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I too find it hard to believe Bob would endorse some of that obviously terrible work. Abrash is a new name to me but I trust you implicitly and I'm sure if you like it it's a major step up from prior attempts. Masucci always controlled Fania so the assets were well looked after and it is my understanding that they pretty much put out everything they had so virtually no outtakes, alternates and stuff just sitting in the can. If Jerry paid for it he put it out. Roulette which was Morris Levy and a few other indies were absorbed by Jerry over the years and became part of the larger Fania family. These smaller players do not seem to have cared for their output with particular diligence.
AA

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 23, 2013, at 9:26 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hi Aaron:
> 
> I think the very latest remastering was done by Alex Abrash in Queens. I was surprised to learn that Bob Katz was involved with earlier remastering, because the CDs that were put out in the early 2000's were terrible. I couldn't believe a commercial product would be put out with such clearly audible digital birdies (the artifacts of a lame attempt to cut tape hiss). I'm assuming that wasn't one of the Katz products, because he'd surely be able to hear that kind of thing.
> 
> Agree about using scratchy LPs. Listen to the sound samples of "Hard Hands" on the website and tell what you think. It seems, to my ears, like they couldn't find a master tape for Side A, but Side B seems to be from tape. I guess I'd rather hear the ticks and pops than digital artifacts from ham-handed DSP, but what I'd really rather hear is a better source.
> 
> -- Tom Fine
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Levinson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 8:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Some classic Fania Records titles reborn
> 
> 
>> The current remastering is being done by Jon Fausty or perhaps by Bob Katz. Jon did a lot of the original tracking and mixing alongside the late Irv Greenbaum.
>> They were and in Jon's case are excellent engineers who have gone largely unheralded in the pantheon on NY engineers. I agree that the new reissues sound considerably better than the early 2000 vintage stuff which sounded pretty bad. Bob Katz is an excellent mastering engineer and extremely knowledgeable. It is high time that the legacy of Salsa music was accorded a quality maturing campaign that is commensurate with the quality of the art itself.
>> I own in many case mint copies of a lot of these albums so I am disappointed to hear that they used a scratchy vinyl source when pristine copies do exist in the collector community. I have supplied them with art and written liner notes but have been contacted about vinyl sources much to my chagrin.
>> 
>> AA
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 23, 2013, at 7:53 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The current owners of Fania Records:
>>> http://www.fania.com/
>>> have put up the funds to finally do some quality remastering. I downloaded "Acid," "Together" and "Senior 007" by Ray Barretto, WAV files, and was universally impressed compared to all previous remasters that I own (and also an original but admittedly worn "Acid" LP). These remasters don't have the clearly audible digital artifacts of the early 2000's reissue CDs and also have a crispness and clarity to the percussion and bass that make me think real-deal master tapes were used. I checked out the sound samples of Barretto's "Hard Hands" at the website, and here they seem to have had to use a somewhat scratchy LP. That's too bad if the master tape is lost, because it's a great album.
>>> 
>>> According to Whacky Packia:
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tico_Records
>>> Fania acquired Tico Records, which had been under the Roulette umbrella. If it had stayed with Roulette, it would now be part of UMG via MCA. The Joe Cuba albums made for Tico are owned by the current iteration of Fania, and sold at the website. Same story for Ray Barretto's United Artists recordings.
>>> 
>>> -- Tom Fine
>>