Steve and everybody, I just finished watching a segment on Tech TV's "Screen Savers" program featuring engineer Eddie Kramer sitting at his Neve-equipped mixing board remastering some Hendrix material. It was interesting to watch him work and explain what he was doing with the original master tapes, but it kinda shook me up to see him adding EQ and compression to the final mix. Steve, how often do you have to go in and "adjust" the original mix? It sounds like he is of the same mind as you with his strict adherence to analog until the last possible moment (and uses Mytek a/d converters) but when does this kind of massaging of the original sound get to the point of diminishing returns? The clips of the interview are located on this page: http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3382951,00.html (you might have to cut and paste this link depending on how it displays). The original show will be broadcast again tonight (Monday, Aug. 26) at 10 p.m. Eastern and again Tuesday morning at 1:30 a.m. but the archived clips at the above link should give you a good overview (including the expletives that didn't make it on the air!) and the link with Kramer "adjusting" the Hendrix tapes is on the link labeled "Hendrix Remix". Dave
"..... it kinda shook me up to see him adding EQ and compression to the final mix. Steve, how often do you have to go in and "adjust" the original mix? " _________________________________ Well, most engineers add EQ and compression to a mix. I haven't seen this clip, but in order to keep (let's say) Jimi's voice "in line" with the music track, it probably had to be compressed or it would jump out of the speakers and be jarring. Now, if someone added EQ and compression to an already existing mix, I'd be worried. I've never added compression to anything while mastering. I HAVE used a bit of compression while mixing something from scratch that needed it.