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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Oct 3, 2018.

  1. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    The depth of groove is limited by the physical makeup of the master lacquer and by the ability of the depth coil on the lathe -- and there's no point in setting the depth coil to go deeper than the (give-or-take) 6 mils of reliably-usable depth available on a lacquer before you hit aluminum and thrash the cutting stylus. (In other words, you could make an LP 2000 gram and a foot thick, but the grooves would not be any deeper, because the lacquers dictate the maximum depth limitations.)
     
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    In other words, no.
     
  3. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    Steve, what is the thinking behind the terrible over-emphasis of sibilance that is so common in recordings? Microphone problems? Bad equalisation? It's such a relief to be able to hear natural sibilants pass by your ears without feeing like you have been ice-picked (and I'm thinking Audio Fidelity's "In The Wind" by Peter, Paul and Mary here as an example of how sibilants should sound).
     
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I really don't know what goes through the mind of other engineers, producers, mastering engineers, artists. Bad monitors? The Neumann style microphone is very toppy and it's easy to overdo it. So easy in fact that sometimes you don't even realize it's going overboard.

    I always try and tame that over-emphasis because it takes away from a natural sounding recording. Peter, Paul and Larry's IN THE WIND is a great example of a recording that is almost, not quite, but almost over the top with the top. The trick in this case was for me not to fix or ruin the beautiful top end, but too fill in the other deficient area of the Neumann microphone, the leanness of the bass response. Just filled in a little cloud to balance out the top and perfecto!
     
  5. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    Agreed! Thanks for remastering this.
     
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  6. cartologist

    cartologist Just the son of an Iowa girl

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I had this one for sale on Discogs under the wrong release. I received an inquiry about it about the time this thread started. I had not read this thread but remembered that Our Host had recommended it years ago. I moved it to the right release and pulled it from sale pending a relisten. I haven’t gotten to it yet, however.
     
  7. Chooke

    Chooke Forum Resident

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    A question on the mono Beatles CDs.

    I generally prefer LP versions of the earlier Beatles albums but the stereo tracks on the mono Rubber Soul CD are the best I have heard, particulary Girl, Michelle and Norwegian Wood (IMO).

    Are these tracks the same mix as on the earlier stereo LP releases? Were a better tape source used on the CD?
     
  8. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    Steve do you ever work with artists directly in your mastering suite either while mastering or during playback? It would be cool to know who'd be that interested if there were any.

    Second, did you ever work with or meet an artist where you said, this guy/lady gets it, a fellow audiophile? Someone like Tim Gane of Stereolab comes to mind but I'm guessing it is not too common.
     
  9. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    I'll take this one. Those are indeed the orginal genuine stereo mixes.
     
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  10. Instant Karma

    Instant Karma Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Steve, you mastered a few Grass Roots songs for the Vintage Music Collectors Series for MCA back in 86. Do you know who mastered the Grass Roots MCA cd titled Temptation Eyes in and around the same time frame? There were 10 tracks in total. I know it was quite some time ago so no worries if you don't recall. Thanks very much.
     
  11. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    As I've written (on this very thread at least three times!) I usually try and avoid working directly with the artists. They are usually so super critical it's not helpful

    Audiophile artists? I'm sure there are a bunch but the few that I've had to deal with are poison because they insist on approving everything on their own personal audiophile system and it involves many revisions (usually a wave of the magic Producer's Knob.)
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Wasn't me so it could have been almost anyone at Whitney or even Precision.

    Did they remove 2 tracks or something? Or was it a compilation?
     
  13. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Your hand on remastering Hotel California must have been guided by angels as it is a true sonic marvel to hear!
     
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  14. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    ie; meaning return rejected effort as is and it gets approved yes?
     
  15. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yes.
     
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  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Thanks. It was a bear to work on. Came out great finally, one of my favorite Eagles albums.
     
  17. Instant Karma

    Instant Karma Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    It was a 10 track compilation. I just checked Discogs a little while ago and it shows you as having "compiled" it, whatever that means. I do realize that Discogs is not always accurate.
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Steve Hall, Whitney. Should sound wonderful.
     
  19. kokishin

    kokishin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silicon Valley
    Peter, Paul, and Larry? :laugh:
     
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yup.
     
  21. Instant Karma

    Instant Karma Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Thank you :righton:
     
  22. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
    [​IMG]
     
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  23. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
  24. Mr. Hoffman, are classical musicians, whether in the mastering room with the engineer or not, better audiophiles than rock people? Ears less whacked by years of playing and touring at high volume, better familiarity with the nature of live acoustic sounds, etc.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2018
    dav-here likes this.
  25. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Can you remind us of why you had to re-EQ the intro to the song?
     
    dav-here likes this.

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