Recently we caught up with Omisha Chaitanya, a producer and mastering engineer based in Brooklyn, NY to learn more about their background, their process when approaching new projects, and what it’s like working at an iconic studio in New York City.
Sunday, October 20, 2024~ by Gia Acosta
I’ve known Omisha for a few years now. We originally met playing on a live recording at the Berklee Valencia studios in Spain. At the time, they were studying Electronic Production and Design and minoring in Sound Design for Video Games. Almost five years later, Omisha is now working as a freelance producer and mastering engineer, while also serving on the Power Station at BerkleeNYC team as a studio assistant.
Their approach to production and mastering is one that perhaps a lot of music listeners do not think much about when hearing a song, but the impact that it has can certainly be felt. When it comes to production, Omisha shared that they usually like to start in the demo session. In a lot of cases, demos go unheard but when approaching production, they find it’s important to start in those sessions where the song’s essence is essentially formed.
“A lot of songwriters produce their own songs in their bedroom on Logic or Ableton and, regardless of whether the production or mix is ‘strong’, I feel like those demos capture a moment in time in breathing life into a song and always holds an essence that’s good to build upon. It also empowers the artist in the production process, to see a session they started take a whole new shape.”
Omisha’s thoughtful approach to working with artists is also apparent when it comes to the mastering process. They shared that while it’s not typical for an artist to be so involved in the mastering of their music, they’ve seen artists light up when lending input and context that can transform a song both technically and creatively. Mastering isn’t just a check-off task, but an important process that contributes to a bigger picture.
Outside of their work as a producer and mastering engineer, Omisha also works at Power Station at BerkleeNYC, an iconic studio that’s seen the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Herbie Hancock, and many more.
“I cannot even begin to describe how working as an up-and-coming engineer at Power Station has fundamentally sharpened my abilities for the better. Our studios are used for film shoots, concerts, album-listening parties, music conferences, and more…this past summer, we had a session where the conductor and horn players were in our Blackbox Theatre, drums and bass in Studio G, strings in Studio E, twenty vocalists in Studio C, and they’re all scattered across 5 floors and all recording at the same time on the Neve VRP console in C. Insane!”
When they’re not working on music, the Brooklyn-based creative shared that they’ve had a really lovely time building community in New York and that there’s always something to do. Born in India and raised in South Africa, Omisha mentioned that New York feels like a combination of Mumbai’s “big city energy”, Johannesburg’s “creative energy”, and its own “unique amalgamation of cultures and histories.” For the time being it’s where they see themselves living and continuing to grow.
Check out our full interview with Omisha below and be sure to check them out on Instagram!
What did you study at Berklee (EPD?) and how did you get into mastering?
I studied Electronic Production and Design with a minor in Sound Design for Video Games at Berklee. It’s really quite left-field from the mindset and workflow of mastering. While I did take courses in mastering, and that’s really what inspired me to go further down the path of being a mastering engineer, retrospectively I do find that being a strong music-maker and producer and songwriter allows me to approach the technical necessities of mastering with a lot of heart.
What all goes into mastering a song? An album? What’s your approach?
I really see mastering as a shine and a polish, the finishing touches to a single song, and for an album or an EP it’s to additionally find and create a sonic through-line or common thread to bind the collection of songs together in the same world. Mastering as a part of world-building! My workflow happens in 3 steps: correction, balance, and loudness. The mix correction is where I get acclimated with the track as well as take notes on what jumps out to me - as in what tonally and dynamically might need to be addressed - as well as any QC issues such as clicks, pops, sneaky unwanted amp noise in the beginning of a track, etc. Then moving into balancing and addressing what I have in my notes - primarily corrective and shaping EQ-ing, occasionally some compression and saturation, and either taming or enhancing the stereo width within these steps via mid-side processing or using a specific width processor. Once it feels polished, that’s when I make it loud - normally utilising serial maximizers and limiters to achieve maximum loudness the song can tastefully handle if it’s a single or the loudness that makes sense relative to the rest of the tracks in the album if it’s a collection of songs.
What type of music have you worked on? What type of music do you prefer to work on?
Oh gosh, it’s been a huge variety which I am so grateful for. So far, it’s been ranging from Alt Rock to Grunge Electronic to Country Pop to R&B/Soul to Americana Folk to EDM and that is all just off the top of my head. I can’t say I have a preference because good music is good music, and the independent artists I’ve been working with make such amazing pieces and bodies of work. It’s all been music I genuinely enjoy! The more outside of my normal listening rotation it is, the more fun it is to work on honestly. It flexes another part of my brain.
What’s the ideal artist-mastering engineer relationship like? Ideal artist-producer relationship? Communication style?
I tend to let the artist be as involved as they want to be in both processes. Sometimes it’s just them passing the baton and handing it off to me. Sometimes it’s a lot more involved, and I love when it is. For production work, it’s heavily collaborative, delving into every little detail. While it’s less typical for artists to be a part of the mastering process, I try to invite them in because it transforms a technical process and roots it into the creative intention for the songs. For example, I like to do an intake session with artists when possible where we sit and listen through all their songs. Then we talk and dream about what brings the pieces together and what sets them apart.Whenever I’ve done it, it’s been really fun for the artist to talk it through and I think it also helps folks understand the beauty and importance of the mastering process. After all the work they put into a piece - from the demos to the composition and arrangement and production and mix - to be able to encourage artists to zoom out and appreciate the bigger picture is a really good practice that is the crux of the mastering process.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you approach production? How would you describe your style as a producer?
It’s funny how lately I’ve been approached more for collaborations because of how punchy my bass and drum production is when that truly used to be such a weak point for me. I’m such a nerd for synthesis and creating these full-spectrum, evolving synth keys that would take over my whole mix and my bass and drums would always fall flat. Not any more though! Restraint is a beautiful thing.
Jokes aside, I think my favourite way to work is to jump into the demo session created by the artist and start cooking from there. A lot of songwriters produce their own songs in their bedroom on Logic or Ableton and, regardless of whether the production or mix is “strong”, I feel like those demos capture a moment in time in breathing life into a song and always holds an essence that’s good to build upon. It also empowers the artist in the production process, to see a session they started take a whole new shape. One of the first things I do is improve on the drums and bass, since that tends to be the foundation of the groove - creating a new and cohesive “kit” of sounds, rearranging the parts to lock in together, “humanising” the performance since I produce electronically. Then start to apply those practices to all the other parts. I mix as I go because for my brain those go hand in hand in digital production.
I’d say my style is an organic electronic style. I didn’t grow up with analog synths and drum machines or mics to record acoustic instruments properly, so it’s made me become really good at taking synthesized and sample-based software instruments, and making them messy and imperfect in an authentic way.
Can you describe your mastering in-room setup? Where do you master and how important is that relationship with the room? Do you find it easy to master in any environment?
I tend to alternate between two spaces, my home setup and Studio G at Power Station. At home, I have iLoud Micro monitors, an AT M50, a DT770 and DT 990 for closed-back and open-back headphone options, and the Arturia AudioFuse Studio interface. Before having access to a professional mix room like Studio G, that’s all I was working with so I had collected a good variety of monitoring options and an interface with premium AD/DA converters, and gotten quite good at mastering in my space out of necessity. Being in Studio G, however, is by far my favourite. The Westlakes and the ATC SCM-25s perpetually live in the room, but I throw in some NS-10s or ProAcs for a third monitoring option to get better clarity in the mid-range. For electronic pieces, I like to run them through the Pultec EQPs and Neve 33609 stereo compressor in the room, to give it some saturation, shine and fullness. I experience much less fatigue from monitoring in a treated room, and it allows me to feel the music I’m working on better in context when listening in a space. While I could master anywhere, I make an effort to master at the studio for those reasons.
In the last decade the lines between mixing and mastering have been blurred, many people “master” in their mix session. Do you ever work that way, mastering multitracks, or do you work exclusively with 2-tracks?
I don’t ever master in my mixing sessions. I find that doing that has a higher chance of you falling into a spiral and not committing to your work. I did say earlier that I mix as I produce, but I think those are processes that lend well to each other, as opposed to the mixing and mastering process which are better done separately in my opinion. Dropping my 2-track mix into a new session for mastering resets my brain for the next phase. I have done stem mastering, which I do think can helpful in certain situations where the mix could use a general re-balancing, however I prefer working with a 2-track mix because the artist and the mixer tend to be attached and accustomed to the final mix they’ve landed on, so it’s better to work from that point and elevate it.
Can you tell us a bit about what it’s like working at such an iconic studio in NYC? Any cool stories you can share?
I cannot even begin to describe how working as an up-and-coming engineer at Power Station has fundamentally sharpened my abilities for the better. Our studios are used for film shoots, concerts, album-listening parties, music conferences, and more. We work on recording sessions where we have to tie several studios from different floors together. For example, this past summer, we had a session where the conductor and horn players were in our Blackbox Theatre, drums and bass in Studio G, strings in Studio E, twenty vocalists in Studio C, and they’re all scattered across 5 floors and all recording at the same time on the Neve VRP console in C. Insane! It’s hard work but it feels exciting when we pull off sessions like that without a hitch. The technical capabilities of Power Station, analog and digital capabilities, are of such high calibre that it has challenged and strengthened my abilities exponentially.
What are some dream studios you’d like to visit/work in?
Capitol Studios has always been a dream to work in, but honestly this question is inspiring me to carve out more time to visit the various studios across NYC because there are SO many - from production houses to historic studios. Within NYC, Daptone Records in Bushwick has been a big one on my list to visit and work in.
You’re currently based in NYC, right? How do you like New York? Ever thought about moving anywhere else?
I am currently living in Brooklyn and I really love it. There is always something to do, something interesting and fresh happening, and I’ve had a really lovely time building genuine community within New York. I’m from India and grew up in South Africa, and NYC has an interesting combination of the big city energy of Mumbai, the creative energy of Johannesburg, and its own unique amalgamation of cultures and histories. The history of garage house music being born in NYC was a specific historical fact I was geeked about, hearing stories from engineers and music lovers who would frequent Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. I can’t say I’ve really thought about moving elsewhere. There is so much I’m still learning in NY, about NY, and about myself living here.
What advice would you give to other mastering engineers and producers just getting started?
I think a lot of us in this digital age, such as myself being a kid of the new millennium, start out in a purely digital manner in our music production and understandings about music-making - working totally in-the-box and solitarily- but my advice is to really get curious and delve into the history, the way music was made prior to the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Understanding that pretty much anything in your DAW is an emulation of an actual piece of hardware. It had to be physically routed all together to work, and learning about that informs your skills in your DAW tenfold. A mix on a console sometimes needed 3 people to choreograph and live perform any automation they were printing to tape prior to consoles having motorised faders. Every piece of hardware had a team of technicians who were dedicated to maintenance and repair of that gear, and also creatively modified gear for their needs. A lot of these histories are alive and well in recording studios, but if you don’t have access to one, it’s still helpful to simply learn about these analog processes. Music is a collective process, and it’s important to ground ourselves in this.
What’s the hardest part of being a freelancer? How much of your time is spent looking for new projects versus working on current projects?
I feel quite lucky to have consistent freelance work coming in for the past couple years, primarily as a hired producer, mixing and/or mastering engineer but also occasionally as a recording engineer. I think I’ve been finding that balancing my time between work, when it is such a passion of mine, and my life, existing as a human being outside of the machine, has been a constant learning curve. There are weeks where I feel like I’m in such a positive balanced flow, and weeks where I feel so out of control. I’m learning that making time for my loved ones and being out in the world at shows or in nature, not just stuck at the studio or stuck in my work, are not only better for my quality of life, but also it’s what makes me better at what I do as a creative, so it’s just as important to prioritise those moments as much as I do my projects.
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