I work from 8.30am until 5.30pm in a research and development facility. At least two-thirds of my time is spent listening or making acoustic measurements of vibrations, using lasers. I listen in an anechoic chamber, which is a special room where all the sound is absorbed rather than being reflected off the walls. It makes it easier to hear tiny variations in sounds. I listen to live music, anything from a solo voice to a full orchestra, because it provides the best reference to hear how realistic it sounds. The aim is to get all the acoustic information intact from the concert hall to the listeners' ears.

I've always been fascinated by sound -- in my teens, I used to build loudspeakers. Now I get paid to listen to music. I love going to live events, and one of the things I really enjoy about my job is the challenge of developing an illusion of listening to the real thing, instead of being at home listening to a recording.

This is strictly one man's opinion; over the years I have mastered countless albums where the first song on the album was also sonically the worst sounding song on the album. The majority of the time it was also the A single from the album. And, in my opinion, it was not coincidental that it would almost always be the first song mixed, and if I checked with the engineer it would also be the first or second song tracked. The reason is obvious: everyone's excited to get the best stuff done so they can hear the finished tracks or mix. But in either tracking or mixing things get refined as you progress - the engineer is usually tweaking everything from mic placement to eq as the tracking progresses; the mix engineer refines eq, effects, separation etc. I've mastered many albums where the least impressive songs on the album just jumped sonically while the A material sounded lifeless.

IF IT AINT OLD,IT AINT SKOOL.!