Hi, I'm Gary Katz. I’m a mastering engineer with over two decades of experience helping artists and labels turn great mixes into records that translate across every playback system.

Mastering is a highly specialized art form—one that suits my ears, my focus, and my lifelong passion for sound perfectly. Every time I sit down in the studio, I feel incredibly fortunate to listen to all variations of mixed stereo art, adding that final sonic dimension to a project before it is released to the world.

Two Decades of Sonic Experience

Over my 20+ year career, I have worked alongside bands, solo artists, duets, choirs, brass ensembles, orchestral projects, and live concerts. This diverse background has given me deep insight into the intricacies of sound and recording.

A few career highlights include:

• Artist Collaboration: Working with a wide range of incredible New Zealand and international artists, including Tiki Taane and Sir Richard O'Brien.

• Voice Engineering: Recording and engineering Sir Richard O’Brien’s voice-over performance as the father in Disney’s wildly popular animation, Phineas and Ferb.

• Commercial Sound Design: Crafting audio assets for tourism, real estate, and automated telecommunication platforms.

• Radio Production: Cutting my teeth in my early twenties as a production engineer for a major New Zealand media company, where I fell in love with analogue gear and the mixing/mastering process.

A Musician’s Ear for Your Music

Being a multi-instrumentalist myself, my love for music started at a very early age (in my teens, "fun" meant locking myself in a room with a keyboard and massive speakers). I play bass guitar, drums, piano, keyboards, and guitar. In my Auckland studio, I write and compose on a beautiful 1974 Yamaha Spinet piano.

Over the years, I’ve played in various bands, won local band competitions, and performed at the Parachute Music Festival—the Southern Hemisphere's largest music festival of its time. Because I live and breathe music, I understand the emotion behind your tracks. My job is to carry that beauty, story, and emotion straight into the final master.

The Studio & My Process

I run my mastering suite from my home in Auckland, New Zealand, alongside my wonderful wife and best friend who keeps me inspired to chase excellence. My studio is a fully acoustically treated environment designed for absolute precision.

Working with tape and reel-to-reel gear early in my career taught me to love the unique tone of hardware. Because of this, I run a hybrid mastering setup that combines premium digital plugins with boutique analogue processors. This allows me to sculpt your sound naturally—adding subtle warmth, stereo width, or powerful low-end weight to your signal where needed.

I firmly believe that AI will never compete with a natural human ear. Music is an emotional art form. When I listen to your track for the first time, I close my eyes to remove all distractions, tap into the feel of the song, and build the layers of sonic polish your art deserves.

My Studio Setup (The "Not-So-Secret" Sauce):

• Conversion: MOTU Ultralite MK5 Mastering-Grade Conversion

• Compression: Buzz Audio DBC-20 Diode Bridge Compressor

• EQ: Heritage Audio HA-73 EQX2 Dual Amp/EQ

• Analogue Colour: SSL (Solid State Logic) Fusion Stereo Analogue Colour

• Monitoring: Kali Audio IN-5 Monitors, Tannoy Mercury M1 Monitors, and a Velodyne 10-inch Subwoofer for deep bass definition

• DAW: PreSonus Studio One Professional & hundreds of mastering-grade digital plugins

Services & Rates

In addition to mastering, I offer professional mixing, post-production, and on-location recording services. If your project requires me to travel, I am more than happy to provide a no-obligation quote.

• Global Rates: $35 USD per track

• New Zealand Rates: $55 NZD per track

• Are you a brand-new artist or band preparing your next release? Head over to my sub-page to claim one of my limited Free Sample Masters to hear what I can do for your sound!

I’m Gary Katz, a mastering engineer with over two decades of experience helping artists and labels turn great mixes into records that translate across every playback system. I have always had a love and passion for sound but more specifically making things sound even better. Mastering is a very specialised art form and one that suits my interest and ear perfectly. I feel am blessed to be able to listen all variations of mixed stereo art and then be able to add a further dimension to the final master before release.