Welcome! New Member SACMAN - Re: David Elias

A Big Welcome! to you Gus. Your mastering work is becoming well known around here.

Gus has given the world the last two David Elias SACDs. Glad to have your talent and experience aboard in the SH forums.
Tom

 

Glad to have you with us Gus.

 

welcome to the forum

 

Welcome, Gus.

 

Hi Gus,

Welcome aboard!

Here's an interesting thread, that we discussed at the time....

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=48932&highlight=elton+john+sacd

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

Welcome Gus! It's a pleasure to have you join us. I'm the pickiest son-of-a-gun you'd ever want to meet regarding mastering and you have your chops down my friend, excellent work.

 

Hi Dave,

Ummm.... remember our discussion on the Elton John SACD's (link provided above)? What did/do you think of them? Gus was the SACD mastering engineer.

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

I think you've got your Gus's mixed up Jeffrey. Gus Skinas is our new member, not Gus Dudgeon.

 

Hi Dave,

One of us does!

Gus Skinas did the DSD mastering on the EJ and Clapton SACD's released by Universal last year.

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

Sorry, you're right. I tend to think that the EJ's might not have been his choices in regards to the mastering based on the excellent mastering of the David Elias SACD's. We've certainly seen that one in the past, or should I say heard and wish we didn't.

 

Hi Dave,

"No... Actually, there was no EQ..." utilized during the EJ SACD mastering.

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

Thanks for the warm welcome

Many thanks to all of you for your kind welcome. That was quite a surprise! This is a great board and I will be happy to participate.
gus...

 

Hi, and welcome, Gus !!!

 

My disc is in the mail and I can't wait to hear it.
Welcome Gus!

 

Welcome, Gus.

Got my autographed Crossing SACD in the mail exactly one day after ordering (maybe b/c David Elias lives about 30 miles from me)- THAT is service!

 

Hi Gus and welcome. What were the differences between the Elton SACD's and the David Elias SACD's mastering-wise to give us such extremely different sounding SACD's with the Elton John titles being so bright in the treble frequencies and the David Elias titles sounding so warm and analogish please? Thanks.

 

Anyone working on SA-CD's is alright with me. Welcome Gus; I'm sure we'll all learn a lot from you.

 

Howdy Gus! Welcum tu thu moist edjacated form arount!

 

Again, many thanks for the warm welcome. I haven't completely figured out how to work this forum yet or reply to specific questions. There was a question earlier in the thread. Dave asked:

"Hi Gus and welcome. What were the differences between the Elton SACD's and the David Elias SACD's mastering-wise to give us such extremely different sounding SACD's with the Elton John titles being so bright in the treble frequencies and the David Elias titles sounding so warm and analogish please?"

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There were lots of differences... The David Elias records were produced purely in the DSD domain and recorded with Ed Meitner's DSD converters. There was no PCM anywhere in the chain.

The multitrack Elton masters were transfered to a 96k PCM Pro Tools system and then mixed in Pro Tools to create the 5.1 eq'd master. That was then transferred in the analog domain to the Sonoma DSD workstation. The stereo program was EQ'd and transfered to DSD from the original analog stereo tape masters at Metropolis Studios (in the UK) via Prisim DSD converters (i think), and I did nothing at all to those except for a bit of editing, and then authoring.

One thing I have discovered working with DSD is that any mediocre engineer (like myself) can make a great mix because things just fit together better. You don't have to work much with EQ on the individual multitrack tracks to make things work with one another. They just do. As a result, very little EQ was used when mixing "Crossing".

My role with the Elton SACD's was limited to level adjustments, editing, and authoring. I believe that the EQ choices were made, in part, to stay true to Gus Dudgeon's original masters. In fact, Tony Cousins EQ'd the stereo program. Didn't he master the originals?

 

Hello again Gus,
To quote like I have done here, just click the quote button on any post you want to quote and it will appear like this post after you type in what you want below the [/quote] and click submit reply.

I'm not certain if you are speaking of LP or CD, but I'm holding in my hands right now the original DJM first pressing made in W. Germany of Goodbye Yellowbrick Road. There is no mention of who mastered it, who produced it, or on any other DJM Elton John CD's I own. I don't own any of the MCA's only the DCC Greatest Hits and the MFSL's of Honkey Chateau and Tumbleweed Connection. I didn't like the midrange suck-out on the MFSL Goodbye Yellowbrick Road as is why I have DJM instead. I believe it was Gus Dudgeon though, but I could be wrong.

 

Hi Dave,

We're talking about the 5 Elton John SACD's released by Universal in 2004:

Elton John - Captain Fantastic (Island/Rocket)
Elton John - Elton John (Island/Rocket)
Elton John - Honky Chateau (Island/Rocket)
Elton John - Madman Across The Water (Island/Rocket)
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection (Island/Rocket)

Here's the thread where we (you and i) have debated these specific SACD releases before:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/s...elton+john+sacd

Many/most Forum members claim that these five SACD's are bright. I have always disagreed w/ that opinion..... i really like them! I have suggested that budget SACD players have problems accurately reproducing high's and that may be part of the reason why some Forum members are disappointed. The 2004 Universal SACD release of Gaucho (which i love!) sizzles more on the high end than any of the 2004 Universal EJ SACD's do on my APL SACD 1000 or APL 3910. I suspect that the Gaucho masters, not the mastering, is the reason.

Bottomline, other's have claimed that the high's were EQ'd up in the EJ SACD mastering process. I have suggested that the five 2004 Universal EJ SACD's listed above were not EQ'd in the mastering (as always, i'm not referencing GBYBR). I continue to believe that we're hearing an accurate representation of the master tapes.

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

Let's not scare Gus off with the dissections, guys. It could be overwhelming for a new member.

 

Welcome aboard Gus. We have been fans of your work.

 

Hi,

Geez.... we can finally stop speaking theory and start dealing w/ the facts. How many Forum members have actually heard the EJ master tapes? Let's resolve this issue, once and for all, now that Gus has joined us and can tell us all of the facts!

Take care,
Jeffrey