, I want to develop new product lines. A year ago, we already released a free linear phase EQ (Quantum LPEQ) that we are giving away for free on our website. I’m currently in discussion with two universities to develop new software. With my father, we also want to design high-fidelity speakers. Stay tuned !
What is it like living and working in Montreal, Canada? What are the music scenes of Montreal like?
I simply love Montreal and its lifestyle. It’s one of those paradoxical cities where people are peaceful and zen, but very active and alive at the same time. People here tend to be highly prolific and creative. That’s probably why the arts and multimedia industries are blossoming here. It’s also multicultural and open minded. Everywhere you go, you hear people alternating between French, English and any other languages. I like this life balance, it keeps you grounded and creative.
Regarding the music scene, it’s simply a great city for independent music. Since the big bang that made Arcade Fire at the Grammys, the rest of the world started noticing it, but the truth is that it always has been there. Oliver Jones comes from here. Leonard Cohen is also deeply attached to Montreal. There are also many music festivals that are simply huge such as The International Jazz Festival, Les Francofolies (French-speaking music festival), Osheaga, Pop Montreal and Canada’s best known festivals, Osheaga. Furthermore, the city is considered as “the third strongest in North America in concentration of music industry businesses” according to a recent report, just behind Nashville and Los Angeles (Martin Prosperity Institute, 2007).
You’ve had ten years of experience within the field of audio mixing and mastering; what have been some of your favorite projects to work on?
Indeed, I have the chance to work almost every day with very talented and prolific artists. One of my favourite artists is Keegan Boulineau who eventually became kind of a protege. He’s very young and has a lot of potential. Keegan has been busy with music school these days, but we used to release a single every two weeks.
More recently, I’ve been very popular among hip-hop artist, probably due to my bassy and groovy sound. I worked with Rob Self from Toronto, whom has a great sense of work ethic, which I really appreciate. I also had the chance to work with Sans Pression who is arguably the biggest French-Canadian rapper in the province of Quebec. This guy has been active in the Montreal hip-hop scene since the mid-90s.
I also really like working on more experimental projects. Like this 33 min song I’ve worked on with Sequentia Legenda. It reminds me the analog synthesized electronic ambient music that Klaus Schulze was doing in the 80s. It makes me work on something different than today’s popular music, where pretty much everything sounds the same.
I love to work with artists that are ready to take risks to develop their own sound. I think there is nothing worse than working on a song that is desperately trying to be catchy by being a pale copy of current mainstream music. Copying what’s mainstream today won’t make you famous; it just makes you irrelevant. Great artists don’t follow trends, they create them.
How have you been able to deliver so consistently and promptly on the promises you’ve made to your customers?
That is often an overlooked point. It would be very tempting to just gather the songs, do my things and then say: this is it, take it or leave it. A lot of people do that. I don’t.
Personally, I invest a lot of time discussing with the client in order to really understand his position and his needs. Some of them just want to get something out quickly, others want the absolute best; some want it to sound very loud, others want it minimalistic, etc. Different needs call for different delays and I don’t make commitment I can’t keep. If I learn by discussing with the client that he or she is on a very tight schedule, I’ll just do it overnight for an extra charge. It will cost more, but they will get it on time without cutting back on quality.
In your opinion, what is the most important facet of the mastering process? What about your mastering process sets you apart from other audio engineers?
Since most of clients are independent artists, their budget is usually very limited; they probably recorded everything at home and mixed it themselves on low budget monitors. To them, Mastering is an affordable way to compensate for all the corners cut. Unfortunately, like every process, it’s garbage in, garbage out. In my very specific case, the most important facet is to get the best mixes in, so I can make them even greater. My way of achieving it is by listening to the mixes and communicating with the client to ask for corrections prior to mastering. In that way, we fix the major problems upstream.
Maybe on a more technical side, it will be to have the best trained ears you can have, coupled with a great acoustic and monitoring system. Our job is to make it sound better subjectively without doing any harm.
I don’t think mastering process per se is necessarily different; I use EQ, Compressors and limiters like anyone else. But my approach definitely is more adapted to independent artist. Big mastering engineers are used to receive top-notch mixes and charge 300$ per hour to EQ it quickly. I take the time is required to get the job done properly and I do it at much more affordable price. Independent artists on the rise see it as bargain. I also might be more versatile since I learned to deal with a very wide range of mixes made on a budget.
Could you explain the difference between a regular mastering process and the ordeal of mastering each individual stem?
For a standard mastering, I would receive one stereo track, which is basically the mix that client felt comfortable with. If the mix is good, it is the way to go, because I can start working right away.
However, sometimes the artist simply doesn’t have the required know-how to bring mixes to the best of its potential. In that case, the client can send me what we call stems. These stems are pretty much submixes of vocals, percussions, basses, backvocals, etc. In that case, I can solve problems by applying effect on the individual tracks rather than on the full mix. But, one has to keep in mind that Stem Mastering is a kind of hybrid between mastering and mixing and is therefore more time consuming and costly.
What is the advantage of processing a mix through analog gear, in your opinion?
Most mixes I receive are entirely made “in the box” as we say. Everything has been processed digitally using a computer. Although digital has the advantage of being practical and clear sounding, there is just something missing in the sound that only analog can bring in. In those cases, there is a huge gain in processing those mixes in the analog domain as the resulting masters will sound richer and fuller. It’s an affordable way to compensate for the previous steps.
The sound of analog is continuous, rich and warm. Well-produced digital masters will sound loud and clear, but also cold and thin. I personally offer both options but I strongly recommend analog processing for most musical genre.
That said, some music genre simply sound better when processed in digital only. It is often the case with classical music, which we usually want to sound as clean as possible. But if we take the “Brothers” album by the black keys, that album would have had much less impact without its analog grit and crunch.
What does 2015 hold in store for Christopher Dion and Quantum Music?
From a business point of view, as my company is growing rapidly, it would be hard for me to get busier than I already am right now. BUT, I do expect to be working with bigger and bigger artists as my name gets spread. My ideal would be to work with independent artist that have found their niche market and are successful within their specific music genre.
I also want to develop even further the concept of coaching artists. Although it is something the very unique in this field, the clientele’s response has been very positive so far. Some of my clients have generated interesting revenues resulting of our coaching sessions. I think there is a market for it, as the artist has everything to gain with it. But, you know, as any new product or service, you need to inform people about what it does, and that… well, takes time. Indeed, I also upgrade my gear continuously to stay competitive.
Finally, on a more personal side, my spouse and I are expecting a baby for the end of February. So, I can tell you right away that 2015 will be challenging for Quantum-Music and myself!
Connect With Chris & Quantum-Music:
Website: www.quantum-music.ca
Fiverr gig: https://www.fiverr.com/quantum_music/master-your-song-loud-and-crispy-mastered-for-itunes