‘Mixing and Mastering’ with Studio DMI engineer Luca Pretolesi is being offered online to all CAT Audio Engineering students and alumni!

That’s right – all CAT audio students and alumni have the (online) opportunity to learn from the best. This course will feature mixing and mastering principles, processes, techniques, and tools, used by multi Grammy nominated engineer Luca Pretolesi, with a final assessment and review by Luca of each student’s final course work.

Luca Pretolesi is an Italian born mixing and mastering engineer currently working out of Studio DMI based in Las Vegas, NV. He has received two Grammy nominations for his work on Snoop Lion’s “Reincarnated” album and Steve Aoki’s “Wonderland” album, and has also worked with artists like Diplo, Iggy Azalea and Calvin Harris.

I know what you’re thinking, what the heck is mixing and mastering? Mixing and Mastering can be thought of as the science of making music sound professional. In a modern music writing situation, a producer writes the music. The song is then sent off to an engineer to make sure the song is perfect.

The course will introduce mixing and mastering skills, technology, concepts, and tips and tricks, used by top level engineers. Luca will demonstrate and guide students through the process of developing their own skills from the conceptual stage to finalizing a mixed and mastered song ready for distribution.

The application of specific technologies will be introduced in the context of achieving artistic integrity of the vision along modern audio techniques for professional sounding products. Luca will cover all the major principles he uses, and how he applies it in practice.

Principles include:
• Overview of Session Setup
• Drum Mixing & Transient Shaping
• Multiband Bass Processing
• Synths & Guitars
• Common Problems with FX
• Vocals
• Mastering Philosophy & Practice

The song Luca is mixing will be provided for each student to practice on including all the stems. Students may submit a song of their own to work on within the course. For acceptance, the song must have all the same elements that are in the song Luca’s is demonstrating, e.g., guitars, synths, vocals, etc., with stems of a similar professional quality.

Each week’s lesson will have an associated assignment that builds towards the final mixed and mastered song. Along the way, students will receive assessment of each aspect from their instructor and feedback from other students through the class forums.

The course will also push students to learn and consider other relevant information and concepts, and apply them to their own development as an artist and their works. The final mix/master will receive a final video review by Luca Pretolesi.

The course will be delivered online and students will be allowed to submit a song of their own to work on within the course. The current start date is set for the middle of 2020. All audio students can talk to their instructors for more information.

Words: Taylin Simmonds