Balancing Act Mastering engineer Jett Galindo on building an inclusive industry, and the art of a finely tuned mix.
By
Darry Madden
June 5, 2023
Jett Galindo
Roxette, the Bangles, Bananarama, Heart.
In the Philippines of her youth, Jett Galindo B.M. '12 was awash in the sounds of a vibrant pop cover-band culture, one that extended straight into her home.
My childhood was pop music, Galindo says. Her mother and father had a business training and managing these cover bands, and young Jett was tasked with keeping her parents up on the trends and new songs on MTV.
Her path to becoming a mastering engineer began here, but included a few more stops along the way, because inside this pop music kid was also a tinkerer, a techie, and a classical soprano.
When she was 19, Galindo's choral group toured the U.S., and it was on this tour that she met a Berklee alumnus who connected her with the college. At Berklee, where she majored in music production and engineering, a professor introduced her to the legendary engineer Doug Sax. He ran L.A.'s Mastering Lab, the first independent mastering studio (opened in 1967) and helped shape the sound of a tremendous amount of pop music in the '70s and '80s, including Pink Floyd, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones.
Mastering is essentially trying to make your music loud. That sounds simple enough, but it's very hard.
- Jett Galindo
Sax, whom Galindo cites as her mentor, died only two years after she arrived in Los Angeles to work with him. She stayed in L.A. and is now at the Bakery as one of its three mastering engineers.
Mastering, for those who don't know the finer points of this often misunderstood part of the musical puzzle, is the final step in audio post-production. Its goal is to balance the stereo mix and ensure that the track sounds its best across all media formats.
Mastering is essentially trying to make your music loud, says Galindo. That sounds simple enough, but it's very hard because you also don't want to make your music loud at the expense of its integrity. There is a tendency for people to just keep pushing the volume, but then you end up distorting it. Your music ends up brittle and saturated. It's really a fine balancing act.
As is so much in life, as Galindo can attest. In addition to her main job, she continues to perform in chorales, cuts vinyl at the Bakery, and is active in several nonprofits, including Women in Vinyl and SoundGirls, both of which represent women in audio. This representation is a cause that's close to her heart.
There's still work to be done in getting women into this field. There's really no reason for it to be that less than 5 percent of the engineers engineering the Billboard Hot 100 are women, she says, adding, Organizations like SoundGirls are very important-it's important that women feel that we should lift each other up.
For Galindo, this belief extends to all underrepresented voices in the arts.
I've been getting a lot of work from demographic groups that never had mastering services available to them before. The Philippines, I believe, still doesn't have an independent, standalone mastering facility. It was only recently that pop music in the Philippines became properly mastered on a standard basis.
When she was a kid, she says, the question in the Philippine music industry was: Why doesn't the music in our country sound like the Top 40s?
The answer, she says, comes down to how the music is engineered: A big part of that is making sure that your music sounds competitive when played against other music on a playlist, and making sure the frequency response of the music is within the same tonal balance curves as the Top 40s or a specific genre, she says. And a big part of that is mastering.
This article appeared in the spring/summer 2023 issue of Berklee Today.
Related Categories
Berklee Today
News
Most Popular
Image by Libby Danforth
Viral TikTok Song If I Were a Fish Is a Joyous Call for Acceptance Berklee alum Corrine Savage, who performs as corook, wrote the song with their partner as a way to cope with feeling unaccepted by society for being different.
Latest
Charlie Rosen 12 won his second Tony Award for Best Orchestrations, this one for Some Like It Hot.
Image by Nessie Nankivell
Three Alumni from Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory Win Tony Awards Conservatory alumni Ben Simpson and Mike Mosallam won for Best Revival of a Musical, while College alum Charlie Rosen '12 won his second Tony for Best Orchestrations.
Susan Rogers
Searching for a Song's Emotional Arc
Corinne Savage B.M. '17 performs as corook.
Image by Libby Danforth
After a TikTok Hit, corook Gets Serious (Sort Of) The humor and sincerity of if i were a fish struck a chord with alum Corinne Savages listeners. Their new EP proves it was anything but a one-off.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
12/11/2026
Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...
12/11/2026
Tagboard has launched Spark Resize, an AI-assisted tool now in beta that takes an existing graphic and produces a new version for a different aspect ratio or sc...
Balancing Act Mastering engineer Jett Galindo on building an inclusive industry, and the art of a finely tuned mix.
