Jonáš Gruska — Lunar Mastering

Selected works

Prezident Lourajder

Úrad

Prezident Lourajder – Úrad

Alternative hip-hop from Slovakia.

Client: Prezident Lourajder
Role: Mix & Mastering
Year: 2015

Inheritance

Frames

Inheritance – Frames

Fusion math-rock from Czechoslovakia.

Client: Inheritance
Role: Mastering
Year: 2014

Amen Tma

Insect Phonetics Research

Amen Tma – Insect Phonetics Research

Incredibely dense psychedelic gamelan poly-techno. Mastered in collaboration with Angakok Thoth.

Client: LOM label
Role: Mastering
Year: 2014

EGA

Northward

EGA – Northward

Solo debut of Bratislava's electronica legend.

Client: Exitab Label
Role: Mastering
Year: 2014

Aches

Castle Ghosts

Aches – Castle Ghosts

Newest release by Aches – Jonathan Fox.

Client: Exitab Label
Role: Mastering
Year: 2014

Foundling

Wake up in bits

Foundling – Wake up in bits

Mastering for beautiful ambient project named "Foundling".

Client: Exitab Label
Role: Mastering and tape duplication
Year: 2014

Angakkut

Unshaped Unspoken

Angakkut - Unshaped Unspoken

Vinyl mastering for Slovak post-rock-ambient band.

Client: LOM Label
Role: Vinyl mastering
Year: 2013

Sky to Speak

Ruin

Sky to Speak – Ruin

Beautiful post-rock album, released on Exitab Label.

Client: Exitab Label
Role: Mastering and Tape Duplication
Year: 2013

Jacques Kustod

Hit the Lights

Jacques Kustod - Hit the Lights

Techno space odyssey, released on Exitab Label.

Client: Exitab Label
Role: Mastering and Tape Duplication
Year: 2013

András Cséfalvay

Funeral the Musical

András Cséfalvay - Funeral the Musical

Harpsi-pop opera, released by LOM Label.

Client: LOM Label
Role: Mastering
Year: 2013

Daniel Kordík

[Sy][ria]

Daniel Kordík - [Sy][ria]

Fine collage of field recordings from Syria and modular synthesis, released by LOM label.

Client: Daniel Kordík
Role: Mastering
Year: 2013

Cave Art

Piña Colada

Cave Art - Piña Colada

Main task was restoration of rather lo-fi recording from a performance - taming of the unpleasant high frequencies and rather excessive dynamics. All that while trying to preserve the qualities of their rather special DIY synthesizers.

Client: Cave Art
Role: Mastering
Year: 2013

Binmatu

Crystylys

Binmatu - Crystylys

Binmatu - Crystylys is an album composed and mastered by Jonas Gruska. Binmatu works on different levels than regular music. It has to be experienced for longer time. When you open your ears and eyes and perceive carefully, it reaches in the deepest corners of mind, through brain-twisting modulations of oscillators and hypnotizing visuals.

Client: Personal work
Role: Composer, Mastering
Year: 2013

Poo

Kappa-Opioid Gain Bonus EP

Poo - Kappa-Opioid Gain Bonus EP

Exclusive EP by legendary slovak experimental duo Poo.

Client: Poo
Role: Mastering
Year: 2013

Jonas Gruska

Nocturnal oscillations for one

Jonas Gruska - Nocturnal oscillations for one

Nocne oscilacie pre jedneho, "Nocturnal oscillations for one", is a set of four compositions by Jonas Gruska, recorded in analog study of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Works have arisen during many evening studio meditations and are reflecting mainly intimate topics, such as loneliness and contrast of human being amongst machines.

Client: Personal work
Role: Composition, Mastering
Year: 2012

Mrkva / Bolka

Experimental, avant-garde music release by LOM label.

Client: LOM
Role: Composition, Mastering
Year: 2012

Biography

Born in Czechoslovakia. Studied at Institute of Sonology in The Hague (The Netherlands) and at Music Academy in Cracow (Poland). Works mostly with computers and electronics as a musician and sound artist in his projects Mrkva and Binmatu.

During his studies, he took classes with legends such as Bastiaan Kuijt (SACD and surround mastering expert) and Paul Jeukendrup (sound engineer working with K. Stockhausen and many others).

Jonas Gruska gave workshops on city sonification and programming for artists, performed and exhibited his work in Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia; on festivals such as Kraak (Belgium), Audio Art (Poland) or Next (Slovakia). In 2011 he started label LOM focused on East/Central European experimental art and music.

Equipment

Monitoring
Dynaudio DBM50 with Dynaudio digital volume control
Beyerdynamic DT-880 Pro / DT-770 Pro

AD/DA
RME Fireface UC

Software and Metering
Cockos Reaper
Voxengo GlissEQ
Voxengo HarmoniEQ
Voxengo SPAN
Voxengo Elephant
Eventide UltraChannel
Eventide UltraReverb
RME DigiCheck

Analog touch
Tesla EMP124 (mixing console)
Sony TC-366 (reel-to-reel machine)

Recording and duplication
Sound Devices 702 (portable recorder)
Tascam 122MKII (studio cassette tape deck)
Zoom H6 (portable recorder)
Oktava MK-319, Rode NTG-3, various custom binaural microphones, hydrophones, contact microphones

Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Email: jonas@lunar.audio

Services

I am offering various creative and technical audio services, including:

Mastering for CD, web or vinyl
Limited-run tape (cassette) duplication
Postproduction, sound editing and re-mixing
Composing and sound design
Custom audio software and hardware

Rates

Mastering
6 € / minute of material (30 € minimum)

E.g. 30 minute album would cost you 180 €.
Price includes infinite amount of revisions, standard CD/MC/Vinyl master.
Preparation of Redbook CD, DDP and restoration work costs extra.

Tape Duplication
Write me an e-mail. I do limited runs only, on professional Tascam 122MKII decks.

Free sample

In case you are not absolutely sure what mastering can bring to your material, I am offering free sample mastering of one track.

Clients

Eschii
Zoo and the Aquarium
Inheritance
gateio
Nvmeri
LOM label
Angakkut
Amen Tma
András Cséfalvay
Daniel Kordík
Cave Art
Exitab label
Aches
EGA
Inheritance
Jacques Kustod
Sky To Speak
Foundling
Divadelný Ústav
Poisonous Relationship
Poo
FVLCRM
Still Life

Testimonials

"I am very happy with the skill, care and attitude Jonas takes with his mastering process. He spends time and effort with you really paying attention to your ideas and often going above and beyond the call of duty. Your tracks return bright, defined and in harmony with each other, truly magic. Fully recommended."
Jonathan Fox, Aches & Foundling

"Really like Jonas delicate mastering approach. Especially how well he tamed down the whole mix. It ends up being smoother and well balanced, treating a listener with the more accurate sonic experience."
Daniel Kordík

"First time we listened to the finished master, it just felt like the sound is more physical and bright. Altogether it was balanced and louder just enough to not to lose the dynamics of the music, which we praise. Details are more apparent and it finally has the right punch. The mastering process has been crafted with thoroughness and a big respect to the nature of the music material. I can't think of better resumé than Lunar Mastering really know how to make your tracks sound right."
Matěj Kotouček, Sky to Speak

"Mastering services by Lunar Mastering are going beyond your standard mastering offer. If you are willing to take a word of advice, Jonas is always happy to assist and advice, and pretty well. Also, he totally met my expectations regarding sound of my release after consultation, I really like this approach which makes entire thing more collaborative. Totally worth it!"
Kabal, Jacques Kustod

Submissions

Export requirements:

WAV or AIFF
44.1kHz/48kHz/88kHz/96kHz sample rate and 24/32 bit resolution
Dithering and normalization OFF
No limiter, no clipping
Leave a bit of headroom for my work, ideally 6dB or more
Upload via WeTransfer

In your inquiry, let me know:

If you want me to arrange the order of the tracks
Your ideas about the final sound (attach a reference track(s) if necessary)
Which media will be used for delivery (CD, vinyl, MC…)