DCC Archive your remastering engineer poll !?!

I would like to know who're your favorite mastering engineer? Yes... I know Steve is your favorite engineer, but who follows...

My vote goes for: Steve Hoffman (who else!)
Bernie Grundman (The Doors),
Doug Sax (thanks for Floyd's Echoes!),
Stan Ricker (for some of the best jobs on vinyl!),
Erik Labson (did the best John Hiatt remasters for the Hip-O compilation),
Joe Palmaccio, Ron Furmanek, Simon Heyworth, Mark Wilder did also good jobs.

Now I'd like to see yours!

 

Hi,

I would add Joe Gastwirt to the list.

The Music Never Stops,
Jeffrey

 

Joe Gastwirt... hmmh! He did the aweful sounding Tom Petty boxset "Playback"... the Yes remaster sound also very compressed! He's not on my list!!!

 

bob ludwig.

later, chris

 

Yes, Bob Ludwig is a good engineer, but I haved passed him, but he used DAT's for the Kinks remaster... also Shawn Britton did a much better job on SG's Bookends or Velvet Underground, which were also remastered by Bob L.

 

I'll add Bill Inglot for his work up to the Nuggets box and 50's box. Not his very recent work such as the Yardbirds.



[ December 10, 2001: Message edited by: Brian O'Marra ]

 

Hi,

I strongly agree that quantity must affect quality. Many of the pro's listed here have done so much work that something can be found to criticize. I again intro. Joe Gastwirt as a prime example. Look at the large volume of work he has done. There are only so many hrs. in a day. If Joe Gastwirt is weak then why have some of the most demanding artists in the business used him?

Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, etc.

Let It Rock,
Jeffrey

 

I do look for engineer credits on CDs before I buy. Names that raise red flags with me are Bill Inglot/Dan Hersh, Jon Astley, Tom Daley, Glenn Meadows, Erik Labson, and Tom Cyone.

CDs I go for are remastered by Steve Hoffman, Bob Ludwig, Bob Irwin, Vic Ancini, Al Quagleri, Dennis Drake, Joe Palmaccio, Tom Ruff, Harry Weigner, and Danny Caccavo.

 

Jeffrey... mastering is business and nothin' else... they must earn $$$!!! Take a look to Bob Ludwig's Gateway Mastering facility... a new buildings costs a lot of bucks, and the equipment isN't cheap... since most of the big studios have entered into the DVD, DVD-A, SACD market. The investors want their money back...
Or take a look to Sterling Sound... Ted Jensen, George Marino, Greg Calbi, Steven Fallone and the others want their cheque end of the month! So how you deal with that? They take as much jobs as they can!!! The music industry loses a lot of money this year... and they pay not for the best remaster!!!
The art of mastering depends on $$$... or genius like Steve H.

 

I think you're confusing Lugwig with Irwin. All the S&G remasters were Bob Irwin, and the VU stuff was remastered by Vic Anesini, with Bob Irwin involved in some role.

I really like Bob Ludwig's Exile on Main St. and Tommy remasters (the clicking noises on Tommy aren't his fault...)

 

I'm sorry, you're correct!

 

I would add Dennis Drake to the list. He does some work for Time-Life now and even Steve said the stuff is good.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if Steve and Bernie Grundman could remaster everything under the sun? Nice daydream.

 

My top three are 1.Steve Hoffman 2.Jim Anderson (Patricia Barber Cafe' Blue)
3.Doug Sax (Janis Ian Breaking Silence). I know you already listed Sax Fireblade but dang he's good!

 

I wanted to follow up by saying Steve H is at the top of my list and I'm sure a number of my good comrades here on this board.

Very few come close. I just received a sealed copy of DCC Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky from CD Universe. AAAAAH the warmth, the clarity. I can't play it enough.

Kudos again to Steve!

 

Put me down for "kudos" to Dennis Drake and Bob Irwin/Vic Anesini as "close" to the top of the list of GREAT ONES! Ditto on the sentiment about Dennis Drake and his Time/Life work...good stuff. If you compare his work (Drake's) on The Time/Life Elvis Presley Collection-"Love Songs" with those "digital coaster" Rick Rowe/Jack Adelman "The Top Ten Hits"(1987)CD, etc...you'll appreciate the stunning difference!

 

Qouting Grant T:

In complete agreement here. Grant T, appreciate your thoughts on this: Could you add Peter Mew to your list of red flags. I could.

 

1) Steve Hoffman
2) Bernie Grundman
3) Suha Gur
4) Lee Herschberg (good work on the new Capitol "Rat Pack At The Sands" CD. Any comments?)

Arne

 

I don't remember Tom Petty's Playback box sounding bad. Hmmmm. Oh well.

 

Hard to say, because even the good ones seem hit or miss.

Bernie Grundman has done great work, but I've heard CD's he's been credited with that sound so bad, I'm almost certain it's not his work, but someone else at his mastering studio (if he does have others, that is).

Dennis Drake seems like a guy who won't do anything to ruin the music, but unfortunately, with some older CD's, he doesn't get the best tapes, like some jazz CD's I've heard. Not his fault, though, because he does try to get the originals.

Even Steve, the man at the top of the heap, can do less than spectacular work. Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy...really sucks that he didn't have much time to do that, and the toll it takes on the work shows.

I've got some country stuff by Meadows, and I don't think they sound terrible. I could see how the Patsy Cline Collection could be better, but it doesn't bother me too much (love the music too much).

Erick Labson is really hit or miss for me. His "Tommy" is the best, even though that's not saying much, and some of the work he did on the old Chess boxes I like, but his sound has changed a bit over the years. Listen to the new Chess remasters and the Buddy Holly Collection from 1993. It sounds brighter, a bit thinner, smoother, more hollowed out or something. It's a bit odd, especially when you compare his work on Buddy Holly with Steve's.

I know a lot of you guys hate Rhino, but I really appreciate the music they've made more available over the years. Listening to the Digiprep stuff, it seems to be changing, too, getting more brighter over the years. I really like the Stax/Volt box set, but the new Elvis Costello's are probably a good example of why Inglot bothers the hell of out of so many.

As for others people haven't mentioned:

John R T Davies is the best when it comes to vintage music. Compare Steven Lasker's work on, say, the new Ellington box set with the stuff Davies did years ago. Davies still wins out.

I asked about Robert Parker once, and his work is pretty cool, too. It's really interesting, but it may not jive with some people what he's trying to do.

Phil Schaap is a great researcher, but I think his mastering is a bit hit or miss. I don't want to put down the guy because he seems to be one of the better researchers out there in terms of finding tapes, etc. (it's cool how on the Armstrong box set, he says "Cornet Chop Suey" has got to be in the key of F, not Eb as some believe, but goes ahead and puts the track in both keys anyway), but they can do better when it comes to the final mastering (again, the Armstrong set...better, but could still be even better).

Ron McMaster gets bashed on Blue Note a lot, and he knows it. I'm not crazy about his work either.

Rudy Van Gelder gives me mixed feelings, but strong mixed feelings, if that makes any sense. I buy his remasters, but sometimes I wonder if he imposes his will on the sound too much. He's often the original engineer of the RVG remasters, so I wonder if it's really his engineering (I'm not familiar with the original vinyl). Horns always sounds great, but the piano is real dry. It's easy to see how Bill Evans never liked recording with him.

 

Doug Sax has always been a favorite of mine...probably dating back to me seeing his name on so many LP's that I bought as a kid in the 70's.<p> Two of my favorite CD's of his are the Analogue Productions release of the '63 Weavers Carnegie Hall show as well as his version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water"...which is still the best on CD as far as I'm concerned.<p> He's definitely on thre analog side of the fence (going back to his days with Sheffield), pays special care to the electronics (mostly tube) and playback decks he uses, and most importantly doesn't seem to be interested in "modernizing" the sound of our favorite recordings. He took great care in auditioning different pressings of the "Bridge" LP to get an authentic EQ.<p> I must confess that I haven't heard any very recent work of his...I just hope he still marches to the same drum as before.

 

No offense, but Ron Furmanek?? He's responsible for the worst-mastered CD I've heard (in the non-Astley category, of course): Great Move- The Very Best of the Move. It's sad, because they got the original masters, and put a lot of work into it (it's almost worth getting just for the booklet) but it's literally painful to listen to.

 

Bob Norberg at Capitol, Dennis Drake and Bob Irwin. Oh and that guy who's last name starts with an H.