Johannes Frank [Feinklang Mastering]

Johannes Frank’s Feinklang Mastering Studios in Leipzig is one of the go-to places for professional mastering in Germany.

His clients include artists such as Meynberg, Thelma Malar and Imminence as well as labels such as Audiolith and Golden Ticket. Since 2023, his studio has officially held the title “Dolby Atmos certified music studio”.

Johannes Frank grew up in a musical family, played in a band in his youth and developed the desire to make music production his life’s work while studying sound engineering at the SAE Institute in Leipzig. Inspired by his tutor at the time, Torsten Rödel, he was particularly enthusiastic about the challenge of working out the finest nuances in pieces of music and realizing them technically.

This is how Johannes Frank eventually made took his first steps in the field of mastering. He describes the appeal of mastering as follows: “Being able to realize what artists often can’t put into words themselves and to find and bring out that special something in every piece of music – that’s mastering for me. It’s an ongoing process of empathy and understanding.”

Johannes Frank founded the “Feinklang Mastering Studio” in 2014, which initially was based in his own flat. In 2016, he then moved to his own studio premises in the west of Leipzig. The 100 m² studio houses a 42 m² control room, designed as a room-in-room construction and built entirely by himself to a high acoustic standard.

“For my customers, it’s the place to feel at ease. Here they can be sure that their precious works will be received with heart and empathy and processed in the best possible way. For me, it’s a wonderful place for dialogue, and with every conversation and every title, it’s a new inspiration and a never-ending learning process,” says Johannes Frank about his studio.

In 2022, Johannes Frank discovered Dolby Atmos as a new field of interest and decided to offer this format in his studio in the future. Together with the Dolby Germany/Europe team and ADAM Audio, the optimal setup for his room was designed and the project was finally realized in late summer 2023. Since then, S3V, A44H and A4V studio monitors as well as Sub12 subwoofers have been used there.

“In connection with the upgrade to Dolby Atmos, the DSP of the S3V and A4V helps me immensely with adjusting the sound and time alignment. And the fact that everything runs ‘offline’ on the speakers without having to activate any additional software is brilliant. The high level of user-friendliness allows me to make the studio available to external productions without much training.”

Johannes Frank has been using studio monitors from ADAM Audio ever since his studies. A first pair of A3Xs was later supplemented by a Sub8 and finally replaced by a combination of S3X-V monitors and a Sub12. With the expansion to Dolby Atmos, the next upgrade to the latest product generation from the A Series and S Series took place.