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F luid Mastering was formed in late 2006 by Tim Debney & Nick Watson, both formerly Mastering Engineers at London’s renowned Townhouse Studios.

Tim & Nick each have over 30 years experience, mastering music in every style from traditional Rock, Jazz and Folk through to more contemporary electronic Dance, R&B and Pop.

Having each enjoyed five years working in the prestigious environment of the Townhouse, they decided in 2006 that it was time to strike out on their own and built Fluid Mastering in Hammersmith. Fluid Mastering soon established itself as one of the leading mastering facilities in London.

In 2021 Fluid Mastering doubled its capacity, building new studios in Bristol and Surrey and leaving behind the London premises which had served its purpose over the first 15 years of the company.

Fluid Mastering combines major-studio experience and superior technical facilities, with a streamlined cost-effective business approach. This gives us the ability to be more flexible and adaptable to the needs of our clients, as well as keeping their costs down where necessary.

“We aim to provide our industry clients with the reliability and professionalism they are used to, whilst at the same time offering a personal and accessible service to independent artists and seasoned professionals alike.”

Whether you’re a new band or songwriter preparing to post your demos online
for the first time or an established artist / producer looking for a dependable UK mastering solution, Fluid Mastering are here to help.

The services on offer include both attended and unattended (online) mastering, vinyl cutting, re-mastering, editing and restoration. For further details make a selection from our SERVICES menu.

The Engineers

A gorgeous room full of lots of lovely equipment isn’t going to cut the mustard unless it’s in the hands of an experienced creative engineer who understands your music and how to get the results you’re looking for.

Read on to meet the guys….

Tim Debney

Mastering Engineer

Tim began his interest in sound engineering when messing about with samplers, synthesisers, recording and mixing as a teenager, which has led to his releasing many tracks for various labels (such as Acid Jazz) to this day. Soon after finishing University in 1994 Tim started training as a sound engineer at the legendary rehearsal and recording complex Nomis Studios. Here Tim engineered for many of the top selling acts of the 1990’s and also many classic bands from previous decades in all musical genres from Rock, Pop, R&B, Soul and Dance to Classical and Jazz. This, Tim believes, gave a good base for understanding how differing genres of music should be mixed and balanced and would prove invaluable to his future mastering career.

Tim’s mastering career began only a few years later in 1997, when his sound engineering skills and expertise in the field of computers and music technology resulted in his being asked to run Nomis’ new mastering facility, Sonix. It was not long before Tim was mastering albums and singles for the likes of The Orb, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, James Taylor Quartet and Lauryn Hill to name a few.

It was also during this period that Tim acquired his skills in the fields of sound restoration and re-mastering, working on many albums on ASV’s Living Era label and Sanctuary Records’ vast back catalogue.

Having always had a love of vinyl, Tim seized the opportunity to train as a cutting engineer when he moved to the world famous Townhouse Studios in 2002, and before long was cutting records for some of the world’s most prominent artists. Tim believes that the discipline of vinyl cutting took his mastering skills to a whole new level, thanks to the demanding challenge of transferring music successfully onto this unforgiving and much-loved medium.
It was at the ‘Townhouse’ that Tim’s mastering career really took off and he was soon mastering for Major labels such as Mercury, EMI, Parlophone, Sony-BMG, Island Records, including recent albums and singles by artists such as Lily Allen, The Charlatans, Kasabian, The Fratellis, Keane, Orson and Sandi Thom.

See Tim's Selected Discography

Vukovi | Iris | Moyka | Blossoms | Aurora | The Vamps | The Strypes | Razorlight | Pixie Lott | Lily Allen | Noah And The Whale | Thom Yorke | Frankmusik | Mumford and Sons | Keane | Killing Joke | Alison Moyet | Blancmange | UB40 | Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry | Kimberley Walsh | Amy Macdonald | The Lumineers | Melody Gardot | Primal Rock Rebellion | Tippa Irie | Biffy Clyro | Eric Lau | Petula Clark | Kenny Thomas | Hiatus | Encore | L Marshall | Hayley Westenra | Bo Saris | Alfie Boe | Les Fleur De Lys | Anthony And The Johnsons | Sufjan Stevens | DaVinChe | Imelda May | The Treatment | Turbogeist | Honey Ryder | Glenn Hughes | Mika | McFly | Sugababes | Jarvis Cocker | Jerry Fish And The Mudbug Club | Marc Bolan | Elvis Presley | Arcade Fire | Bo Bruce | Dirty Pretty Things | Dot Rotten | Fixers | Jake Bugg | Iggy Azelea | Johnny Flynn | Maverick Sabre | Niki And The Dove | Noisettes | One Night Only | Rainy Milo | Seye | Dawes | Scott Stroman | Shena | Simple Minds | Sophie Ellis Bextor | The Decemberists | Dylan LeBlanc | Esben And The Witch | Vampire Weekend | The Libertines | Warpaint | Sally Oldfield | Caravan | The Damned | Motorhead | Iron Maiden | The Sport | Ash | The Enemy | The Young Knives | Desmond Dekker | Dennis Brown | Horace Andy | Jimmy Cliff | Victoria And Jacob | Gabrielle Aplin | Aqualise | Rachel Dadd | The Mariner’s Children | Children Of Bodom | Dru Blu | Krept And Konan | New Killer Shoes | Sneakbo | Eric Whitacre | The Specials | The Christians | The Fratellis

for further details including videos and purchasing information visit our clients gallery

Nick Watson

Mastering Engineer

T he son of a prominent guitar teacher and session musician, Nick’s interest in sound engineering began with compiling mix-tapes at home and deepened when he and his school band-mates experimented with recording their own 4-track demos.

His fascination with the mechanics of sound was further developed when Nick studied for a degree in Electro-Acoustics at Salford University. This was followed by a couple of years working in recording studios before Nick found his true vocation in 1990, kicking off his career in mastering at SRT in Cambridge – a mastering and manufacturing facility known for servicing the UK independent scene.

During this eclectic period in which Nick cut his teeth mastering all manner of independent projects in every conceivable genre, he also earned an enviable reputation for the re-mastering and occasional remixing of catalogue material; producing acclaimed reissues by artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple.

Fast forward to the end of the decade; Nick moved on to London’s renowned Townhouse studios where he broadened his experience still further, combining the precision and versatility of digital tools with the character, depth and visceral impact which a high quality analogue signal path can provide.

It was during this time that Nick met Tim Debney, and together they hatched a plan to open a new studio, offering a quality service in line with London’s best, whilst keeping overheads to a minimum in order to pass the savings on to their clients, and so in 2006 Fluid Mastering came to be.

The fifteen years or so since then have seen Fluid’s reputation grow, becoming the mastering studio of choice for niche and major labels alike; as well as catering directly to self-funded artists of course. In this time Nick has mastered albums for award winning Folk artists such as Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker, Sam Lee, and Brighde Chaimbeul; Jazz artists such as Ian Shaw, Andrew McCormack and Melt Yourself Down; Rock artists such as Dinosaur Pile-Up and Black Metal architects Venom, and Pop artists including Pixie Lott, Gabrielle Aplin and Seal, as well as Indie bands such as Embrace, Sundara Karma and Sea Girls. In addition to new material, Nick has also enjoyed remastering in High Resolution Audio classic albums by Howard Jones, Chris Rea and The Pentangle, the eponymous 2nd album by The Libertines and The Feeling’s double platinum debut Twelve Stops and Home.

See Nick's Selected Discography

Jethro Tull | The Zutons | Black Grape | Deno | Cast | Howard Jones | Seal | Hawkwind | The Feeling | The Longest Johns | Jim Bob | Stephan Moccio | Benny Cristo | Pam Rabbit | Dinosaur Pile-Up | Trevor Horn | Sea Girls | Chris Rea | Little Man Tate | Black Midi | Bastille | Ronan Keating | Embrace | Sundara Karma | Fairport Convention | Toyah | (British) Sea Power | Jasdeep Singh Degun | The Residents | Pere Ubu | Night Flight | Cornershop | Jah Wobble | The Clockworks | Dodgy | Kris Drever | Ferris & Sylvester | Ian Shaw | Judi Jackson | Natalie Williams | Ruby Turner | Jacqui Dankworth | Gregory Porter | Gabrielle Aplin | Starsailor | Melt Yourself Down | Melanie C | James Walsh | Lisa Knapp | Josienne Clarke | Brighde Chaimbeul | Ben Walker | Gerry Diver | Lisa O’Neill | James Patrick Gavin | Kirsty Merryn | Bill Jones | TEYR | Ian Anderson | Tess Parks | Susheela Raman |  Mercury Rev | The Libertines | Alice Russell | Inspiral Carpets | The Membranes | The London Lasses | Shri | Andrew McCormack | Noemi Nuti | Rachel Zeffira | Matt Berry | Warpaint | The Correspondents | Billy Bragg | Pulp | The Strokes | John Martyn |Gary Numan | Venom | Pixie Lott | Sam Lee | Sam Carter | FM | Romeo’s Daughter | Yazoo | Katie Melua | Thea Gilmore | Tina May | Lazy Habits | Jammer | RK | The Undertones | The Fall | Baby Bird |  Flook | Bert Jansch | The Egg | The Raincoats | Elio Pace | Paul Young | The Blow Monkeys | Therapy? | Swervedriver | Hundred Reasons | Faith No More | Melissa James | Mike Batt | Downton Abbey | Jamie Cullum | The Kinks | The Small Faces | Deep Purple | Petula Clark | Motörhead | The Sex Pistols | The Damned | Steve Winwood | The Nice | Marc Bolan | Fleetwood Mac | Jon Lord | Peter Green & Splinter Group | Status Quo | Procul Harum | Iron Maiden | Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five | Shalamar | The Whispers | The Chairmen of the Board | Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons | Gregory Isaacs | Dennis Brown | Toots & The Maytals | John Holt | Bob Marley | Lee “Scratch” Perry | The Skatalites | The Pioneers | King Tubby

for further details including videos and purchasing information visit our clients gallery

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