SH Spotlight Adventures in Mastering: First album by AMERICA on SACD for Audio Fidelity:

For what it's worth, I always enjoy these posts. Thank you.

 

Thanks for sharing. I love reading these sort of posts although from what I know of dolby that scares me!

 

Steve, was this Master Tape prepared in U.K. by Ken Scott... obviously you wrote it's EMI tape sent to WB in L.A. were it's stayed on the shelf. I suppose many previous WB artists early CD releases suffer from incorrect setup of Dolby A. Would you agree?

 

Whereas I remember getting my first cassette deck in early '75 and making sure I got a unit with Dolby, because I knew that the future lay in CrO2 cassettes with Dolby encoding, which would offer all the sound quality of vinyl without all that annoying surface noise*. I think I managed to hold that opinion for a whole two or three days after getting it…


*or, as one might say a few years later, "perfect sound forever."

 

Steve, thanks for sharing the experience with us. I am looking forward to this SACD.

 

Is it standard practice to digitally archive older analog recordings these days?

 

Hey, Marshall! One, please!

 

glad you like this album, Steve...I think it's their best, and you're right about the influences. However, whenever I hear this record I never think of CSN or the like. I just think it's well written with great harmony and production.

 

Steve, it sound like it was another amazing day at Stephen Marsh Mastering, full of the magic "Breath of Life" and great music. I look forward to this and all releases. It's must be nice to know that Stephen's knowledge of studio/equipment history, and all the care he take with his own equipment, you can be confident that these master tapes sound the best that they can.

And he almost does as much homework as you do!

 

You don't have to think of CSN but I don't know how anyone cannot think of Neil Young on a few tracks.

 

I hope you don't mind what might be a stupid question, Steve. Do certain mixing engineers make the job of mastering easier or more of a challenge, and if so, do they develop a reputation among mastering engineers?

 

Yes, this is great news!

 

Steve Hoffman wrote:

If I recall right, Gerry Beckley mentioned that the Bee Gees "First Of May" was also an influence on the verse of this song. One of my favorite albums, nice to read the discussion.

 

Homecoming!!!! Please.......

 

Hi Steve,

Unless that's your wife, can you please go back to the Lassie avatar? It's so easy to recognize. This one is hard to instantly know whose it is. I don't want to miss your threads.

 

Hey Scarlett is much much easier to look at than Lassie. Can you please put Scarlett back? I can miss a thread or two.

 

I heard "A horse with no name" on radio and thought it was Neil Young indeed.

off topic (or not?): the Scarlett avatar is fine

 

Too bad this isn't getting a vinyl release also.

Anyone know if the Friday Music release is "better" than the original LP pressing?

 

I have the Friday Music LP, and I much prefer my green label WB copy.

Looking forward to the AF remaster. Love this album.

 

Thanks Steve for reply back, i forgot that much of the album was produced in U.K., hence the EMI tape description you spoke of earlier. Thanks again for helming this SACD release, Can't wait to hear it!