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