Try as scientists might, there have been three phenomena that have consistently evaded their explanation and understanding throughout the history of time: Gravity, Curling and Audio Mastering. With the plethora of mastered and unmastered demos we receive here at the Bridge (send us yours??), I figured it might be high-time to do some investigation into the third of these three mysteries. Asking musicians was no help. Responses genereally centred around vague comments like "it adds an extra sheen". So I thought i'd get the word straight from the horse's mouth. The horse here is William Bowden a.k.a King Willy a.k.a Willy The Masterer. Aside from his numerous nicknames, he's a man with a lengthy history in the music industry and is hugely respected by musicians and audio boffins alike. I managed to sneak into his self-designed mastering suite (fashioned into the back shed of his residence in Stanmore) and threw a few questions at him in his lunch break.

KW: Well mastering is pretty much the last link in the chain from composition to finished product. Artists will record their tracks at home or in the studio, they'll often have them mixed by a professional engineer, then the mixed track gets sent to me to get mastered. Mastering adds some finishing touches to the track by using specialised equipment that most recording studios dont have. One of the goals of mastering is to compress the track for radio play (make the volume levels consistent throughout), and many mastering guys rely heavily on this. I deal more with EQ to allow the track a bit of breathing space. So there are really two weapons; compression and EQ. So all those knobs you're seeing are attached to gear that is particularly good at isolating and manipulating particular frequencies in the track, giving a very natural sounding compression and picking up any problems left over from the mixing stage. Those are the very basics anyway!

2. What's your most precious piece of equipment?

My ears! In all seriousness, you're not going to be much of a mastering engineer if you dont take care of your ears. I make sure I always monitor the tracks at reasonable levels, especially in long sessions. But in terms of hardware, i'd probably say my Vintage EMI console. It's designed for cutting, but there are recording versions that the Beatles used. But yeah, aside from that, there's really not any stand out piece of equipment. It's a group effort. Some EQs are good for bottom end, others are better for higher frequencies. There's no piece that I rely on solely, it's like a band really. Maybe my handwired Tube Tech compressors deserve a special mention.

3. Have there been any bands that have come through that you've thought were pretty special?

Well when I was mastering Josh Abraham's Totally Addicted To Bass, I had an incling that it might be a pretty huge track. But more recently I've been really impressed with a Sydney band called Greenland, whose debut album I've had the pleasure of mastering. Also a band called Hammock out of the US. The Red Riders album was great - it was mixed by a guy called Woody Annison in Melbourne who did a sterling job. Matt Fell at Love Hz studios served me up an EP for Caitlin Harnett which was great. I've also been really looking forward to mastering the upcoming Richard In Your Mind album this month. They're great guys to work with. Cabins too I've been quite impressed with. There's no shortage of great bands in Sydney.

4. How did you get into mastering??

I was a muso at school and very much into recording. I used to play around with a 4-track in my parents cellar. I kinda cut my first little break when i recorded the first Dangermouse demos (who would later become Ratcat). From there i got a job as a mixer in an 8-track recrding studio in Waverley in 1986 or so. This was before Charing Cross studios. I then started working for Festival in cassette mastering which was pretty cruisy! Yup, those things needed mastering too. I started cutting records within a few months and for the next thirteen years i began making my way up the food chain. I don't really like mastering poppy stuff, but there was plenty of work to do for Mushroom and the like. I started to really get into local stuff while at festival. The Hard Ons were a big favourite of mine. They closed the studio in 2001 and i've been freelance ever since. The highpoint for me was definitely doing several mastering jobs for Dave McComb from the Triffids.

5. So finally, i gotta ask you about your royal moniker? Is it a self-proclaimed title?

Ha, not really. Josh Abrahams actually started calling me King Willy while I did his mastering. He told me it's the name of the Jamaican druglord in Predator II. I've done a fair bit of hiphop, and the hiphop guys love it because a Big Willy's apparently a dude that's got things going on. Actually, funny story: as a joke I used to get things mastered with the title "King Willy NYC", and I think I must have put it on the Infusion's album Phrases and Numbers. There was some interview with the guys from infusion where they were praised for the album and told that "It makes such a difference getting things mastered in New York". They played along. Some American dude rang from the Thunk label because he liked my work and started asking questions so I eventually gave the game away. I'm back to King Willy now.  ---JZ