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Now that we are close to re-introducing LPs from Reference Recordings at last, people should know about what goes on behind the scenes to make this possible. This information is for the RR Series about the men (and women!) behind the RR Magic:
Kudos to Paul Stubblebine, recording and mastering engineer extraordinaire! We are incredibly grateful to Paul for many years of careful and diligent work with RR’s recordings, using the newest and best technology and techniques available for editing and mastering our compact discs. He was also a pivotal force in bringing our HRx high resolution discs into reality. And now, we are very excited to be collaborating with him on rebuilding and improving a vintage LP cutting lathe, which he will use soon to master RR’s new LPs!
In the early days of the recording industry, live performances were cut direct to a wax or acetate disk in the recording studio. After the introduction of magnetic recording tape in the late 1940's, the music had to be transferred from tape to a lacquer master and the art of mastering (then sometimes simply called "transfer") was born.
Recording engineers who showed promise would work for a time in mastering as part of their training. The record companies, having been burned a time or two by putting out discs that caused problems on consumer reproduction systems, had hard and fast rules governing the amount of certain frequencies that were permitted in the transfer and this, it was considered, was essential knowledge for the recording engineer.
As time went by it was noticed by artists and producers that certain records sounded better than others on the radio and they began to realize that mastering could provide both a commercial edge, and also be an important part of the creative process. Engineers and producers, in defiance of the restraints placed upon them by the record companies, began seeking to push the envelope in various ways, and as a result, the currency of the mastering engineer began to rise.
With the arrival of the CD, a medium that lacks the same constraints as vinyl with regard to how much of certain frequencies can be applied, mastering engineers came into their own with a broader canvas on which they could paint. With the high quality analog and digital compressors and EQs available today, mastering engineers are able to subtly contour dynamics and re-shape the frequency spectrum to produce remarkable results.
The recent introduction of the DVD formats, plus the SACD, and the proliferation of high resolution stereo and surround comsumer reproduction equipment, mean even more intriguing possibilities for the art of mastering.
Although the traditional recording studio industry has undergone a rapid evolution in recent years due to the introduction of affordable digital multi-track recording equipment, professional mastering has flourished and become even more important as artists, producers, and engineers strive to bring their home/project-studio based recordings up to the level that the listening public is accustomed to.
The cutting head on a Neumann lathe
"What are the qualities that make a good mastering engineer?
Perhaps it is best summed up by Paul in this comment about how his mastering career started:
"An engineer named George Horn, who was in charge of the mastering department at the Columbia Records studios in San Francisco, was looking for another engineer and he felt that I had the right combination of skills, aptitudes, and personality defects that go together to make a good mastering man!".
Paul began his mastering career in San Francisco in 1973. For eleven years he worked at a recording and mastering facility on Folsom Street which, originally owned by CBS, was later bought by David Rubinson and became known as The Automatt.
Paul was the mastering engineer there until it closed in 1984, working on records by Sly Stone, Journey, Blue Oyster Cult, Herbie Hancock, Santana, The Grateful Dead, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Joan Baez, Bill Evans, Tony Bennett, Narada Michael Walden, ConFunkShun, New Order, and The Clash, etc.
This is also where the mastering was done for the US releases of Rough Trade and Factory Records including Joy Division, and New Order. During this period, records mastered at the Automatt were on the charts continuously.
Paul then went on to become chief engineer at Rocket Lab, also in San Francisco, where he worked until starting his own company, Paul Stubblebine Mastering, in 1997. Since then he has mastered Grammy¨-winning recordings for Mickey Hart, Ry Cooder, Dominick Argento, John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison, among others.
Along with Michael Romanowski and a third partner, Paul founded The Tape Project, a label dedicated to releasing the world's greatest music on the world's best-sounding format: reel to reel tape.
Paul is a long time member of The Recording Academy (The Grammys¨) and is a past president of the San Francisco chapter, as well as a former National Trustee.
http://www.paulstubblebine.com/
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StevenCheng將軍
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我認為這些發燒唱片的製作團隊應該把努力的方向放在如何和大唱片公司合作,不管是新錄音還是再製作
很棒的錄音但是演出的都是名不見經傳的的音樂家或曲目
我一張也不會買
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個人喜好不同?
不知這次RR 這次古典部份會發哪些 title, 蠻期待的
感謝小葉大大的第一手消息, 等了三年多總算要出了 :)
 作者: 小葉
有名才要買也蠻奇怪的說....？
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