Top 10 remastering engineers

No suspence here.#1 Steve Hoffman. I think we're all in agreement on that one. But He can't remaster everything.It would be interesting to share some favorites.

 

Two more obvious Dennis Drake, Bob Irwin and although I'll catch heck Bill Inglot (although not perfect the man did a lot for the upgrade in quality in the reissue market) btw I've already put on my flameproof jacket.... the looong one.

 

I don't think you should be attacked about Inglot. His work is not

always great but some of it is very good. More important, there

are hundreds of songs out there that wouldn't be available at all

if not for him and Rhino. He's not Steve Hoffman, but then again

who else is?

 

Do you favor one over another for cd or lp?

 

Well, there are some very good ones, IMO. Along with Steve I'd have to add Doug Sax, Joe Gastwirt, Bob Ludwig, Ted Jensen, George Marino, Vic Anesini, Bill Inglot and Nick Watson; that makes nine, I believe (no particular order except perhaps a little bias towards Steve Hoffman and Doug Sax who are known to employ tubes in their remastering projects)

...I'm sure that there are many other excellent mastering gurus out there who deserve mention and this would be best served as an ever-expanding list rather than a "top ten" list [Note:I can't help but think of Letterman and the possible downside to being on any top ten list ].

At the risk of sounding preachy, the thing we should strive to remember is that with the combined experience and techniques any, or all, of these fellows might be capable of working their magic given access to decent tape sources AND, by the same token, even the best remastering engineer is capable of turning out undesirable product when only supplied with mediocre source tapes. My point being that we shouldn't be quick to judgment about what constitutes "greatness" or "infamy" when so much goes on behind the scenes that the music lover can never know.

Robert (aka Cat)

 

Steve,

Would you call Bob Irwin a producer?

Isn't there overlap on engineers, mixing engineers, mastering engineers, producers, SACD authors (whatever that means), and so forth? I mean, is there a guy who physically moves a slider, and is there another guy who tells the first guy how much to move the slider, and another guy who says, no, maybe the slider should be 1/2 notch lower?

 

Actually, Bob Irwin *does* do most/all of his own mixing and mastering for Sundazed. He mixed and mastered the Preflyte set, in particular...

 

I'm going to go with, in no particular order...

Bob Ludwig
Steve Hoffman
Bernie Grundman
Joe Gastwirt
Ted Jensen
Doug Sax
George Marino
Stephen Marcussen
Greg Calbi
Vic Anesini

 

John R T Davies
Robert Parker
Ted Kendall

 

He is listed as mastering engineer for "The New Lee Dorsey" CD on Sundazed.

 

So, is the guy who does the tape to digital transfers considered a mastering engineer?

 

Okay... my favorites are (Of course not the premier league... like SH) Bernie Grundman, Gavin Lurssen (responsible for the best Marvin Gaye remaster of What's Going On), Doug Sax (hey Doug, where are you?), Erik Labson, Eroc.

 

Steve,

Didn't Tom Baker play Doctor Who? Just kidding...

Todd

 

First and Foremost STEVE HOFFMAN, and I'm not kissing ass here! It's just a fact after many years and many CDs later, I have come to the conclusion that Steve is the BEST! My wife also agrees. After long hours of listening I don't get that dreaded ear bleed which is so prevelent in most of the others or on the other side the Bland, Empty, it should sound better feeling...I love Stereo but nobody makes Mono more enjoyable than Steve...just blows away all the others.

 

Hmmm, Boppin' Bob Jones definitely is near the top of the heap - great work for Bear Family and Ace, and Duncan Cowell also doing the RAB thang for Ace and Bear. Bob Irwin probably should be on the list for Sundazed releases - he probably doesn't man the controls at his CBS gig...

 

Hey guys,

A major oversight: Leo Hulka, LH on all those Sterling and Masterdisk stampers.

Credits? Tea for the Tillerman, Harvest and literally hundreds of other records of the era that are still my favorite copies to this day. A true hero in my eyes.

LH and RL have their initials on more good records--regular records (pre 180 gram)--than everybody else put together, as least as far as the music I like goes.

Lots of TML but those aren't always Doug Sax.

TP

 

Verve Master Edition

What about Kevin Reeves? The Verve discs sound great, and are priced right.

 

What! No mention of Stan Ricker yet?!?!

 

And also The Stones "Black and Blue" a fine sounding LP.

 

Not from me.

Steve, an oversight?

TP