Who is Primal Mastering

Primal Mastering is Luke Finlay

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Mastering has always been Lukes forefront passion in audio engineering.

Once Luke had mastered his first tracks whilst studying at SAE he never looked back. Always pushing to develop his craft and work to make his clients work sound the best it can.

Luke found his passion for audio while working on live sound for theatre productions and playing in metal bands while he was growing up.

 

This passion led him to further his education at SAE Auckland. Luke graduated from SAE with a Bachelor's Degree in Recording Arts, with a written dissertation on mastering, "Mastering as a Robot", looking at the differences in human mastering vs automated mastering systems.

Following his education, Luke cut his teeth freelancing and worked alongside Chris Chetland at Kog studios. At Kog he worked recording, mixing, doing post production, voice over work and general studio jobs.

 

Through his time spent at both Kog and Gearshoot, Luke developed his love for analog gear and quickly started to move into analog mastering.
Luke has always mastered through analog gear as he finds it the most hands on intuitive approach to bringing out the best in music. And of-course, well maintained good quality analog gear sounds the best. 

 

Luke has also had the fortune of working on sessions, and learning from esteemed international engineers. This list includes Guy Massey, Dave Eringa, Romesh Dodangoda, Clint Murphy, Gil Norton and Greg Haver.

 

Away from the studio, Luke is an accomplished live sound engineer.

To date he has been trusted to work on everything from theatre, corporate shows through to FOH and patch on some of Aotearoa’s largest festival stages.