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

Welcome Barry! I love your Atlantic and Island work, so I'll have to check out your new stuff. Thanks for dropping by, and please stick around so we can ask you a million more questions.

 

Barry-
What Aerosmith CD's did you do? I'm assuming it was for Geffen but I don't remember seeing you credited anywhere.
Also, back in the day there was a lot of pre-mastering mastering credits to the WCI Group for the Warner Bros stuff. Where you part of this "group" and just didn't have an individual credit for the mastering?

 

Thank you very much, Mr. Diament..:Really appreciated...My respects..

 

Barry's AMG "credits" page

 

Definitely not a complete list...

...but, hey, I have that CD Poolside by Nu Shooz!

 

I know the music, but still am learning the names of who mastered what, and why they may be considered important among SH forum listeners. Barry Diament's name has come up a number of times, so this will be a learning experience for me.

I may be the 120th person to do so, but welcome to the board.

 

absolutely. keep it real, bazza.

 

Hello Sir Barry....'tis has been too long a time!

and welcome to the forum!

I don't know where to start, so it won't be in any specific order...


Not that anyone needs to think differently, but whatever Barry says about his days at Atlantic, while I was there, I can verify. I won't banter the term "audiophile" around, but Barry was very careful and concerned that whatever good-sounding audio was available on his source-tapes should shine through for the listening audience, and as that has been verified by all of these grateful listeners, it is the truth!

It seems that Barry was in the lead, with Steve Innocenzi following and then myself as far as engineers caring about the sounds that went through our room. Much of the time at Atlantic, whenever possible, we sent the signal directly from our modified (with either Cello/Mark Levinson EQ or tape electronics) Studer 820 deck directly to either the (modified with Apogee filters) 1630 or an updated A to D (such as the Drake or Mytek). No patchbay for A to D conversion was used, at least til we got out of 1841 Broadway. At Atlantic's last stop, with our new complicated wiring setup, we still tried to wire it direct, using the Cello "Strings" super-fine cables. That setup alone gave us an edge over other mastering facilities...who had numerous other types of outboard gear, many times, perhaps, wired together, and with a longer signal path, especially an analog one, noise and sonic deterioration was more apt to occur.

I continued to use the Dalquists, and actually still have two pairs, the set of DQ-20s from the studio, and a later pair of DQ-12s, I believe. Steve and I used these (it seems to good effect from you folks here) for over 15 years. They played a great part in my mastering and I would consider them part of my mastering setup.

Atlantic was an interesting place...not so official as the major mastering houses (as we were the production arm of Atlantic Records, we did so much more than mastering there!) We also worked on the rest of the WEA lineup, which was Elektra and Asylum, and the other smaller associates. We were a family, though in the short time I was there with Barry, I was still a bit more formal in my post, and, actually, was just beginning my mastering career.

 

Barry,

Looking at the AMG credits page, it looks like you mastered the first four Eagles albums. Can you comment on whether your mastering in the the West German target pressings of those albums or were when the U.S. took over production of the titles? Thanks!

Alan

 

Hi Zal

Now I need a list of all the 'Rock' titles you completed?

Thanks!

JohnN

 

Firstly...HAPPY 2K to you!!!

Secondly....why wasn't I like Steve who wrote down in a log book every project he worked on....

oh me oh my....

 

Welcome!

I've enjoyed MANY of your mastering jobs. Keep up the good work, and keep coming back!!!

 

Hi Jared,

Thanks for the welcome.

I really need to listen to that one again. The letters in Absolute Sound are not something I'm proud of as I look back. I can't be the only person who regrets mailing something in his life (or regrets a particular click or two of the "Send" button in a computer program).

In the meantime, I wouldn't go so far as to say I "don't care for that one". I'll listen again when the opportunity avails.

Best regards,
Barry

 

Hi Jeff,

I thought the CD I'm thinking of was called "Yesshows"... but maybe I'm mistaken.
I do recall that a least one, maybe more of the Yes tapes I worked with caused the VU meters of the analog playback machine to pin on the far right. On at least one of their records (I don't remember which), I dropped the analog playback level 7db (!) just to avoid overloading the analog electronics and get the cleanest playback that tape was going to give me.

There was more than one engineer/producer I'd met in those days that used to say "the meters don't matter". I say the audible evidence has never supported that contention. Hitting the tape that hard saturated the top end and resulted in dullness to go along with the distortion.

Wish I remembered more but aside from the intervening years, I spent a great deal of energy trying to forget some of that stuff!

Best regards,
Barry

 

Hi John,

I *think* I might have done "Close To The Edge". I'm sorry but the memory cells have definitely faded in the intervening years. Yes masters? Not sure any more. If I had to bet now, I'd say they must have been copies.

I do recall having a rough time in the early days, constantly arguing for masters when management was in an apparent hurry to get the CDs out and many of them believed the CD should contain the same sound as the vinyl (meaning the CD should be made from the "EQd Limited" tapes made during vinyl mastering.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Barry

 

Hi Shawn,

There was one Aerosmith CD, a "single" containing maybe three tunes. I think "Angel" was one of them. You are correct that it was for Geffen.

The WCI Group was out in L.A. at Warner Brothers and I was in N.Y. at Atlantic (both divisions of Warner Communications).

There were at least two projects I did for Warner Special Products: "The Ultimate Rascals" and "The Ultimate Otis Redding", both from original masters.

Best regards,
Barry

 

Hi Zal!

Nice to "run into" you again after all this time.
What are *you* up to?

Best regards,
Barry

 

Hi Alan,

The first four Eagles CDs sounds about right. I can't speak for the West German pressings as I'm only aware of U.S. production. That said, Atlantic *did* sent CD "masters" overseas for pressing there.

Hope this helps.

Barry

 

Barry,
Thanks for your response. I do enjoy "The Long Run" CD you mastered. Thanks for your great work over the years and for our entertainment pleasure!

Alan

 

Welcome Barry, love your work I am familiar with!

 

Barry, I get a feeling that the W. German targets were your product, as there weren't too many mastering engineers doing the same projects around those times...if my memory serves me well.

You probably would be able to tell by looking at the CDs in question's inner markings.

 

You're most likely correct about this Zal. There were many projects where we cloned CD masters for shipment overseas.

Barry

 

Is this of any help? http://www.music.com/person/barry_diament/1/

 

Interesting info, Zal!