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.

Page 120 of 125
  1. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...

    Location:
    Strawberry Fields, U.S.A.
    Steve, I recall your saying that "Wheels of Fire" was one of your most difficult / time-consuming jobs.

    Am I remembering correctly that you also mentioned "Hotel California" among the toughies?

    If so, what was the reason?
     
    john lennonist, Jan 31, 2023
    #2976
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    HOTEL KALI-PHORNIA sucked. The Ampex 406 tapes from Criteria, Miami were wet with sticky shed, couldn't play them. The safety (made with the same s****y Ampex tape) was also ruined.

    At that time not much was known about "tape baking".. Kevin and LRS Studios, Burbank knew a guy at Ampex up at Redwood City that said they could treat Sticky/Shed tapes and they could be used clear for about two weeks before going back to ruin. All we had to do was Fed Ex 'em up there and they would do it for us, gratis.

    Well, the masters were useless the way they were so LRS in Burbank sent the master reels up to Ampex. Felt it best not to tell anyone. When they came back, wow! We could play them fine. So that was OK, we had two weeks.

    Biggest problem was they sounded like ****. Way too much lumpy bass, I mean like 15 db too much.

    The original EQ vinyl mastering notes told of giant bass cut off, giant treble boost and giant compressor to be used in the signal chain.

    We didn't want to do any of that so I decided on a reverse EQ, to remove EQ instead of adding. This took a week, we had to string two Sontec units together but eventually, I got the sound where I liked it and we did a digital mastering and a 1:1 analog safety.

    And so on...
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2023
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2977
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  3. bellbrass

    bellbrass Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky, USA
    ^^^ Very interesting and informative. I guess you just never know what kind of shape the master tapes will be in.

    Steve, I believe you have commented on the general high quality of Audio Wave XRCDs. Indeed, I have about 12 of them, and they all sound excellent. Do you have any favorites? I know you really liked Explorations by The Bill Evans Trio on XRCD; any others come to mind?
     
    bellbrass, Jan 31, 2023
    #2978
    DrJ, melkor_morgoth, Vinylbeast and 1 other person like this.
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Speakin' My Piece
    TomCat
    Cool Struttin'
    Little Johnny C
    LD+3
    Soul Station
    Doin' Allright
    True Blue
    Etc.

    All good neutral transfers from the original stereo Blue Note Master Tapes. All good ones!
     
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2979
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  5. vinylkid58

    vinylkid58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Victoria, B.C.
    Yeah, those are some very good titles. What was the tape that BN used if you don't mind me asking?

    jeff
     
    vinylkid58, Jan 31, 2023
    #2980
    melkor_morgoth likes this.
  6. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You mean the tape stock? Scotch 111.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2981
    melkor_morgoth and vinylkid58 like this.
  7. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...

    Location:
    Strawberry Fields, U.S.A.

    Well thanks for all of the hard work on that one, Steve, because it sounds incredible!

    One of the very best-sounding of my 15 or so DCC LPs (I also have about 30 DCC CDs, including the fantastic-sounding "Wheels of Fire" -- mine's the Japanese pressing -- that I referenced above).

    :righton:
     
    john lennonist, Jan 31, 2023
    #2982
    wellhamsrus and melkor_morgoth like this.
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Still hard for me to play HOTEL without a slight feeling of panic, even after all these years.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2983
    danielbravo, melkor_morgoth, Farmer Mike and 24 others like this.
  9. FramboGND

    FramboGND Givin' it all

    Location:
    British Isles
    I saw an old post on here, something about master tapes in Ian Anderson's shed... I was wondering have you met him at all, any anecdotes especially about maybe how Tull are perceived these days/general legacy across UK, USA, rest of world?

    Also, did I read you worked on remastering Close to the Edge at one point!? Wow :cool: Again, did you meet any band members, and how does that work, they fly over or you come here?

    Finally, I know a lot of older classic rock lovers can tend to despise the whole switch over in sound from the '70s to the '80s... do you personally enjoy or rate highly any releases from this era (1980-1989), ie REM's Green, Appetite for Destruction, or maybe something poppier like Rio or Peter Cetera's wildly over produced some may say, Solitude/Solitaire (1985)?

    :cheers:
     
    FramboGND, Jan 31, 2023
    #2984
    Vinylbeast likes this.
  10. snkcube

    snkcube Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Steve definitely mastered the album! It was released on SACD under Audio Fidelity.

    Yes - Close To The Edge
     
    snkcube, Jan 31, 2023
    #2985
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  11. bellbrass

    bellbrass Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky, USA
    Thank you - noted!
     
    bellbrass, Jan 31, 2023
    #2986
  12. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
    When can we expect the book?
    :D
     
    mavisgold, Jan 31, 2023
    #2987
    Bruce Racket, ggjjr and Vinylbeast like this.
  13. Crosseyed

    Crosseyed help I'm a rock

    Location:
    NJ
    Hmm 1:1 analog safety - sounds like that could be used for a nice vinyl pressing?
     
    Crosseyed, Jan 31, 2023
    #2988
    Vinylbeast likes this.
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Razor bladed, sorry.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2989
    Crosseyed likes this.
  15. Vinylbeast

    Vinylbeast But does it sound good?

    Location:
    Central Illinois
    I played his “Love Will Keep Us..” for someone once and their jaw dropped at how good it sounded!!
     
    Vinylbeast, Jan 31, 2023
    #2990
    snkcube likes this.
  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I never met Ian, I spoke to him on the phone about 3 times. Never met any of YES, sadly...
     
    Steve Hoffman, Jan 31, 2023
    #2991
  17. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    That was a 1:1 analog from A&M. Right from the master. Love that song. I added a bit of midrange..
     
    Steve Hoffman, Feb 1, 2023
    #2992
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  18. Carlos Marcelo Rodighiero

    Carlos Marcelo Rodighiero Active Member

    Location:
    Resistencia, Argentina
     
    Carlos Marcelo Rodighiero, Feb 1, 2023
    #2993
  19. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    In 2014 The Eagles catalogue was reissued on vinyl from digital files cut by Bernie Grundman. If the tapes were that bad, how could they have have been used again?

    JG
     
    James Glennon, Feb 1, 2023
    #2994
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Rebaked. Can do it countless times, forever, probably. Rebake, master, store, rebake, master, store.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Feb 1, 2023
    #2995
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  21. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    That's some serious emotional recall.
     
    pool_of_tears, Feb 1, 2023
    #2996
  22. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    Steve,

    Just pulled this one off the shelf, the other day. Hadn't played it a few years, and it sounds great. Sounds like Dave is in the room. How did this mastering session(s) go? Wish you could've issued more Dave stuff.

    [​IMG]
     
    pool_of_tears, Feb 1, 2023
    #2997
    Crazysteve likes this.
  23. Matty

    Matty Senior Member

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    You can check out any time you like, but you can't ever leave behind those feelings of anxiety...
     
    Matty, Feb 1, 2023
    #2998
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  24. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Very easy to do, fun, actually. Took just a day for both albums.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Feb 1, 2023
    #2999
    pool_of_tears likes this.
  25. Bruce Racket

    Bruce Racket Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington DC
    Mr. Hoffman, if you ever write a book about your career, I'll be first in line for a preorder. I'd love to hear all the stories.
     
    Bruce Racket, Feb 1, 2023
    #3000
    TheSeldomSeenKid, ramonesfan, TxRangersFan and 2 others like this.
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