The Limerick man behind the music -- Richard Dowling

Richard Dowling

The Limerick man behind the music

Mastering Engineer, Richard Dowling in his Limerick studio (pic credit – Keith Kelly)

For four decades, mastering engineer Richard Dowling has worked behind the scenes on recordings by some of the biggest names in music. Today, he does it from Wav Mastering, his purpose-built studio in his native Limerick.

There are people whose names appear in small print on the back of an album but whose contribution can be heard every time the record is played. Richard Dowling is one of them. For 40 years, the Limerick mastering engineer has occupied that largely unseen territory between the recording studio and the listener. His name may not be as familiar as those of the artists whose records he has worked on, but his CV includes David Bowie, Paul McCartney, The Waterboys, Foo Fighters, Kylie Minogue, Suede, Christy Moore and The Chieftains. This year marks four decades since Dowling entered the recording industry, an appropriate moment to consider his remarkable career.

The last pair of ears

Mastering is one of those terms frequently encountered in music without necessarily being understood. As one musician said, “I don’t know exactly what he does but whatever magic dust he sprinkles it makes a world of difference.” An album is recorded and mixed but, before it reaches the public, there is another crucial stage. That is where the mastering engineer comes in.

Dowling’s task is not to remake a recording but to listen critically to the completed mix and make the adjustments that allow it to translate successfully beyond the studio, whether heard through headphones, on the radio, streamed digitally or pressed onto vinyl. The process can involve adjustments in equalisation, dynamics and balance, but the most important instrument is the engineer’s ear. His approach is essentially one of restraint: respect the mix and enhance what is already there.

Wav Mastering is a professional audio mastering facility for CD, digital distribution, downloads, streaming and vinyl production. Its purpose-built, acoustically designed studio in Limerick reflects Dowling’s belief that, despite technological advances, careful listening remains at the heart of the craft.

From Moylish to London

Dowling studied electronics at Moylish, at what was then Limerick Regional Technical College. He followed the traditional route into the recording business, writing to studios looking for work as a runner or tape operator. After months of trying, one interview came his way. He got the job.

It was at PRT Studios in Marble Arch, formerly the famous Pye Studios. Dowling was initially employed as a studio maintenance assistant, partly because of that electronics qualification from Moylish. PRT contained recording studios, cutting rooms and mastering facilities. It was there that mastering caught his imagination.

He worked on the studio side with Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Motörhead and The Waterboys among others. One particular high point was his involvement in recalls and the complete album mastering of The Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues. For somebody hoping to find a foothold in music, it was quite an apprenticeship.

Inside the hit factory

Another significant turn came in 1990 when Pete Waterman, one third of the hugely successful Stock Aitken Waterman production team, bought the contents of PRT with plans to expand his studios and create a new mastering facility. Dowling initially assisted mix engineer Phil Harding while the rooms were being built, gaining further studio experience on projects involving Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Jesus Jones and Cliff Richard.

By the end of 1990, the new Transfermation (yes that is the correct spelling) mastering facility was ready. Appropriately, its first mastered album was by Rick Astley, whose early success had been closely associated with Stock Aitken Waterman.

Dowling remained at Transfermation for 16 years, mastering recordings by David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Suede, Eurythmics, Groove Armada, Sia, Orbital, Five, S Club 7, Will Young and Westlife. The variety was as revealing as the famous names, requiring Dowling to develop an ear for very different kinds of music.

Coming home

Success in London might have provided every reason to stay there. Instead, in 2006, after two decades away, Dowling returned to Limerick — or “Limrock”, as he affectionately calls it.

Wav Mastering initially operated from rented premises in the city centre, but Dowling brought home two decades of experience in the British recording industry. In 2013 he achieved a long-held ambition, opening his own professionally designed, purpose-built mastering room in his native city again.

His reputation has followed him. Pete Waterman, of PWL and SAW, has described him as “the master of masterers”, while The Undertones’ Paul McLoone has praised the studio as a state-of-the-art mastering facility. Jah Wobble, meanwhile, has spoken of sessions with Dowling and the care given to individual cuts.

Irish voices

Since returning, his work has connected him with an impressive range of Irish artists. Christy Moore, Clannad, Moya Brennan, The Chieftains, Jape, SOAK, Kojaque, The Mary Wallopers and Limerick’s Windings are among those whose recordings have passed through Wav Mastering. Christy Moore has repeatedly entrusted recordings to Dowling, with Lily, On the Road, Magic Nights, Flying Into Mystery and A Terrible Beauty among his mastering credits. His contribution to Irish music is therefore partly hidden in plain sight, embedded in recordings rather than performed from a stage.

A Limerick circle

One project brought the local connection particularly sharply into focus. Live At Record Room Vol. 1 was conceived as a contemporary counterpart to The Reindeer Age, the celebrated 1990 compilation that captured an earlier generation of Limerick bands. Recorded live at The Record Room on Catherine Street during 2023, it featured 13 acts including Anna’s Anchor, Dylan Flynn and The Dead Poets, Hazey Haze, Laura Duff, Paddy Mulcahy, Strange Boy and T.A. Narrative. The live sound was engineered by Eoin Greaney, with recording and mixing by Mike Gavin. But Richard Dowling was hands-on throughout both volumes, involved from the initial concept through to completion and mastering all the recordings. The vinyl was subsequently cut by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road Studios in London.

There is something pleasingly circular about that journey. The young Richard Dowling once had to leave Limerick for London to enter the professional recording world. Decades later, recordings by a new generation of Limerick musicians could be mastered in his hometown before travelling to Abbey Road.

Forty years of listening

Technology has changed almost beyond recognition since Dowling entered PRT Studios. Tape gave way to digital recording. CDs rose and declined. Downloads arrived, followed by streaming. Vinyl, once apparently destined for extinction, returned. Dowling has adapted without abandoning the principles on which he learned his craft. He continues to work with a massively diverse range of artists, from local independent bands to global superstars, treating each project with the same focus and attention. When mastering is done well, most listeners will never know what the engineer did. They will simply know that the record sounds right. Richard Dowling has spent four decades making sure that it does.