Finnvox Studios, Mika Jussila - 40 Years of Mastering Music Excellence in Finland (podcast)

Davey Jonez is meeting legendary mastering engineer Mika Jussila at the iconic Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland, established in 1965. Mika shares his incredible journey of his illustrious 40-year career, from starting at a vinyl pressing plant to becoming a globally renowned mastering engineer. Discover how he experienced mastering evolved from vinyl to CDs in the early 90s, hear about his impressive gear collection and learn about his collaboration with his son Niklas Jussila. As Mika's name is associated with over millions records, and he continues to adapt to technological changes in music studios.
Link to the artist and the studio:
www.finnvox.fi/en
www.mikajussil...
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Meeting Mika
00:52 The first commercial studio of Finland got started
01:53 First period of downscaling
02:24 About regrets
02:36 Embracing Dolby Atmos
03:10 Mika's introduction into Finnvox
04:00 After 3 months straight to the mastering room
04:34 How Mika started at the vynil pressing plant
05:18 Room to experiment
05:38 The dreams of a young
06:29 Mastering compared to recording and mixing
06:51 Growing into the engineer as today
07:25 The industry being the business
07:56 The process of creativity is dying in the business
08:32 CD mastering in the early 90's
08:55 Was the loudness started?
09:05 The monopoly of Finnvox on CD mastering early 90's
09:55 Golden era for mastering studios
10:44 Loyalty of clients
10:57 The funny thing of trial and error
11:24 About changes in the last 15 years
12:05 About limitations of vinyl
12:28 Discovering the mastering possibilities
13:17 About digital tapes and converters
14:11 The recording codes of a CD
14:39 Recording on consoles
14:54 The relieve of 24 bit converters
15:18 Undo and recording takes spot on
15:42 Performance and the perfect take
15:58 Talking tools and technology
16:19 Knowing his gear collection
17:16 Feel the need with testing gear
18:16 Take time to test gear
18:57 Reading and writing through the machines
19:35 A piece of art, the Hum Audio LAAL limiter
20:03 Using untested gear on masters
20:17 The most impressive thing
20:51 The philosophy of Mika at the mastering chain
21:04 Mika starting a project
21:52 Specific sample rate
22:22 Upsampling and D/A conversion
23:12 The stuff to do after listening
24:07 Looking at numbers
24:39 Hit the red zone
25:42 About CD releases in 2024
26:14 About the special relationship with Genelec
26:53 The collaboration with the G Men
27:04 More about collaboration
27:45 Feedback up in Genelec products
28:09 That other Finnish brand Amphion
28:28 Mastering on high-end hi-fi speakers
28:56 Color boxes
29:32 His most precious piece of gear
30:12 That Focusrite Blue 315 MK2
30:39 The main tool for everything
30:52 One tool that can vanish
31:03 Hybrid system and AI technology
31:31 Emotion of music that make human decisions
31:58 Why the easy way through technology
32:13 The difference between generations
32:56 That day of transferring knowledge
33:17 The next generation and his own son in mastering music
33:57 The smarter generation
34:11 Working with your own son is magic and challenging
34:55 The same process when we were young
35:39 Embracing mastering for Dolby Atmos or stick to stereo
36:13 Not retiring
36:24 Job as a hobby, but when to retire
36:56 Never ready to accept retirement is an option
37:44 20 years later everybody wants to work with Mika
38:09 The circle of life makes it easier
38:32 The story of Bob Ludwig getting more work by moving on
39:20 Respecting the skills and experience
39:42 Being the humble tool and how to treat people
40:33 A client can not always express their wishes
41:06 Being the tool between the artist and the final product
41:20 Most memorable thing of his career called Nightwish
42:34 His name on 10 million records
43:06 Being part of Spinefarm Records
43:58 His career as a well-known mastering engineer for metal music
44:24 The of mastering 200 albums per year
44:41 The perception of borders
45:00 Mika, Can you master my beat?
45:14 Mika is mastering my beat
46:12 Closing thoughts
47:18 Signing off

[@iSankku]

Every mastering engineer or someone like me who is getting in to the industry should learn one of the key thing from Mika, We are just the tool between the artist and the final product, be Humble.❤

[@thestudiovisitor]

@@iSankku couldn’t agree more

[@tonystevenson26]

Very interesting !

[@thestudiovisitor]

@@tonystevenson26 Thank you so much.