mglik-
Almost missed this: You almost bought Sheffield Labs??! You are hereby officially invited to take up as much of my thread as you wish expanding on that comment!
One of my most treasured recordings, Michael Ruff, Speaking in Melodies, is a Sheffield. Live studio recording, some of it direct to two-track, one of the most "you are there" sounds around. Janis Ian, Breaking Silence, the audiophile classic demo disc has a big section of small print on the back listing all the care taken, that it is all tubes, and of course "mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab on all tube electronics." There’s even a bit in there somewhere about the tube mic used on Janis Ian.
For sure it is a gauge of some kind. Thing of it is, the chain of events and components that runs from the performer to the listener is way longer and with way more links than most of us know. Maybe more than we can know.
Here, for example, are some of the liner notes from Breaking Silence:
Okay. So that is just to give everyone some idea all the many links in the chain. Just a few of em anyway.
And think of it, all we have at this point is a master tape. We say "master tape" like it’s nothing. But look what goes into producing it! All the above details amount to is the tip of the iceberg!
The darn thing still needs to be pressed into albums! A process that itself is every bit as technically challenging as recording and mastering. All so we can drag a needle through it, something Peter Ledermann says, "This should not work!"
Now the thing is, most of us have at one time or another noticed technical bits like the above on various audiophile recordings. How many have ever seen similar details describing the cutting lathe, mother, stamper, etc? Anyone? Beuller?
Not talking about in general. We all know in general. Just like we all know in general they record, mix, master. We know they cut wax on a lathe, stamp out records. Where have you ever seen an album list the exact equipment used? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP0mQeLWCCo
So yeah, like I said, a gauge of sorts. Just as it is possible to have a great sounding system with not so great speakers- resting on a foundation of outstanding upstream components- it is possible to have a not so good pressing sound great simply because it is the last link in an unusually strong recording chain.
Doug Sax was one of the greatest mastering engineers in history.
In the mid ‘90s I almost bought Sheffield Labs and had the pleasure of being close to Doug and Lincoln. Speaking of Doug’s gear at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, one day he opened up his control panels to show me how they were full of tubes!
His Wikipedia page has all of his hundreds of mastered albums.
Almost missed this: You almost bought Sheffield Labs??! You are hereby officially invited to take up as much of my thread as you wish expanding on that comment!
One of my most treasured recordings, Michael Ruff, Speaking in Melodies, is a Sheffield. Live studio recording, some of it direct to two-track, one of the most "you are there" sounds around. Janis Ian, Breaking Silence, the audiophile classic demo disc has a big section of small print on the back listing all the care taken, that it is all tubes, and of course "mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab on all tube electronics." There’s even a bit in there somewhere about the tube mic used on Janis Ian.
Could this be a gauge for Better-Records buys?
For sure it is a gauge of some kind. Thing of it is, the chain of events and components that runs from the performer to the listener is way longer and with way more links than most of us know. Maybe more than we can know.
Here, for example, are some of the liner notes from Breaking Silence:
Tracks were recorded at Nightingale Studio on a Studer 820, 24-track machine, 30ips, non-Dolby, at the elevation of +6/250nu using Ampex 499 tape.
Included among the mics used on the recording dates were: Nuemann M-49, AKG C-12, Telefunken 251, Sheffield C-9, and a custom built tube direct box on the bass. Janis’ vocal was recorded using a Telefunken U-47 and a Mastering Lab mic preamp, linked with series-one Monster Cable direct to the back of the Multi-track machine with no EQ or Limiting.
The album was mixed at Bill Schnee Studio to an Ampex ATR 1/2" machine, at 30ips, non-Dolby, at the elevation of +3/250nu on Ampex 499 tape. The reverb on the album was an EMT tube plate used along with natural room sounds captured in the recording. During the mixing of the album, "Some People’s Lives" was recorded direct to two-track using the same vocal chain as above and Telefunken 251’s on the piano. Take number two was used as the album cut.
The album was mixed using Mastering Labs modified Tannoy SGM-10’s powered by Sherwood Sax, monoblock tube amps.
Okay. So that is just to give everyone some idea all the many links in the chain. Just a few of em anyway.
And think of it, all we have at this point is a master tape. We say "master tape" like it’s nothing. But look what goes into producing it! All the above details amount to is the tip of the iceberg!
The darn thing still needs to be pressed into albums! A process that itself is every bit as technically challenging as recording and mastering. All so we can drag a needle through it, something Peter Ledermann says, "This should not work!"
Now the thing is, most of us have at one time or another noticed technical bits like the above on various audiophile recordings. How many have ever seen similar details describing the cutting lathe, mother, stamper, etc? Anyone? Beuller?
Not talking about in general. We all know in general. Just like we all know in general they record, mix, master. We know they cut wax on a lathe, stamp out records. Where have you ever seen an album list the exact equipment used? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP0mQeLWCCo
So yeah, like I said, a gauge of sorts. Just as it is possible to have a great sounding system with not so great speakers- resting on a foundation of outstanding upstream components- it is possible to have a not so good pressing sound great simply because it is the last link in an unusually strong recording chain.