SH Spotlight I'm asked stuff: Favorite mastering engineer, best BOSTON CD, best TRAVELING WILBURYS CD, etc..

So much great info being passed along here, Mr. H...many continued thanks.

My question is about Steve Miller's two recent releases "Bingo" (2010) and "Let Your Hair Down" (2011). They feel like a nice combination of his love for blues with a good deal of pop sensibilities, and they certainly sounded well-recorded to my old ears. Produced by Steve and Andy Johns at Skywalker Sound, I was curious as to whether you had heard them, and had any feelings one way or the other regarding the recordings. Thanks.

 

Steve,

Have you heard the earlier Japan for USA release of this CD (EK 34188)? Here is the Discogs info on it:

Boston - Boston

Here is the Dynamic Range Database info on it:

Album details - Dynamic Range Database

It has higher DR numbers than the DIDP 20006 Made in USA release:

Album details - Dynamic Range Database

 

@Steve Hoffman Have you ever been approached to do the Sinatra or Elvis catalogs? Both are so important and neither have had a good remaster from a proper engineer

 

"Sympathetic to the music" must've felt good coming from the man who wrote it.

 

I hear you talk about your guitars, but what's your drumkit like?
(Make, sizes, drumheads, cymbals.)

 

Steve,

I've always put good speakers into 2 basic categories: "musical", meaning speakers that have a lush sound and great sounding mid range, and "revealing" which means the speakers have a sharper, more definitive sound - some people call these "fast" speakers. To me, "musical" speakers sound more like live music at a nice small venue (for the most part).

Can you recommend a speaker or 2 that has a real nice "musical" sound and cost under $5K or so?

 

You're cutting an album and the whole record leans one way sonically except for one song, which is often a signature tune for the record. It sounds different, and if taken on its own, would have you tweak your gear in another direction. What do you do?

I'm thinking of albums like CSN's couch album and "Wooden Ships," Loggins and Messina's second LP with "Angry Eyes," and Stevie Ray Vaughan's record, In Step, featuring "Riviera Paradise."

 

Great! Thanks for your generosity in offering us your time and perspectives!
I've always loved the work you did on the Cream DCCs, especially Wheels of Fire. My question is: If you could revisit the task of getting those 2 albums to sound as great as possible, is there any technology you have access to now (that wasn't around back then) that would improve on what you accomplished initially?

 

Sweetness.

 

I was stunned on how good that sounded after listening for the 1st time.

 

Good questions. Let's use the couch record. The whole album isn't great, with my guess being the master is too bassy, and the single song, "Wooden Ships," sounds better.

 

And it shows! You made chicken salad out of chicken feathers on that one.

 

Steve,
Great forum.
Sometime in your career, perhaps when you were just beginning and had less stature, did you master music you just didn't like? If so, how did you manage to do that?
Conversely, did you ever grow weary of a session that you initially enjoyed?
thanks, Mark

 

Good to know that what we have is the best possible sound quality. Us Cream fans owe you a huge debt of gratitude for the work you did!!!
It still stuns me how warm, natural, and powerful your WoF sounds in comparison to every other version I've ever heard...

 

What’s your opinion of the Plangent transfers/processing on the Springsteen 2014 box, Grateful Dead studio albums, Aretha 1967-1970 Mono, etc?