Welcome Ex-Atlantic mastering engineer Barry Diament to the SH Forums

Welcome Barry. Your name was one of the first I've noticed on CD's for mastering credit in the late 80's.

 

welcome Mr. D, and thank you for sharing your thoughts, as well as the years of great music. the new studio and the intent that goes into the music, is fascinating and a much needed outlook in this current world.

 

Welcome Barry. I enjoy your work!

 

Best of luck in all your new endeavors. Can't wait to hear more about them.

 

Seconded. Along with Mr. Hoffman and a rare few others, I tended to see your name as a mark of a job well done. Looking forward to hearing more from you, and thanks for all you've done to keep the state-of-the-art stately and artful.

 

Barry,

From your website, you are credited with work for the Eagles. Would you be able to list the Eagles album you did or was it all of them prior to the Ted Jensen remasterings? I just tracked down the original mastering of Eagles Live to add to my collection. Thanks!

Alan

 

I have yet to encounter a Barry Diament mastering that is less than excellent.

 

YES!-'Yes' 'Close To The Edge' thread - my ears have been opened!
Welcome!

 

Hi Barry- Welcome to the forum. Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of vinyl, but in many instances my reference for a particular album are the CDs you mastered in the early 80s. I am fascinated that the later re-mastered CD versions do not hold up to what you did in the period around 1984!

In particular your versions of the Led Zeppelin CDs are great. I still prefer to hear your early Led Zep I CD (which I purchased around 1984) over all my other LP and CD versions. In fact, I was just playing it for a friend over the weekend, and he was blown away. Your Led Zep II, III, Physical Graffiti and Song Remains the Same are all superb, unfortunately I do not have the others. They are very natural, open, transparent, dynamic, and have great bass extension. They are totally non-fatiguing, simply and a pleasure to listen to.

Can you explain the mastering equipment and approach you used back then.

Greatly Appreciated!

 

Yup! He did that one and it sounds great to these ears. He also did the original CSNY "So Far" that Steve likes so much, IIRC.

 

Welcome.

A few of the many CDs I have to your credit include several Led Zeps, Robert Palmer's Riptide, and a '96 release from a local band, Cowboy Mouth's Word of Mouth.

 

Great to see you here, Barry.

Your work in the digital realm is second to none. As I've spoken of here many times, we are truly fortunate to have your work on those early Atlantics. So many of those masterings are still the definitive digital editions of those classics.

It's nice to hear that you have found an alternative to the loudness war.

Welcome to the forum!

 

Good to have you aboard and welcome

 

Just wanted to say I love your mastering of Bob Marley Legend over the newer one. One of the 1st cds I heard.

 

Hi, Barry! (blah blah blah...words of encouragement...blah blah blah)

I just want to say that what you're currently doing sounds very exciting and I'll be looking forward to the releases of all your current and future projects.

Huzzah!

 

Dear Barry,

it is very nice to have you as a member on this forum. To me, you belong to the top three mastering engineers, along with Steve and Dennis Drake. I have many of your CD's and still consider them the best mastering available.

It would be great to have a discography available on the web somewhere with all your mastering credits. This would be of great reference for many of us, I am sure.

Good luck with all your ongoing projects.

All the best,
Roland

 

Welcome, and good luck with the new label. Don't forget the black stuff, a lot of us still like it.

 

Hi Pinknik,

I don't have any photos of the mic set up for stereo multi-tracking but the whole idea is explained in detail in Part 2 of my (2 part) article "Recording in Stereo". You can find it on the "Articles" page of my web site at:
http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/articles.htm

Happy Listening!
Barry

 

Welcome Mr Diament...Your work is some of the best! I look forward to reading your posts.

 

Hi Robby,

I'd have to search the memory banks and dust them off a bit to find details, since the Zeps were done about 20 years ago (while I was still at Atlantic) and the Marleys about 16 years ago (some of my early work as an independent).

At Atlantic, I used to carry my own cables in and bypass most of the room, making a direct connection from the output of the tape machine to the input of the Sony 1630 (analog to digital converter).

Getting original masters in those early days of CD usually involved pulling teeth and repeated explaining that the "EQd limited" tapes made during vinyl mastering were not the best source to use for CD.

Even when Island first sent me the Marley tapes, they sent U-matics (digital tapes where the hows and whats of the analog to digital conversion were unknown). I called them and said that the CDs I was making were what folks were going to be listening to "for the next 10 or 20 years" and I asked what they were saving the original masters for. I guess I got lucky because Island overnighted me all the original tapes.

Those 13 Tuff Gong Marleys were done in a period of six intense weeks. I got to the end of that time with a visit to the emergency room with acute duodenitis. (Coca-Cola and cigarettes don't make for such a great diet after all!) Just before the hospital visit, while I remembered that Bob Marley died from stomach cancer, I felt an identification with him and the thought crossed my mind that he was either "telling me" he liked the job I did or was giving me the what-for.

Speaking of the Marleys, I've seen some web postings suggesting that different mixes were used for the Tuff Gong CD releases. To my knowledge, I was using the original analog tapes made right off the mix console in Jamaica.
Two things I know *are* different:
1. "Midnight Ravers", the last tune on the "Catch A Fire" album, got its reverb added in the mastering room for the original release. The original mix was dry. Island wanted me to add that reverb and so we used a Lexicon box to do that.
2. The "Legend" CD I did had 11 extra minutes of music on it. Prior releases had a number of the tracks shortened. I asked Island if they still wanted them shortened or if we could use them in their entirety and they consented. The CD was assembled from the original tracks and not from copies as collections often are.

Happy Listening!
Barry

 

Hi pcain,

Yup. "October" was one of the early CDs I did while at Atlantic.

Barry

 

Hi Perisphere,

It is great to hear someone remember George Piros.
I'm afraid "Pirosisms" belong (and rightly so) to George's estate.
But they and he will live long in the hearts of those of us lucky enough to have encountered them.

Barry

 

Barry,
This is fantastic information - thank you for sharing.

 

Hi Alan,

I'm afraid the memory cells are getting dusty after all these years.
I can remember "Desperado" and "Hotel California".
I saw a post somewhere where someone pointed out a page that had (some of) my credits by album. Perhaps that person can share the page again. (I'd be curious myself!)

Barry

 

Hi Andreas,

You are very kind. (Actually, there were a few but I'll say no more. ;-} )

Barry