Santa Monica, CA, March 27, 2013 –Following his 30 year career as head mastering engineer at Masterdisk, where he mastered The Ramones, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Public Enemy, The Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Herbie Hancock, Nirvana and so many others, Howie Weinberg has established himself as one of the most in-demand mastering engineers in the world. His success led to him opening his own facility in 2011, appropriately named Howie Weinberg Mastering.
The new facility, located in the Laurel Canyon Hills of Los Angeles, features a selection of the best digital and analog gear available in the world. For his clocking and conversion needs, Weinberg depends on Antelope Audio’s rock solid Isochrone 10M|Trinity combination, in addition to Antelope’s Zodiac+ and Eclipse 384 digital audio converters (DACs).
Weinberg, who has just completed work on new releases by Metallica, Fiona Apple, Joe Walsh and others, clocks his entire room and DAW rig with an Antelope Isochrone Trinty|10M combination, a set up which he refers to as “the Holy Grail of clocking.”
He says this combination makes an audible difference for both his clients in the studio as well as in the finished article: “When clients come in, I will play them what the music sounds like with the native clocking hardware in my DAW, and then with the Antelope. When I switch to the Antelope, their jaws drop every time.”
“The Antelope clocks are very accurate and as a result, make everything sound wider and cleaner,” he continues. “They provide much more depth and a sound that I can only describe as ‘3D.’ To my ears, the difference is really audible.”
In addition to relying solely on Antelope’s renowned clocking technology, Weinberg favors the transparent sonic qualities of Antelope’s converters. “I use the Zodiac+ mastering DAC right out of my Pro Tools unit, and this is the first conversion,” he explains. “I like it because it doesn’t introduce any color. Honestly, I think it is the closest thing I’ve heard to the source on any converter.” Weinberg also appreciates the quick set up, seamless compatibility and I/O flexibility of the Zodiac: “I like it because it interfaces with my entire Pro Tools rig really easily. It also has five inputs so I can have a lot of sources on there — I can have everything set up on one box.”
For the recording of the final master, Howie incorporates the award-winning Eclipse 384, which is also the final monitoring DAC for playback to his array of high-end monitors. “I realized my weak link was A/D and D/A conversion and that’s why I upgraded to an all-Antelope setup.”
As technology in the studio seems to get more and more complicated, Weinberg likes to keep things focused with Antelope. “I’ve used a lot of different clocks, and am running a studio full of digital and analog gear,” he states. “There is so much digital stuff going on these days that your clocking has to be as accurate as possible. It just makes every piece of digital gear I have sound better.”
To ensure superior sonic results for his first rate client base, Weinberg has a ‘no compromise’ philosophy: “I have the best equipment money can buy, so I need the best clocking and conversion money can buy,” Weinberg concludes. “And I think I have it. You know what I’m sayin’?”
