WCA #604 with Alec Ness – Mastering in Minneapolis, Resisting Homogenization, and Putting the Art First

For episode 604, Matt talks with Alec Ness, a mastering engineer in Minneapolis and the owner of Ness Mastering. Alec joins to tell an unusual origin story: born with partially amputated fingers, he was steered from guitar to drums, caught the recording bug on Cakewalk in a Dakotas high school, and chased music through a now-defunct college (McNally Smith), the San Francisco and LA beat scenes as an Ableton Certified Trainer, and years touring as a producer and artist — before pivoting fully into mastering as the pandemic hit. He learned the craft by badgering his way into Greg Reierson's Rare Form Mastering and trading questions with Mandy Parnell, then sold his entire modular synth rig to buy the speakers for his own room. They get into the "Should everything sound the same?" note on his desk, resisting the loudness game, controlling your space, putting the art before the money, and the health toll of going too hard.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

- Growing Up in the Dakotas and “Flyover” Music Culture

- A Coffee Shop, a Venue, and Touring Bands Passing Through

- Born With Half His Fingers: From Guitar to Drums

- Catching the Recording Bug on Cakewalk in High School

- The Guitar Shop That Introduced Him to Ableton

- McNally Smith, Composition, and Dropping Out

- San Francisco, the LA Beat Scene, and Becoming an Ableton Certified Trainer

- From Producer and Artist to Mixing and Mastering

- A Studio in the Back of a South Dakota Guitar Shop

- Old Tools, Limitations, and Learning Phase and Mics the Hard Way

- The Dua Saleh Remix Album That Tipped Him Into Mastering

- Backing Off Touring Right as the Pandemic Hit

- Learning From Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering

- Badgering Mandy Parnell for Lessons

- "Should Everything Sound the Same?" Resisting Homogenization

- Why He Won’t Master to the Loudness of a Reference

- Controlling Your Space and Reducing Variables

- Selling His Modular Synths to Buy His Speakers

- Empathy, the Artist’s Vision, and Serving the Music

- Art First, Money Second, and Time as the Real Currency

- Health, Overwork, and Backing Off Before It Broke Him

Links and Show Notes:

• Alec Ness / Ness Mastering
• Rare Form Mastering (Greg Reierson)
• WCA #599 with Alex Newport
• Mandy Parnell
• Michael Beinhorn on WCA

Credits:

- Guest: Alec Ness

- Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau

- WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell

- The Voice: Chuck Smith