Mastering Magic. Unmatched Creativity.
Control Real Gear. Reserve or Use On-Demand.
Control real analog gear straight from your DAW with the Analog Matrix. The Analog Matrix is not an emulation! It acts as a portal, connecting your digital audio workstation to actual physical gear in real time.
Reserve a session using the calendar below, or jump straight into the Analog Matrix plugin and use equipment on demand as it is available. Note: on-demand access requires credits or an active subscription.
Analog Matrix
Robotic Control
Overview
Note: Select the rack “Magic Garden” in the plugin just below the password in order to connect to this chain.
Brian Lucey’s Magic Garden Mastering Rig in the Cloud was designed over 15 years ago and has been used daily on 9 Grammy winning records and thousands of releases.
Now available to you for all your stems and mixes, this custom chain was meticulously re-built for Access Analog by Brian Lucey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Magic Garden Chain?
The Magic Garden Chain is a complete analog-and-digital mastering rig built by Grammy-winning mastering engineer Brian Lucey, available in real time through the Analog Matrix plugin. It is a carefully sequenced signal path of premium outboard gear and high-end converters that Lucey has used daily for over 15 years. You stream your audio to the actual rack, it is processed through the real hardware, and it returns to your DAW. Think of it as borrowing a world-class mastering engineer’s personal chain on demand.
What is the Magic Garden Chain best for?
The Magic Garden Chain is built for mastering, but it shines on full mixes, stems, and instrument groups too. It adds warmth, punch, and polish with a musical character that flatters almost any style. Use it to finish a master, glue and color a mix bus, or process drum, bass, and vocal stems. It is a stereo chain designed to make finished material sound bigger and more cohesive.
What gear is in the Magic Garden Chain?
The chain runs from high-end D/A conversion through a series of premium analog processors, then back through reference-grade A/D conversion and two digital-domain finishing stages. The analog heart includes an Overstayer Model 3706 for transformer color and FET-style compression, a heavily modified Focusrite 315 MKII EQ, an Elysia Alpha Class-A VCA compressor with mid/side capability, and a Fairman TMEQ tube boost EQ. Conversion is handled by Mytek on the way in and the legendary Pacific Microsonics on the way out. The result is a sequence Brian Lucey tuned over many years, with several elements fixed exactly where he wants them.
Who created the Magic Garden Chain?
The Magic Garden Chain was designed by Brian Lucey, the Grammy-winning mastering engineer behind Magic Garden Mastering in Los Angeles. His credits include Depeche Mode, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, and Liam Gallagher. Access Analog states the rig has been used on nine Grammy-winning records and thousands of releases. Lucey personally rebuilt the chain for Access Analog so you can use the same signal path he relies on.
Is the Magic Garden Chain analog or digital?
It is a hybrid mastering chain, premium analog processors combined with high-end digital conversion and two digital-domain finishing stages. The core tone-shaping and dynamics happen on real analog hardware, while the conversion and final polish use top-tier digital units, exactly as Brian Lucey designed it. For the cleanest results, the Access Analog mastering rigs match the system sample rate to your DAW so there is no extra sample-rate conversion in the path.
Is this the real hardware, or an emulation?
It is the actual mastering rig. Real analog gear and real converters, robotically controlled, not a software recreation of Brian Lucey’s chain. Real Gear. No Emulations. Access Analog rebuilt the physical rack piece by piece and connects it to your DAW through the Analog Matrix. Every knob you move on screen moves the real hardware in the rack.
Can I save and recall my Magic Garden Chain settings?
Yes. You can save your Magic Garden Chain settings as presets and recall them instantly in any session, just like a regular plugin. Access Analog also offers 18 ready-made Magic Garden presets from Ulterior Motives covering drums, bass, vocals, and more. Those presets give you proven starting points, and your adjustable settings travel with your DAW project so revisiting a master is effortless.
Do I need to be a mastering engineer to use the Magic Garden Chain?
No. You do not need to be a professional to get great results from the Magic Garden Chain. Several of its elements are fixed at Brian Lucey’s preferred settings, so the chain already sounds balanced before you touch anything. Start from one of the included presets, make small moves, and let your ears guide you. A little goes a long way, since the level-control devices in the chain can stack up quickly if you push them all.
How much does it cost to use the Magic Garden Chain at Access Analog?
The Magic Garden Chain reserves from $27.07 per hour at Access Analog. You can book a session on the calendar, or use it on demand in the Analog Matrix plugin with credits or an active subscription. As a premium full-rack chain, it costs more than a single device, since you are using many pieces of high-end gear at once. New accounts receive intro credits to explore the platform before committing.
More Information
Features of the Magic Garden Chain
It starts with the transient rich and punchy Mytek 8 x 192 D/A conversion. More compressed and more transients?!
The Mytek is followed by a custom Overstayer Model 3706 Stereo Field Effect for Jensen transformer color, and FET smack. Think of a pair of matched 1176s, with a cleaner transformer.
The highly modified Focusrite 315 MKII EQ follows next for clean solid state tone shaping and high pass with 40 caps removed and all ICs now Burr Brown OPA 627s not 5534s. Clean and lovely.
Elysia Alpha Compressor serial #001 is next, doing Class A SSL-style VCA compression in MS and Stereo. This piece is incredibly versatile from a touch of comp to a musical slam, and also does MS EQ on the sides.
The Fairman TMEQ is an exquisite boost EQ with excellent phase response and 22 ear selected NOS tubes that bring all music alive.
The venerable Pacific Microsonics AD conversion sends back to digital. This beast was $24,000 in it’s day and still wins shootouts as a best AD ever.
The lowly Waves L2 Ultramaximizer is employed next with a fixed setting of 1.4 db reduction, where it uniquely shines in popping the midrange just a touch.
Finally, the Crane Song HEDD 192 rounds off digital waveforms with harmonic color working in the digital domain from subtle settings to heavy ones, adjustable on three green knobs.
The sum of these parts with custom NOS tubes, Acoustic Zen Matrix REF II cables, upgrade or removed capacitors, etc. brings any style alive in ways that have to be heard to appreciate.
Try it on groups, on a mix or for mastering. The rig is powerful and fun!
Chain Signal Flow
Mytek D/A Conversion -> Overstayer Model 3706 -> Focusrite 315 MKII -> Elysia Alpha Compressor -> Fairman TMEQ -> Pacific Microsonics A/D Conversion -> Waves L2 Ultramaximizer -> Crane Song HEDD
Introduction
Chain Overview
Chain Philosophy
Signal Flow
Presets Overview
Gain Stage Overview
About Brian Lucey
Award-winning Mastering Engineer Brian Lucey is one of the most prominent Industry Engineers and has worked with renowned artists such as Depeche Mode, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys Liam Gallagher, Royal Blood, Marilyn Manson, “The Greatest Showman” and more.
Beginning in the late 80s NYC East Village, Brian Lucey was a professional musician (guitar, voice, piano) who became a student of Robert Fripp and Guitar Craft through the early/mid 90s. He has many years of experience in band creativity: writing, arranging, performing, tracking, mixing and producing organic music (Ampex MM1200 2″). Mastering began in the late 90s and his experience in all other phases has lead to a uniquely musical take on the craft.
Originally from the secret music city of Columbus, Ohio, he now works out of Los Angeles.