Question for Steve: Working with Ray Charles

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for posting. You had originally asked:

"I have an LP I purchased many years ago entitled "Ray Charles and Betty Carter." Great LP. It is on Personality, some European label, and on the back, it says this LP was licensed from: DCC Compact Classics, with a date of 1989.

Well, in the credits it states, "Digitally rebalanced by Ray Charles, mastered by Steve Hoffman and Terry Howard at Ray Charles' RPM Studios, Los Angeles, June 1988."

What does "digitally rebalanced" mean?

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"Digitally rebalanced" just meant that Ray, Terry Howard and I remastered the tape on to a Sony 1630 machine, via Ray's Braille console. Why we chose "rebalanced" instead of remastered, I can't remember. Might have been the 1/2 gin & 1/2 hot coffee that I was sampling out of Ray's big beer stein...

This is the same SOLID STATE remastering that DCC did in the late 1980's on clear vinyl. (Don't ask why). The lacquers were cut at Future Disc Systems with my buddy Kevin Gray from an analog EQ'd (by Ray) master, solid state all the way.

The 180-gram Virgin Vinyl LP I cut in the 1990's is from the two-track master, bypassing the console, flat with a tube cutting system.

The original cutting on ABC-Paramount is a typical Bell Sound Studio cutting of it's era: high cut around 10k, low cut around 50 cycles, big boost around 4k, and some analog compression thrown in for good measure. Oh, and cut from a Bell Sound "Safety" made from the original United Audio tape.

It does have it's charm, sounds quite good in a nostalgic early '60's kind of way and the pressing is rare as hell in good shape. Not my idea of the ultimate sound quality though. Too much tailored for your Zenith or Magnavox console.

What was it like working for Ray? A blast. His engineer Terry Howard is a neat guy, and Ray is always amazing to be around.

At first, when I was working on the DCC Ray stuff, back in 1987, he didn't exactly seem too thrilled about hearing his ABC stuff again. I think it reminded him of bad stuff (read his biography). But, I must say, he warmed to the occasion quickly and really got into the music (which he had not heard in many years).

He used to make me sit in the dark in the studio and try and engineer just by feel. He said that it was what HE had to do, so I better get used to it if I was going to work with him.

Funny guy, eh?

He could "hear" when the meters were peaking, and when they were just right at "0" vu on his console. AMAZING ears!

His studio is in an old kind of scary (at night) part of Los Angeles, (R.P.M International Studio at 2107 West Washington Blvd., east of Western), and there wasn't much to eat in the neighborhood except one homemade BBQ place. Ray never ate with us (for obvious reasons), but he sent out for BBQ every day so we could chow down.

Always had the same thing: Hot links sandwich. In other words, some beef links dripping in sauce in between two pieces of wonder bread. Also some yummy sweet potato pie, and some kind of Orange Crush type thing to drink.

Thank God the bathroom was close by in Ray's studio. You can only eat so much of that in one week before your insides rebel!
I loved hanging around his studio. Same place he recorded "Let's Go Get Stoned" and "America The Beautiful". Still had the same dark green carpet and studio clock, mikes, electric piano, etc., from the 1960's. Terry Howard and I were the only white guys in that entire studio and office complex, (and probably the entire neighborhood), and I always felt honored that Ray wanted me to hang with him there.

I used to love watching him "read" magazines in Braille. I asked him once what he was reading and he said "Playboy". Ha. He is the ONLY person ever to REALLY read it just for the articles!

When I was working on "Hit The Road, Jack" at his studio one day, he came in and stood right in front of the speakers. It was obvious he had not heard his recording of that song for a very long time. He nodded his head for a minute to the music, and then SCREAMED OUT in time with the song: "Oh Woman, oh woman why'dya treat me so mean, you are the meanest old woman that I've ever seen", etc. His voice ROARED out, louder than the blaring speakers, louder than any human voice I had ever heard. Amazing. Jumped out of my skin, actually. What a voice! I was in awe at that moment and felt very glad to be there.

Funny thing is, he wanted to erase his old vocal track on that song and replace it with a new one. "I sing it SO much better now", he said! I talked him out of it, thank God!

At any rate, it was fun working with Ray. I'll never forget him!


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SH

 

Hi Ed,

There is no splice there. Betty just "breaks time" like all good jazz singers do on occasion. She "swings it" at that point and comes in half a beat early!

Ya see?

Actually, there wasn't one splice in that entire album that I could hear. Every song is a complete take unto itself. Rare in the music world, but not rare for Ray Charles or the late, great Betty Carter.

 

A few people have been asking some Ray Charles questions so I thought I'd move this thread back to MUSIC CORNER for a little while..

 

No, sort of the West Adams neighborhood. Can't remember how to get there; the 10 to Western. Western and Washington I guess. Really amazing old houses in that neighborhood.

 

"Is there some element of your sound engineering work that was forever changed because of working with Ray Charles?"
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Well, just my psyche I guess. Ray could tell where the VU meters were pinging just by listening. He was an amazing engineer and he did it all by "feel", literally. He could hear a pin drop in the next room.

Wait, yes, he did teach me something (other than respect for the blind). He taught me how to LISTEN differently. For example, he could hear a musician playing flat in his orchestra without even trying. He would turn to me and go "Do you hear the second trumpet? He's off". I would "focus in" and actually hear it. Problem is, now I focus in automatically and I can't turn it off. I'll be listening to something at someone's house and all of a sudden a musician goes sharp and I zoom in to it, usually by saying "Ohhhh, that guy is OFF". My friends look at me like I'm crazy but I know that someone in the band is not on pitch. So, Ray taught me that but it's a mixed blessing...

 

That's a lost cause. Just overmodulation. All that exists is the two-track and full-track mixes. The 8-channel tapes were burned to a crisp. Doesn't matter though; the distortion was on the 8-track. 8 mic pres distorting at once is not a pretty sound. Great music but the sound sux. I tried the mono version and although it's not a fold down, it sux as well, meaning that Tom Dowd recorded the album on the 8-track and mixed a distorted mono and distorted stereo mix.

Even in those days they had microphone pads to keep consoles from overloading. I can't imagine why he didn't use them...

 

Yeah, it's a curse. I've always had it but Ray Charles really "honed it in" for me..