"Some of this dark spirit seems to
have carried over into CD mastering."

That's a brilliant observation.

c



On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 11:28 AM, Carl Pultz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> That from a company that did fantastic work in their studios, and
> high-quality classical location recording. This echoes the situation with
> Columbia; often amazing productions were excessively compromised in disc
> mastering.
>
> What was it about the corporate cultures or shop floor realities in these
> American companies that caused this division? I've had the notion that in
> the early days, there was more unity of purpose, where all steps along the
> production chain were engaged in proving the quality of microgroove and
> stereo. Eventually, maybe because of the shear growth in volume of work or
> a
> sense of the mastering departments being second-class citizens in the
> engineering hierarchies, mastering became just overhead rather than an
> element in the creative process.
>
> If so, why or how did the English companies maintain a higher standard?
> Were
> they driven by different estimations of the demands of their market, or was
> it more something internal to the company cultures that supported better
> craftsmanship?
>
> There may be a historical element, too. Before tape, the lathe operator was
> a part of the session, right there with the artists. After, they were off
> in
> the back rooms, anonymous workers. Had to hurt if you started in the
> studios
> in 1940 and ended in the basement in 1980. Some of this dark spirit seems
> to
> have carried over into CD mastering.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Donald Clarke
> Sent: Sunday, July 14, 2013 8:09 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Bass less reissues from England,U.S. Record club
> versions
>
> On Jul 13, 2013, at 3:13 PM, Steven Smolian wrote:
>
> At one point I was working on a classical reissue project that had to be
> mastered, by contract, by the Capitol engineering staff in the U.S. What I
> sent out and what I got back were quite different- less bass from Capitol
> and more compression.
>
> ============
>
> In 1989 I leased a classical recording made in 1970 from EMI in London for
> release on CD. There had been a digital transfer, issued on an Angel LP in
> the USA, but not on CD, and I asked EMI to find that so I wouldn't have to
> pay for a new transfer. They faxed Hollywood and back came a transfer of
> some old safety copy or something: unusable. They told me in London that no
> matter what they asked for from Capitol it was never right. We made a new
> transfer in the basement at Abbey Road.
>
> Donald Clarke
>