SH Spotlight Recording and Mastering Questions---Answered here. Any more?

Steve: when you are cutting lacquer at 45 rpm as opposed to 33 rpm do you have to adjust the distance between the playback and preview head or the delay loop itself? I was told that for 33 rpm you need 900 ms of delay and for 45 rpm you need 667 and I am curious to know how this adjustment is done on the Studer A-80 tape machine that you use at AcousTech.

 

What are you talking about? Building a studio??? If I could afford to build a studio I wouldn't being be playing my vinyl LPs on a cheap crappy Pro-Ject turntable. I am just an engineering and computer science student with a big interest in technical stuff related to the production of music and the making of LP records. When I finish my degree I will be working in the computer industry. Aren't you a professional photographer or something in addition to being a mastering engineer? How would you feel if you went on the forum of a digital camera manufacturer and started asking technical questions about how cameras work...do you think someone would accuse you of trying to start up your own digital camera company?

By the way...I started playing guitar a few years ago. When I improve I am planning on joining or starting up a band and recording an album or two, and if possible, have my music released on vinyl, so naturally I have an interest in how stuff in studios work.

 

Alright, thanks for the offer! I will definitely drop by one day when I am in California. Maybe he can teach me how to cut lacquer or I can try to do it myself just for the fun of it and see how many blank lacquers I will ruin before I get it right. I love operating electronic equipment without reading the manual. He would probably kick me out within half an hour after being annoyed by all my questions.

 

When's the next open invite to RTI? Got anything around August 1? I may be in your neck of the woods.

 

Steve: how different or similar are your and Kevin Gray's mastering philosophies?

If the same tape was given to both of you and each of you were asked to do whatever you think needs to be done to make the music sound the best, would the end result, either CD or LP, sound the same?

 

Steve, why do so many mastering guys insist that tape loses it's treble, or crispness over time, and you say you have never heard any evidence to this claim? What is going on here?

 

Steve, what do you think about digital overs? It is well known that many of your CDs have some but they sound great despite that. Do you just let a few get through so long as you can't hear the effects so as to allow a decent level for the digital transfer and therefore better resolution? I am guessing that to completely avoid overs without using compression would mean a level on the CD as stupidly low as Sony used to recommend back in 1983.......

 

May I ask your opinion re: reverb / echo?

Perhaps I'm curious for an idea of what is "too dry" to you. In the Music Man thread you mentioned mixing it sans echo. In the case of Nat's good ol' Love Is The Thing DCC, there's some of Capitol's old acoustic chamber echo dialed in (beautiful disc btw I really love it). Did you only add it into the Nat disc for "authenticity," brining it closer to the mono mix for instance? Would you rather leave echo out assuming at least some sense of space is in the recording? Do you feel the old Capitol stereos for example need it? And paper or plastic?

 

Thanks

 

Steve,

With regard to the imminent "death" of the Capitol tower, do you feel that it puts an end to the remixing/mastering of such projects as the Nat King Cole CD's, Peggy Lee's or Judy Garland's? Since the famous echo chambers won't be available after the tower closes would you still be able to remix a project somewhere else and still be faithful to the echo at Capitol? Or is that the end?

 

Steve, would you know if the master tapes of Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swingin' Lovers sound as CLEAR as the best Capitol recordings of the fifties? Larry Walsh's remaster, though apparently not noise reduced, does not. Even the non echoed selections from the Capitol Years set don't.

 

I hope it survives, Steve, and intact, whether run by Capitol or possibly by someone else. Studio B's performance area is still basically original. Those echo chambers are irreplaceable... :crosses fingers:

 

I remember Steve said the real tapes sounded amazing...

 

Martin, it's time he did a Sinatra Capitol album. At least one. I am so curious as to how it would sound. The Walsh remaster, though you say is from the right tapes, is so hard, loud and sonically uninviting that, even on my cruddy system, is no fun to listen to for me.

 

Steve, you've mastered albums from various genres. Are there any genres that you are unfamiliar with or dislike? Is it harder to figure out what those kind of albums should sound like or are remastering principles basically the same for any genre?

Do you usually consult the original artists and mixers during the remastering process?