Artist Interview: Heba Kadry

On Sequoia – “I heard so much about Sequoia and it just seemed like the right fit for me.”

Heba, what made you choose Sequoia?

Because it’s an incredibly versatile DAW. I heard so much about it over the years and it just seemed like the right fit for me the moment I started testing it.

What are your favorite features?

The object editor, comparisonics waveform frequency display, native Sequoia restoration suite and the plethora of loudness, phase & peak meters. Also, I really like the fact that Sequoia doesn’t have a default library setup that constricts the way you organize your files. There are no drives to mount or weird annoying windows to find your audio files. You basically create a library and a system to your liking. The sample rate conversion in Sequoia is really fantastic as well.

This is not really a feature, but the Sequoia manual is wonderful and beautifully made. It’s a rare thing these days to get a well made manual with your gear.

You mentioned the Object Editor. What makes it suited for the work that you do? What problems has it solved that you used to struggle with?

I am a bit of an automation freak and the object editor makes a job that would have normally taken me 15-30 mins to complete, reduce down to 5 minutes or less. So, for example, if I’m working on a track and I’m digging how all the verses are sounding, but something is amiss on the choruses, maybe the guitars need a little more bump around 500 Hz before it hits the analog chain. Or, if I want to mess with the imaging a bit on a particular section, this can all be accomplished in a very smart and non-laborious way. I start by creating a snapshot chain of various EQs and/or compressors; once I’m happy with the chain I can save it as a “snapshot” and very easily pull it up on the chorus sections or whatever section needs to be addressed with one click. It basically allows you to manipulate and shape regions within a track very quickly.

How do you approach mastering with Sequoia? Do you have a standard process or do you work on each production differently?

Yes, I have a specific template I load up with settings and plug-ins arranged in a particular way for my perusal. The actual process of mastering and my signal chain of course varies, but my template and how I lay out each project is pretty much the same.

Heba Kadry – “I’m an unabashed synth lover.”

Listening to your work, anyone can hear that you specialize in electro-pop. What drew you to this genre?

I actually work on plenty of weird noise/experimental/thrash/metal as well – I think my discography runs the genre gamut. And I really like that. I prefer not to get pigeonholed in one specific genre. It’s exciting to be able to go into the studio one day and work on an experimental all drum record and then switch to a straight up top 40 glossy pop production the following day. It keeps me on my toes and engaged and I get to meet so many wonderful artists that introduce me to music I’ve never heard of before.

However, being an unabashed synth lover naturally draws the electro-pop crowd to me, I suppose! My first instrument was a Casiotone 610 synth and being a child of the ’80s, I was drawn to synth-based music. Artists like Gershon Kingsley or Vangelis were always on rotation in my household. It was also really popular to listen to synth modular interpretations of classical music at the time, records like Switched On Bach really appealed to me, because I am a classically trained pianist and I loved hearing these sort of renegade versions of standard classics.

Picture by Xenia Rollinson

What is the most important aspect to you when mastering an album?

Doing my best to bring the artist or producer’s vision to life and making the mastering experience as fun and seamless as possible.

On Mastering – “A mastering engineer, in very basic terms, is a finisher.”

How large is the difference between a track before and after mastering and how much freedom does the mastering engineer have to shape and change the tone of a track?

That’s completely project dependent. You might get source mixes that are pretty much 90% there and any processing work might be very light-handed. And sometimes, the changes on projects are completely radical. It really all depends. I think I realized I was becoming a better mastering engineer when I started getting really great sounding mixes from engineers and recognized when to step back. Sometimes less is so much more and other times you need to roll up your sleeves and dig right in. This is why it’s so important to create a space that encourages ongoing dialogue with the artist/mixer/producer throughout the whole mastering process.

Would you describe mastering as its own form of art/expression or is it a purely technical optimization?

It’s definitely both. My role is dictated by the project and the client’s needs. There are some projects where I am hired to be a technician and my involvement is pretty transparent. There are other situations where the artist or whoever is making the sonic decisions will ask for feedback on the mixes and my suggestions on how to improve things are far more involved. So, it depends on who is hiring me. In a way you’re a bit of a chameleon, you find your role and what is expected of you based on the project’s needs – another reason why dialogue and communication is the most important thing! You really can’t be a poor communicator or socially inept with people and expect to be a great mastering engineer.

Being the last step in the album production wheel, anxieties and insecurities in some artist may start to surface. Mastering is sort of a sobering process for artists because things are finally coming together. Besides the technical know how, you need to retain a really zen calming presence in situations like that, and solve/circumnavigate any kind of anxieties the artist may have about the record.

On a personal level, and this might sound super cheesy, I make a lot of my decisions based on feeling. If I’m mastering a record and a vocal on a track is giving me that hair-raising goosebump feeling, then I will figure out a way to bring that out more in an appropriate way that works with the music.

On working with Neon Indian – “As a mastering engineer you strive for a master that translates well on as many formats as possible.”

Were you ever also responsible for creative input aside from mastering?

On “Vega Intl Night School”, we did some layback to 1/2” tape which was a lot of fun. I suggested slowing down the speed on the tape machine to 15ips and using the capstan to scrub the tape in order to create a woozy garbled effect on the intro of “Hit Parade”, for example. We also took a lot of time to experiment with the track spacing and layering the sound collages/interstitials Alan Palomo (Neon Indian) made between the tracks. The album plays like one long-lost mix tape from the ’80s, so the crude fade work was deliberate. It was really fun, we threw out some “mastering rules” out the window on that album.

Comparatively, tracks like “Annie” and “Slumlord” sound especially impressive with headphones. Did you conceptualize the album master specifically for listening with headphones?

Thanks! As a mastering engineer, you strive for a master that translates well on as many formats as possible. It’s impossible to cover every monitor/headphone ever made but my goal is to make it sound as awesome as it can be in my room. Slumlord is particularly interesting because it’s a 7 minute house track that’s separated into two sections. The first half was mixed by Alex Epton and the second half was mixed by Ben Allen. The section mixed by Epton was dumped to 1/2” tape and mastered, and the Allen section was mastered from the digital source mix and edited together with the first section. Alan was hitting a wall figuring out a way to bond the two tracks together that made sens. He had mentioned a few ideas during the session that were scrapped. After a long 10 hour session, he came back the following morning with zero sleep but a bunch of bizarre sound collages that miraculously worked.

The music industry/ business – ” I am a firm believer in the power of great skills and experience.”

What is your opinion of the “loudness war”, which is going on in the music industry at the moment? If one looks at the wav-files of Muse productions, for example, one sees that there is almost no dynamic anymore. What is your philosophy in your mastering process regarding this topic?

Through increased “accessibility to production equipment”, more people are able to get equipment for less money and collectively finish a song from start to master. Have you noticed an impact on the amount of work that professional mastering studios receive as a result?

I think the accessibility is fantastic and resulted in some really, really terrific albums…and also some terrible ones of course, but that’s besides the point. Giving artists tools to have infinite time to mess around with their recordings and find their sound is a wonderful thing. And, while yes, cheap recording options have sadly impacted large format recording studios, especially in New York, I still don’t believe any kind of software will ever put professional record production completely out of business – including mastering. I am not in denial that things have changed in the last 10-15 years but I am a firm believer in the power of great skills and experience.

An artist that may start with a modest home recording setup will eventually graduate and hire a pro to track or mix aspects of their album at some point in their career. Garageband is like a gateway DAW. It’s great for tinkering, but at some point you’ll hit a wall and will desire to get a pro’s experience and gear on a record. It’s just natural to want to make your next record sound better. If a record was entirely recorded and mixed at home, some artists will spend at least a little bit of money on mastering. Perhaps to bring back some analog warmth to their totally in the box mixes or at least get a professional to properly set up their album for official release. It’s natural with time and the advent of technology to constantly come up with cheaper and faster home recording options – I mean, home recording setups were advertised as far back as the ’70s. They may have been far, far, far more expensive than now but the need to record in the comfort of your home and cheaply has always been there and will not go away. We just need to adapt.

In the long run, I don’t believe a DAW, or even a mastering algorithm, will replace the human ear, years of studio experience, the culture of humans connecting through music in a studio and the just raw emotion and happiness derived from a great studio experience. In the last few years, I’ve embraced the ease of plug-ins. But that will certainly not eclipse the joy of getting my hands on hardware, turning knobs and how a real tube EQ just sounds far superior than an emulation plug-in of the same piece of gear. It’s all about balance and just being an honest and passionate person that will keep people coming back your way.

Additional Links:

• Official Website: http://hebakadry.com/

Pictures by Lola Serrano, when not otherwise noted.