SH Spotlight Steve's Mastering Secrets, Part II

I do all the time, yes. Alternate takes, alternate mixes, first time stereo mixes of songs only released in mono, etc.

Not allowed to talk about them though. I have to stay on good terms with the licensor.

 

To quote:

This recent history (Kind Of Blue/Explorations) issued the 31-year-old Evans into the Village Vanguard with his current working group that Spring Sunday Afternoon, for what was ostensibly just another date to make a living as a musician in New York City. Orrin Keepnews was on hand at the club earlier than the trio with engineer David Jones to set up the Ampex portable tape recorder. The pair placed the recorder at a table close to the stage, enabling them to maintain eye contact with the band (rather than recording in the traditional way with the recorder and engineer in the kitchen, out of sight).

The very same tape we used to cut our 45s.

 

Cheap cans from the local Army Surplus. Really.

How did he do it?

All you do is set your levels and let it go. The trick is to not overload. Everything else is just vacuum tube bliss.

 

Yeah, my guess.

The problem with the Contemporary Studios "hiss reducing" slope of 1959-62 is that unless you are using the exact same equalizer that they had you couldn't match exactly.

So, I did what Spock did in Star Trek "The Voyage Home"; I guessed.

 

Fair question though I don't like to talk about unissued stuff.

I did it over at Capitol (for the chambers).

 

I didn't want to pay OCEAN WAY's outlandish price. I like the Capitol people, they work with me and the chambers sound better..

 

All the engineers wanted was more flexibility to overdub and the ability to "REMIX" something at a later date, perhaps after dinner or something. (All against Union rules but the union was going out by this point).

Valid points and reasons, but in order to do this something had to go and that something was good, natural sound. That's the way it goes!

 

Forgot one thing. As soon as the artists got a taste of the new "overdubbing" approach to recording there was no going back. None at all.

So, many more channels, the need to keep the numerous mic preamps quiet (use compression), the need to keep the 24 hissy tracks quiet (use the Dolby System), isolated musicians to keep each instrument on its own track, the need for headphones to hear everyone, solid state recording to keep it cool in the studio and have less breakdowns, outboard devices to make the sound "exciting", zealous engineers and producers who wanted total control over the band's dynamics in post production and you have: The 70's! Turn it to digital and you have: The 80's and beyond!

No one wanted to go back to the old way of grouping the musicians around four microphones and recording everything live in one take, in a natural space. It took the Audiophile Recording Style in the 1990s to figure out how to do that again. And by that time Buddy was gone..

 

Apple? Heh, you mean EMI. They boosted the bass, reduced the mids and added top AFTER they No-Noised the life out of the tapes.

What I did (especially on STRAIGHT UP) was just transfer them pretty straight, maybe a little REVERSE EQ (taking it out instead of adding it) to bring out a more natural sound (but still faithful to Todd R.) and reduce a bit of upper midrange screech. Worked pretty well!


Can't have any screech on one of my masterings.