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

Thanks for the quick response!...and thanks for maintaining this fine forum.

 

The 2013 remaster of Moondance (which uses the tambourine mix of "Into The Mystic") has some gnarly tape damage at the beginning of "And It Stoned Me". It's the only serious damage I noticed throughout the disc, though. Do you recall other spots that were damaged?

 

Steve, has your age and the degradation of hearing acuity that occurs naturally with aging affected your approach to mastering? And if so, how do you compensate for it?

By the way. Unfortunately my hearing loss is occurring significantly more in one ear than the other. This is a downer, but exploring and listening to music is still my favorite pastime! Oh, and despite my hearing loss, I can still recognize and deeply appreciate well mastered recordings. They mean more to me now than ever! Thank you for your passion and attention to detail at your craft Steve.

One other thing; Because my hearing is faltering, I refrain from detailed opinions of sound quality other than to say whether or not I find audio quality to be pleasant. The main thing that makes audio unpleasant for me these days is excessive compression. It makes me ears ring even at low to moderate volumes.

 

My understanding is Steve retired years ago.

 

I remember the day that Steve asked the forum to go and hunt out their early pressings of Moondance to see if there was a tambourine on Into The Mystic. I headed down to my music room and pulled out four early copies with the earliest copy having the tambourine and none of the others. The replies that day helped Steve to decide which version to use for the re-issue.

Steve went on to tell us how there came to be a tambourine and non-tambourine copy in the first place and it has become one of my favourite memories of the value we get from this forum. I've used this example many times to explain some of the nuances of record collecting. It's funny, the ones who get the importance of the story, really get it, the others think I'm crazy.

 

Wonder if they've already made that move with " The Dark Side of the Moon "?

 

Glad to read here that you are still working, although realize with AF having gone OOB that any hope I have of you working on more Earth, Wind & Fire Albums is most likely gone.

Still look forward to any future Albums you work on that might be of interest to me, or spur me on to explore those Albums, as had already happened in recent years, despite those Albums on DCC or AF Label being more expensive(a few way higher in price than others) due to supply and demand.

 

IGOR is a Good Album. I streamed it but glad I had not yet bought a Physical Copy, now knowing you might potentially work on it. Have not yet listened to Call Me If You Get Lost, but will do so eventually. Been spending time listening to Albums by Fripp on his upcoming Deluxe Box Set.

 

OMG "Let's Dance" is killer!

 

Ummm...older or newer band?

 

Perhaps you could let us know what the product is when it has been released.

 

Steve, for all of us that don't understand what you just said (maybe i'm the only one), would you be able to explain in more detail, the 1st 2 sentences, please? Thanks.

 

I love that, too. So, which version did Steve use on that re-master? With or without tambourine?

 

Yeah.. I think i'm really not aware of the recording process. I'm trying to get my head around how you have used the safety tape to "clean up" stuff? If it's too much trouble to explain to a non-recording guy, that's ok. It's a magical thing, I believe.

 

Did you ever visit the old Norman Petty studio in Clovis, New Mexico, and if so, what was your favorite part of the visit?