My Audio World
Mixing and Mastering Engineer - Nick Page
Meet Nick Page, the mastering and mixing engineer behind Forking Paths Mastering. With a long career in music, working with producers such as Michael Beinhorn, Roy Thomas Baker and Steve Power, consulting on music for Disney Studios and even managing The Darkness during their hey-day, Nick has seen it all.
We sat down with him to talk about Forking Paths, as well as his history and relationship with sound.
Hi, I’m Nick Page and I’m a mastering and mix engineer. I also write music for documentaries; reinterpret songs for use on ads, tv and film; and help developing new artists obtain their goals of how they want to sound. I’ve worked in all aspects of music from A&R to publishing to music supervision to engineering, music editing in music and
film, management, mixing and mastering. You can say I’ve worn many hats!
About 10 years ago I was approached by a composer who had a music library that needed mastering. He knew I had always mastered all my material and asked if I wanted to take on this project. From there, I began to get recommendations from other writers, artists, composers and other production libraries.
It was 2 years ago when I first worked with Royalty Capes, mastering a full-length album for them. Turns out Ben Adey is a great songwriter/artist as well as manager.
Ben had an idea that we should set up a mastering company in the UK and US; I had been using the name Forking Paths for my studio and so Forking Paths Mastering was born.
Forking Paths is focused on taking time to understand where you as the artist want your music to land sonically. As I’ve spent years playing, recording and mixing, I can relate easily to where the artist or producer is coming from and follow where they wish to go with their music. Having mastered 500 or so albums now I have pretty eclectic
range, so no genre is a no-no.
When I left college I wrote over 20 letters a day to every single company that was in the Music Week Directory, over 400 in total. My first position was a management company in the UK working with acts such as The Cramps, Barry White, and Melanie Williams.
Through chance encounters and opportunistic connections, I became a label manager at Bronze Records.
Then in ’94, I joined East West Records (asked to leave after 3 months for being “too ambitious”), was offered a label imprint with Kip Krones at Sony (I never understood why I turned that down…) and landed in ‘95 at the new label for Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert called Almo Sounds.
Since then, I have been chasing extraordinary opportunities between the UK and US. I’ve worked on opportunities across music, film and documentary; I even managed The Darkness for a time!
It was when I was working with Michael Beinhorn that sound became incredibly analytical for me, especially with vocals. As I got more into mixing and fitting together the sonic pieces of the puzzle, I began understanding how paramount frequency placement is when moving from mixing into mastering.
You have to work pretty hard over the years to really “hear” properly. But now, I find it hard to listen to music in places where the sound sucks. For me, newer cars that are very digital sounding just don’t sound good to me.
I always used to love listening to albums fairly loud. I used to love listening and approving albums for the label whilst sitting in my Citreon, which housed an amazing stereo. Bands I knew would often want to listen to their final mixes and mastered tracks in that car!
But now I look back and those records were all squashed and made to sound loud - I can’t really listen to them these days. I have to buy a vinyl copy so I can enjoy the dynamics. These days I listen to music pretty quietly, so the room is not enforcing certain frequencies. I also tend to listen whilst not looking at screens or being distracted.
I still get excited about new music, but once the excitement has worn off after a few listens my brain kicks into analysing the production and the mix.
So many … I guess the big one was working with my dear friends The Darkness, watching them put it together. There were trials and tribulations before - of starting other bands and all failing, but that not-taking-no-for-an answer attitude was something we all had in us, so we wouldn’t let it go. Being involved with that, helping it where I could from the get-go and watching it blossom and become huge was just amazing. It proved that when you dream, it can really happen!
But all the projects I have worked on have been special. I have been lucky enough to have worked with some legendary characters and helped them bring music to life that has affected millions of people’s lives. I have definitely worked with most of the people that shaped my life musically.
I discovered Flare in 2020 while searching for something to protect my ears. When I found Calmer, I thought, ‘wow, finally someone has done it and why didn’t I think of this!’
I have always suffered from misophonia, but I didn’t want to wear something that completely cut everything out. I just needed to cut out those harsh resonances and the distortion that comes with it. I also feel a lot of anxiety in public, and Calmer really keeps me in check so I can function properly. When they first came onto the market, I jumped on them. Since then, every year Flare develop new and improved versions.
The latest version, the Calmer Max, does exactly as it says on the tin! They certainly are a next step up following the Calmer Pros and the Calmer Extras, which are both favourites. But with Calmer Max, I can use them in most situations and don’t have to swap between the other two.
The other lifesavers which I use daily, and especially for shows, are the Isolate which I couldn’t be without. I also use Definition and earHD 90 when I’m watching a movie or tv, just to be able to direct the sound and cut out the interference of other noise going on, be it slight.
All of these tools help me keep my ears in check so that I don’t miss the tiny details when clients send me tracks for either mixing or mastering. It just amazes me how loud the world is that we live in these days and finding the balance is crucial in my goal to provide the best sonic results I can give my clients.
Calmer has really helped me focus on sounds. Even when you’re in the car, there are certain frequencies via road noise etc. that are just there. Hearing that in the background for 30 mins or so, by the time I come to work on something my brain has etched out that frequency so I’m numb to it. That’s where Calmer has been great to keep everything much more balanced for me by the time I get to work. I don’t use Calmer when I do work but I have a sense of a full frequency spectrum when they come out.
When I have a mastering session, I’m listening very intently. Coming home to the family doing stuff like cooking, watching TV and sometimes screaming in joy – it’s a huge change and I can go from 0-100 very quickly. I always have my Calmer in so I can still be a part of what is going on without becoming uncomfortable.
Water. I love the sound of water. Being a swimmer, pool water sounds are my fav!
Clanking metal utensils on crockery, glass and constantly stirring cups of tea with spoons.
There are many, but one that jumps out is when I was around 8 years old. My teacher George Stiles, who was a piano player, had a Korg Synthesizer which he would set up on stage in the school auditorium on a Saturday afternoon. It was the quietest time at school as all the students and teachers were off playing football, so he had no distractions. He would play and make cool sonic soundscapes which filled the hall and I would sit at the back, unseen, just soaking it all up. This started my love of electronic music and sound.
High Resolution Audio:
The Antlers
- Blight
Gabrielle Cavassa
- Diavola
Ecca Vandal
- Looking For People To Unfollow
Vinyl:
Nina Simone and Her Friends - Cut by Kevin Grey
Burnin - The Wailers
Jesus and Marychain - Psychocandy, Third Man Pressing
I’ve just finished mixing and mastering another Royalty Capes album “Looks Like Rain” as well as a fabulous new ep; Polperro by Harry Arnison.
