2026 is already shaping up to be a packed year at MONO THEORY, with an exciting lineup of stereo, 5.1, and 7.1.4 Atmos mixing, mastering, ADR, and Room Integration/alignments.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such a diverse range of talented musicians, labels, anime creators, and game studios—each project has been both challenging and rewarding in the best ways and I’m only getting better and better with each project completed.
If you’re looking to collaborate and create something amazing, let’s connect! I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together!
Back to regular programming – 2025 has been a fantastic and blessed year filled with amazing music and film/TV projects. I’m truly grateful to all my clients, both big and small, for trusting me with their creative visions for mastering, tracking, studio integration, and much more!
One of many things I’m excited to share is that I’ve now officially partnered with Sony Music Entertainment / Columbia Records as one of their Dolby Atmos service providers, fulfilling a long-held dream. This collaboration has opened new doors. Also another major milestone includes now having work in the anime industry, where I’ve been doing ADR for English dub releases.
I finally want to take a moment to thank Hacienda Audio / Matt Davis (@haciendamastering // @mattdavis808 ) for providing the space to constantly check alignment of masters and Atmos work. Your mentorship since 2018 has been invaluable, guiding me to where I am today.
New Music Releases for November:
• “Quantum” by DEYAZ (Columbia Records) // @deyaz
• The Storm EP - Eric Jafet // @ericjafet
• “Need You” – dark // @whoisdark__
• “Critical Mass” – Velvet Mirage // @velvet.mirage
ADR Anime Work | NYAV POST
• Disney’s TWISTED WONDERLAND // @disneyplus
• Little Amelie (Critic’s Choice Award Nominee for Best Animation 2025)
• Lupin the III - The Immortal Bloodline (2026
• EVERYTHING IS KILL (2026)
• Legends of HEI 2 (2026)
• 100 Meters
2026 will be a major year for other great projects, including something major I’ve been working on for the last decade. I’m looking forward to collaborating on new projects with new clients and friends, continually expanding the creative journey.
“Alignment: Subtronics”
📽️ Behind the scenes magic: Capturing the @HaciendaAudio x @Subtronics studio integration featuring those pristine PMC XBD monitors. Honored to assist Matt Davis with alignment and technical support on this beast of a setup.
Big shoutout to Jesse (@Subtronics ) for the incredible hospitality and genuine vibes throughout this project. Your passion for sound is contagious! 🙏
This is just the beginning - Part 1 of our multi-part documentary series drops today.
Filmed & produced by Myself @monotheoryinc
#StudioBuild #StudioDesign #MusicProduction #AudioEngineering #BassMusic #PMCSpeakers #StudioLife #SoundDesign #AudioPost #ProAudio #StudioTech #RecordingStudio #BehindTheScenes #MusicStudio #AudioTechnology #HaciendaAudio #Subtronics #BassMusic #EDM #MONOTHEORY
@amalgam510 and I have been working on mixes/masters for his upcoming release in the last few days at @haciendamastering . I’ve introduced a new practice of patching artists’ DAW digitally into the source channel of my mastering DAW so that I can build a mastering chain on the couch while the artist refines their mixes in the mix position. It has been a very effective, organic, and linear system for completing mixes/masters so far.
On Dillon’s second day at Hacienda @slackshane and @gekkobass developed a new classification of maximizer never seen before in audio which operates on alternate mechanics to traditional dynamic processing and is capable of raising perceptual detail/fullness without impacting dynamic range/peak level/distortion/harshness. We used this processor on its first ever master with one of Dillon’s tunes.
Our forthcoming plugin got some use on this album not only for mastering, but also for sound design purposes on basses in the mix stage and it proved more than capable for this application as well.
This plugin has received praise from multiple grammy winning engineers, industry leaders in electronic music, and purist/audiophile engineers in the last week alone, and we are working tirelessly to finalize it so you can all try it out.
Great couple of days at the studio, both Dillon and I both picked up some great new tricks.
Here’s a topic I don’t hear people talking about nearly enough in mastering/mixing/production: image collapse. Depending on who you talk to their description of what defines a stereo image may be very different. Some people who maybe work exclusively on headphones or on compromised monitoring care only about how far from left to right the image extends and how far beyond the speakers/sides of your head the image extends since that is what they primarily perceive in listening on their playback systems and subsequently value. Others may be particularly interested in fostering a holographic center image with a vocal or a snare or kick that is focal and resolved in the mid channel, which can jump in front of the speakers and articulate nearer to the listener. Some of us with full range WMT (woofer midrange tweeter) layouts on our monitors also are drawn to particularly tall images, I would think quite a few far field PMC users in particular are drawn to this quality. Bill Weird expressed it best of all to me once when he referred to the image as a big bubble that grows from between the front baffles of the speakers and extends towards the mix position, our job is to make that bubble as big as possible and make the least concessions which shrink or deform that bubble. All of these conditions partially describe what we hear as a “stereo image” and they are all at risk of degradation from the combination of processing decisions that comprise the mixing and mastering process.
cont. below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
The @subtronics LA build went real nicely, Jesse got himself a well behaved Bolt compliant room to start with and our treatment of the space yielded excellent performance from his @pmcspeakers_pro MB2s-XBD passives and Rythmik F15HP subwoofer. We also chopped his desk size down for improved imaging, as is my tendency.
This won’t be Jesse’s forever home and he had tons of GIK panels/soffits laying around so at his request we built a modular room employing those and augmented by rockwool backboxes. Modal control was provided by a sextet of our adjustable limp mass membrane traps resulting in a subrange with quite short decay times. @ajzonedesign 's lovely diffusers were employed as well to add a bit of liveliness back to what is otherwise a nonenvironment concept room.
We had to deliver a day and a half earlier than originally projected to facilitate a Subtronics x Griz collab session happening during our last two days in LA but we managed and the boys had a good time. I’ll be back soon when Jesse receives his pair of Rythmik F18s for alignment, I’ll report back. Big thanks to my team, @gardnsound , @slackshane , and @gekkobass for an excellent build execution.
Shane Slack is an Emmy-nominated mastering and post-production engineer, and the owner of Mono Theory, Inc., a Florida-based studio specializing in mastering, sound design, and Foley for music, television, and film. With credits spanning Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+, CBS, and Showtime, Shane has helped shape the sound of high-profile projects including Ted Lasso, The Umbrella Academy, NCIS: LA, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. A graduate of Valencia College’s Sound & Music Technology program, he’s also a member of the Recording Academy and the Audio Engineering Society, where he’s active in mastering education and diversity initiatives.
Drawing from early influences like Motown, reggae, and classic video game soundtracks, Shane’s work combines deep technical expertise with an ear for emotional storytelling. Whether mastering indie releases or handling sound for major media productions, he’s passionate about translating creative intent into mixes that connect across every playback system. Through Mono Theory, he continues to bridge the gap between art and acoustics—helping artists, producers, and filmmakers bring their sonic visions to life.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
- Why learning about mastering first is a smart decision
- Production and mixing mistakes that often need to be fixed by a mastering engineer
- Understanding psychoacoustics
- How to double-track instruments for better translation and phase
- Why phase correction is so crucial for proper mix translation
- Checking mixes in mono
- Using mid-side EQ
- How to make mixing easier, simply by being careful with instrument voicing
- Why it’s better to use multiple compressors, rather than only one
- Developing your audio skills faster by taking your time
- Asking yourself “why” when you’re making the moves you’re making
Check out the episode here: /podcastep283shaneslack/
Today we’re highlighting @slackshane ’s recent work mixing @deyaz ’s ‘QUANTUM’ EP in Dolby Atmos. Dolby Atmos is a polarizing topic, however I think we can all agree pushing the emotion of a record to its limits is everyone’s end goal. @slackshane ’s translation of this project to the Dolby Atmos format does exactly that. The additional dimensionality and was utilized to envelope you like you’re floating in a homogenous atmosphere of sound — pushed and pulled in different directions as elements move in impact and space. @slackshane ’s mix is immersive and emotive, blurring the line between listener and space — less about hearing the record, more about existing inside it.
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#naturl #audio #al1 #limiter #plugin #music #engineer #producer #mastering #mixing
