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

Please get your hands on all the original Yardbirds master tapes from the locked vault, and work on them.

 

I mixed a TV production with Sammy Davis, Jr. back in the day. I addressed him as Mr. Davis when meeting him. He shook my hand and said, "Just call me Sammy, man". Such a nice man. He was performing with H B Barnum's orchestra. ..loved it.

 

You say that Night Moves did not sell well (hard to understand why), so Seger records weren't sought after for follow-ups. I find that interesting. Since you had input choosing DCC titles (I think you said DCC), what was the thinking for choosing a title? Was it first and foremost that it would likely sell well? Other factors?

Also, if I may, were some labels favored over others because AF or DCC had great relationships with them, and knew they could strike deals easier?

 

Stray Cats - Built For Speed

I have it - sounds fantastic (of course)!

 

O.K. I have one.
I got into 78 rpm a half-dozen years ago as part of my appreciation of the Boswell Sisters, and to listen to the 78s my parents had accumulated back in the day after they passed.
From there I expanded into other genres and artists to feed the 'table.
When listening 78s from the 30s, do you have a go-to e.q. setting to compensate for pre-RIAA-curve noise?
Or is there any processing you use for at-home listening?
Thanks!

 

Thank you kindly.

 

What DAC do you use for mastering from digital sources?

 

I absolutely love your Jim Croce Greatest hits on DCC vinyl. I understand that with greatest hits packages, it can be difficult or impossible to actually get each song off of the master reel. How difficult was the Croce release to master? Same question for Heart's greatest hits on gold CD. Must have been a bear of job to get each song from each master tape.

 

And thank goodness you did those Jazz titles. They sound phenomenal.

Since I was a very late convert to jazz, most of my jazz CDs are audiophile and many of those are DCCs. So nice (for once) to get it right the first time!

 

I guess you don't have the old Rhino CD for Five Live Yardbirds, to name one quality disc.

 

I went on Discogs to look for a soundtrack CD of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and was able to snag a DCC mastered by you. Do you have any memories to share about that one? I’m interested in anything you might recall!

 

How many times do you typically play a master tape all the way through when mastering an album?

I'm just winging it here, but it stands to reason you might make your own digital (analog?) "dupe" of the master, an absolutely flat transfer, and use that to work out your mastering "moves" to avoid wear on the master itself. Then you apply those moves during one final master tape playback when doing the actual disc cut. Is that anywhere close to your process?

And thanks again for answering all our questions. This thread is fascinating reading, to say the least.

 

Makes me wonder yet again what makes someone an audiophile.

 

Steve, why don't the major labels have their own "boutique label" for audiophile releases?

They gotta know their is a market out there. Plus they would have a lot of advantages the boutique Don 't
have access to.

 

How do you think you’d feel about re-mixing them after re-mixing them?