BreakPoint Mastering is an analog mastering studio in Portland, Oregon, run by Adam Straney. Established in Seattle in 2011, based in Portland since 2016. Over 15 years and hundreds of releases, BreakPoint has mastered records for Sub Pop, Hardly Art, Kill Rock Stars, Hush Hush, Crane City Music, Neon Sigh, Shelflife, and Holodeck, including albums by Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, Tacocat, Knife Knights, Porter Ray, Yuno, The Moondoggies, and Blimes and Gab. Adam is a certified Apple Digital Masters engineer, and was Mastered for iTunes certified before that.
Every master here is done hands-on by Adam on high-end analog and digital gear in a tuned room. Monitoring is on Dunlavy SC-IV/As, signed on the cabinet by John Dunlavy himself (RIP).
Mastering is something Adam is incredibly passionate about, and it's not just about the music. It's working with other artists and helping them fulfill their dreams. He knows what it takes to get to a release. It doesn't just start with writing or recording a record. It comes from years of passion, dreaming, and wanting to do something more with your life, to express yourself. He knows the feeling of not being able to live unless you're creating every day, and he wants to help you get there and make it sound amazing.
Adam is also a producer and artist himself, as part of THE NEW LAW, which is where his passion for mastering began. He released four albums with the band and played tons of A/V shows. He fell in love with the mastering process when the band's self-titled debut was mastered at panicStudios by John McCaig, who was kind enough to answer a billion questions over the years and help steer Adam in the right direction.
* Getting the first New Law album mastered at panicStudios, 2006, and playing out with The New Law
Before that, he was DJing drum and bass at raves as Senator Adam and running Nod Your Head, a mix podcast focused on hip-hop, beats, trip-hop, and downtempo. The podcast led to shows around the country and up into Canada. He also took second place at the Seattle Laptop Battle one year, and he's always exploring new ways to push sound and visuals into new territories.
Outside of mastering and audio work, Adam is a father of two. His sons have been his apprentices and interns since they were babies sitting in the studio beside him, judging every move (wearing headphones, of course). The studio is in the Kenton neighborhood in North Portland, and after years of doing this around a day job, mastering is now the whole job.
He also works as Audio Director, sound designer, and music producer for Warped Universe, a game he founded with a few people he met along the way. Mastering is always the focus here, but finding new ways to put sound into different kinds of experiences keeps the ears fresh.
Whether it's a single, an album, or a full label catalog, Adam would love to work on your record.