Master's Image, Sound Recording, Dubuque, IA

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563-582-0700

ABOUT US

Mission Statement

“I want a studio with professional gear and people, with a name and reputation I can trust. One that’s governed by high ethical and moral standards.”

Girl Singing and Playing the Guitar — Dubuque, IA — Master's Image

Master’s Image is a Christian-owned and operated recording studio: what we do here, we do for the glory of our Lord. We aim to give our best to every project we accept, applying the highest in ethical, moral, and audio standards so you will be pleased with the finished project, and so our Lord will be pleased with us. We serve Christ by serving you.

We tell you this to help you understand our core principles. You don't need to agree with us, nor does your music need to be overtly “Christian.” Rather, we want you to know why we cannot accept projects which do any of the following:

  • Denigrate people
  • Incite violence
  • Overtly push a worldview contrary to biblical Christianity
  • Undermine traditional family values and Judeo-Christian ethics
  • Encourage promiscuous (or worse) behavior

These boundaries not only keep us focused on what we do best, they also protect you: we would do you a disservice if we accepted projects to which we could not give our all.

But don’t mistake this as a rejection of any particular style of music. The distinctions we are making concern content and spirit, not style and genre. Classical, jazz, rock, big band, choral, chamber, country, acoustic, rap, bluegrass, soul, blues…. Each of these genres offer great music we’d love to record for you.

Our goal is simply to give you our very best. Keeping our mission in mind is one of many ways we make sure this happens.

Studio Specification

No consumer-grade recording chain here! We carefully invest in state-of-the-art, professional equipment in all the key places; apply talented, experienced musical engineering and add keen attention to detail. The result? Fidelity in the finest nuances of music, appreciably benefiting our clients and their projects.

Headphones on Microphone Stand — Dubuque, IA — Master's Image
  • Recording: Pro Tools HDX (!) — yes, the upgrade from HD was and remains a big deal, providing us with unbelievable capabilities, sampling rates to 192 kHz, 24-bit or floating point depth; max tracks: 128 tracks in studio, 2-24+ tracks on location.
  • Microphones: Our ever-growing collection includes condensers large & small, ribbons, dynamics, and PZMs from: AEA, AKG, Audix, Crown, Earthworks, Electrovoice, Neumann, Royer, Sennheiser, Shure, Sony. Great microphones are a delight!
  • Mic Preamps: Outboard preamps by Grace Designs, Manley, Oram, True.
  • Effects Processors: Hardware and software solutions from Aphex, BBE, Drawmer, Focusrite, Lexicon, Manley, McDSP, Metric Halo, Sonnox, Waves, and many more.
  • Studio Monitoring: Aviom, Focal, Genelec, LittlePaperCones, and customized, vintage Dahlquist.
  • Restoration Tool Box: This is where vintage, custom, and very high-end software and gear converge for cleaning, restoring, and enhancing old and not-so-old recordings suffering from various maladies.

A Brief History of Master’s Image

Master’s Image had its early and informal beginnings shortly after founder David Lovett completed his Masters of Divinity in Dubuque, Iowa. An audiophile and recordist harkening back to the Direct-to-Disk era of the 70s, David sought to seriously combine his engineering and musical training with his commitment to Christ. He began carefully equipping a private studio with high audio standards in place to record contemporary Christian music for worship.

But word about the private studio spread, and soon David was being asked to record projects for others. This led to more equipment acquisitions, which led to more projects. As a result, Master’s Image was officially formed and opened for business in 1996.

Today, guided by our Mission Statement, Master’s Image continues to specialize in projects that encourage and delight listeners while bringing glory to God. With this in mind, you can easily see why we say…

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