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

Barry,

I just read your article, "Declaring an End to the Loudness Wars." It inspired me to fire off a letter of disapproval to a record company that recently released an overly-loud CD. I got a reply from the president, who stated that they give complete freedom to the artist concerning the recording, engineering, mixing and mastering of the CD. I'd normally commend them for that, but wish they would have at least put up a fight.

So I went to the band's site and sent the complaint to them.

PS I'll agree with others here and say that your work on Close to the Edge is just fantastic.

 

Belated but heartfelt welcome!

Great to see you on the forum, Barry. I can't believe I missed this thread the first time around--must have been a very busy time at work. In any event, thanks for joining, and for all the great information you're sharing. Most of all, thanks for all those great CDs you've done. I've been a fan of yours for a long time.

 

The Ultimate Otis Redding and Ultimate Rascals were on sale at Tower Records yesterday for $7.99 each.

 

Is this the one? http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...1/702-9505856-0862438?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance

*****

In the first post Barry wrote in his letter:

"Everything is recorded direct to stereo with no mixing, overdubbing or
processing of any sort. What leaves the mics is what the listener will
hear. The first record was recorded in a church by a mostly acoustic band
and I've just completed mastering."

Which album is this?

 

Yup, sure is PW.

 

A few things for Barry or anyone else:

1) The mono tracks on the Otis CD were transferred in stereo. Does that sound right?

2) Sad Song is in mono. I don't have any issues of 'Dictionary of Soul' - was that in stereo on the original stereo LP? CD issues? Odd that it would be mono from 1966.

3) I'm assuming Barry did the original Rascals CD, and someone else did the remaster?

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=70351&postcount=44

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=70357&postcount=46

 

Hi pig whisperer,

The album is called "Lift" and will most likely be the first release on my own label, Soundkeeper Recordings. I've been holding it because it is currently at EP length (a bit over 25 minutes) and I'm not sure whether or not it will be released that way. The band and I are headed back to the church in a few weeks and perhaps we'll emerge with more material for this record. I'm pretty stoked by the results so far.

Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

Hi lukpac,

The tapes were played back on a Studer with a stereo head stack.

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one. They delivered a stack of tapes, told me the sequence they wanted and which tape each selection was to come from. I did my best.

I did the original release (the one without the band's photo on the cover). I don't know anything about the re-master so I can't speak to that one.

Hope this helps.
Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

The remaster was done by Bill Inglot. A bit brighter than the first pressing, but not bad at all.

 

Hi Barry, I missed this thread the first time around.

I just want to say welcome aboard, and I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and experiences.

 

Thanks Barry. Keep us posted.

I'm from the album generation, so 10 tracks around 35 minutes is good for me.

Too many current albums suffer from being too looooong (or they just drag the songs out to fill up time)

- Darcy

 

Hi Darcy,

Thanks very much for you interest in the new project(s).

I've mentioned Soundkeeper Recordings in a few posts and include a link in my signature. There is a place on the Soundkeeper site where visitors can sign up for email announcements of any news.

Beyond that, I'm not sure if it is appropriate for me to post more news about my own current projects on Steve's site. He was very kind in inviting me to join here and I don't want to do anything that might endanger my welcome. I really enjoy "talking" audio and music with other folks who love both subjects as much as I do. (And how nice that nowadays, my work has me in front of a computer screen, where all I need do is open a new window to check out the latest on the forum.) With Steve's permission, I'll post about Soundkeeper projects but without that, I want to make sure I'm respecting this place and not overstepping any bounds. I hope you understand.

Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

Any Arif Mardin memories to share?

 

Hi Todd E,

I have many memories of working with Arif during my time at Atlantic.
While we did some editing sessions together, I didn't have the good fortune of mastering any of his projects as he already had his favorite engineers with whom he liked to work.

Arif was truly a man of Music. I have much of his work in my own collection. Unless I missed it, no one has yet mentioned his work with the Rascals or with Laura Nyro, two artists who are close to my heart.

One of my fondest studio memories is of being called into the studio by Arif when he needed some extra folks to do handclaps on a tune by Chaka Kahn. We stood in a circle around the mic, conducted by the man himself.

He has left us all a great many musical treasures by which to remember him.

Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

Thanks. Signed up. I'm sure someone will start a thread when a disc is released - we usually do. NEW recordings that will actually sound good on CD

 

Welcome Barry,

This is a great place to hang out.

Interesting about the DQ-10's. I've been using a pair since 1976 and I can't tell you how many pro engineers and studio owners have heard them in my room and wanted them in their studios. I can hear so much here that can't be heard in most studios. The problem, as you surely know, is that they can't play very loud by studio monitor standards. I did put them in a few studios but they didn't last. If the engineer is careful they can work well, but most studio personnel will blow them in short order. Also placement in a studio is tough. As you mentioned, they need air around them.

Btw, I used to blow tweeters regularly. They wouldn't totally go, but would go out of round and have sympathetic vibrations at certain frequencies which drove me nuts. After my last amp mod, for some unknown reason, I stopped blowing them. I haven't blown a tweeter in 20 years. I do listen fairly loudly, and as loud as I used to. Sometimes I listen so loud I can smell the crossovers getting hot. I wish I could tell you what I did specifically that made my amp kinder to the tweeters, but I can't put my finger on it.

 

Hi Doug,

Please be careful about the levels you expose your ears to.
In my experience, unless one is underpowering the speakers, the only way to blow a tweeter is to play them at levels that will compromise your auditory health.

The DQ-10s do like lots of power (with the complex crossover) but I never had trouble getting them to play more than loud enough.

Some time in the '80s, I switched to DQ-20s, which I found to be a bit smoother and also imaged better due to their vertical driver arrangement.

In '93, after years of hearing different models from the Magnepan line, I switched to Magneplanar 1.5s. Even though Dahlquist removed the box from all but the woofer, the Maggies were a revelation. No box at all and bass with pitch, just like in real life.

In 2000, I did a lot of listening to cables and vibration control devices and ended up switching from the MIT cables I'd used (since the DQ-10s) to a set from Nordost (with better sound at 1/3 the price of my old cables).

Last year the system changed again, this time to Magnepan 3.6s and shortly thereafter to better Nordost cables to take advantage of the better speakers.

The DQ-10s will always hold a special place in my audio memory.

Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

And, at least he was keen to chuck that horrible stereo mix of "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore". Even he hates it!

 

Thanks Barry,

Rest assured that I don't play the DQ-10's loud enough to damage my hearing. I can tell when they are getting into distress and listen just below that level. I generally listen to them at the same level all the time. They are powered by a Threshold Stasis 3 which has been significantly modified so they have plenty of power.

 

Bass with pitch. I like it. As a fellow maggie owner, may I use that line?

 

Barry, as I remember, you had to be careful in your room about not inducing clicks on your tapes by touching/untouching gear in the room.....

Static could play havoc with a transfer, just like it can do with a computer ***especially with digital equipment....

You were a very grounded engineer!!!

 

A bit brighter, yes. And don't forgot about the bass that is AWOL on the second version. I apologize if I offend Mr. Inglot, but that is totally unforgivable, IMO

 

Barry, I think you mastered the Warner Special Products Ultimate Rascals CD.

LONG time ago...

Nice job!

 

Hi Zal,

Thanks. Yup, that was the one, along with the WSP "Ultimate Otis Redding".

(And yes, I remember some of the grounding tribulations experienced in that room at Atlantic.)

Barry
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

 

Barry,

According to the liner notes, you mastered Pete Townshend's Another Scoop. Two questions:

- disc two has an "RE-1" designation, but not disc one. Do you have any recollection of perhaps mastering that disc twice at the time? I know sometimes an "RE-" pressing is actually the first one released.

- did you by chance master Scoop? There's no credit in that one.