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. David P. Hill

    David P. Hill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irving, Tx
    Mr. Hoffman, just wondering if you have been working on any future musical projects that you can mentioned or share with the forum members? It's been quite a while since we last heard from you, I'm guessing it was the last releases from Audio Fidelity before its shutting doors, Spirit's releases and a few others. I know covid-19 has kept everybody hunkered down in our places. I and lot of the forum members have seen and heard numerous reissues from your co-partner, Kevin Gray last few years, great works too! Hope we can hear from you in the near future if possible. Glad we have this forum here, very informative and exciting during this pandemic. Been here 19 years and counting, lol!
     
    JorgeGvb and Aleksander86 like this.
  2. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    Here's a question Steve, I know its controversial with some people here, but I am genuinely interested in your opinion, so here goes. If a CD can identically reproduce a master up to 22KHZ as defined by the Nyquist folding frequency theorem, why do most people here think that vinyl is better sounding given everything being equal?
    I don't think vinyl is better, but what's your opinion on this?
     
  3. xrey®

    xrey® Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    The WABCRADIO77 guy has an obvious pump-o-matic compressor on his system complete with a ground loop (at no additional charge!) He is a good reference source for some mono singles and promos as they are often hard to find elsewhere, but that's about it.
     
  4. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    His "pump-o-matic" compressor is what I LOVE about his posts, as he makes songs sound just like they should if playing on an AM radio station!
     
  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Did I ever answer this?

    What did you expect the box to look like, golden with velvet sides?
     
  6. astro70

    astro70 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern Illinois
    Well, I didn't think the tapes still existed, was interested in your opinion if that seems like it could be the actual master tape or if it looks like some kind of copy/backup. If it looks like the actual master, that's news to a lot of people since most of the Chess tapes are assumed to have been lost in the Universal fire.
     
  7. xrey®

    xrey® Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    This is supposedly the Steve Hoffman mastering, but where are the 2nd & 3rd verses??
    The single ran 4:03 + applause. This one is only 3:21 + applause
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Wow, it ain't about 22 nothing, it's about the realistic colourations that analogue can produce. Tricks the ear into thinking it's the real thing. Digital doesn't give that. You have to add it on purpose (cheat.)
     
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  9. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    You into Vietnam Rap?
     
    Acoustic Warrior likes this.
  10. xrey®

    xrey® Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    It's quite amazing everyone hears something different in these two YT clips, yet NO ONE else noticed the 2nd and 3rd verses are missing in the Music Planet post. The single ran 4:03 + applause like the Cream Topic post. The "Hoffman" mix posted is only 3:21 + applause. SMH Never trust GooTube.
     
  11. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    As noted:

     
  12. xrey®

    xrey® Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    If this is truly your version, why is it missing 2 verses?
    Never trust GooTube.
     
  13. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    See above.
     
    g.z. likes this.
  14. xrey®

    xrey® Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    Before media deregulation in the early '80s one needed a "1st Phone" (1st class radiotelephone license) to operate an AM directional station. KLAC 570 is directional, so I assume Steve had a 1st phone.

    You start with getting a 3rd phone (which is easy, unless you are really dense.) This allowed you to just be a DJ on an FM and/or non-directional AM station. THEN you'd study for the dreaded "2nd phone" test, which many failed the first time.

    A 2nd phone license was really useless for employment unless you passed the final 1st phone level (which was pretty easy). Some of us even got radar endorsements (good only if you want to dispute a speeding ticket IMHO). There also was a Morse Code test as well, but no one wanted that.

    After Ronald Reagan & His Orchestra started deregulating the FCC, the 1st phone was useless. Anyone off Hollywood Blvd. could get a 3rd phone and get a job working in radio.

    Now look how radio/TV has disintegrated into what you now experience: mega-conglomerates with debt service that rivals many 3rd world nations; RIFs ("reductions in force") of thousands fired over the last 20 years; your favorite station voice tracked from faraway cities by someone tracking many other markets; one morning show carried in 30+ markets; local DJs tracking their shows for $50/shift; live TV newscasts switched and controlled from a huge ops center in Atlanta and other cities. That's why you see so many screw-ups. Now with COVID-19 only skeleton engineering staff are in the studios. It's a new world, folks.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  15. Anthrax

    Anthrax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    :cry:
     
  16. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    A two-part question for @Steve Hoffman today:
    1. Have you ever had an earthquake interrupt a mastering session
    2. What (if any) precautions can or are taken to protect lathes from serious damage if a quake occurs while in the process of cutting a record.
    I relize that if it's a big one, all bets are off... ;) Just curious as an East Coaster...tho we occasionally feel a rumble.

    Thanks!
     
  17. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Nope.

    Really nothing.
     
    rcsrich likes this.
  18. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Wow... alrighty then...chalk one up for mother nature (and your good luck).
     
  19. ThirtyThree1/3

    ThirtyThree1/3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Jersey
    A forum member told me about this thread, so I thought I'd bump it. I am starting from the beginning.
     
  20. RZangpo2

    RZangpo2 Forum Know-It-All

    Location:
    New York
    Ella Fitzgerald Gershwin Song Book questions
    Ok, I'll bite. Why are the mono mixes about 75% better? Any advice about which pressings to look for?
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
    hi_watt likes this.
  21. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I'll take a guess just on observation that when listening to a single singer who may have a backup orchestra or other instruments competing to be heard, mono makes sure both speakers are being used at equal loudness in order to put the singer up front, close and personal.
     
    All Down The Line likes this.

  22. They slathered reverb on the stereo when they made them years later

    Look for a Red/Orange label with a big yellow T for earliest pressings, but any mono pressing with teeny stamper numbers will have better SQ than the stereo, but good luck finding quite copies, they were very popular and sold very well and played to death on less than ideal setups.


    Buy the pressings prior to MGM purchasing Verve in 1961. So the window is 1956-1960.
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
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  23. noirbar

    noirbar Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Antone
    Love your answer Steve. So next question, in your experience can a "needle drop" source bring at least some colouration into the final digital product, or is that just lost in the conversion?
     
    All Down The Line likes this.
  24. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    One track came from a session that was milti-mic'd for mono, but only three mics on the 3-track stereo feed.
     
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  25. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I just experienced what I just described above on Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky" which I ripped from a movie soundtrack CD and reduced a bit the aircraft hangar reverb it's slathered in.

    One thing that always bugged me about this song is I could barely hear the left channel female chorus call backs. After applying a hardwood stage reverb "Clarity" effect and EQ'ld to bring out the female chorus I now noticed the Greenbaum's vocal is shifted slightly to the right positioned at my temple listening on headphones. I applied a 2db limiter to the left channel and now Greenbaum's vocal is dead center and noticeably louder.

    Just a tip to those who want to fix these kinds of slight L/R offsets is to NEVER use a L/R panning slider in a DAW. Just apply a little bit of limiter to one of the channels and turn back to stereo. I did this in Audacity.

    This is the mastered version I worked from.



    At normal volume at 2:45 where Greenbaum's vocal appears to be doubled and out of step over his own vocal (a mistake?) is where I could hear his voice is not dead center. After the fix his vocal can be heard more over the reverb as well as the female chorus with more enunciation.
     
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