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[breathe]

In my circles it is commonly understood that Abbey Road does the best vinyl mastering.  In America, I'd say Greg Calbi is great, haven't heard Bob Ludwig's discs, and Roger Seibel is really great.  Kevin Gray (RTI) has maybe the best cutting system but I'm undecided on his Sontec EQ.  The Golden family are amazing, extremely generous people, but for some reason every single thing I've heard of theirs (including my own work), vinyl or CD, sounds exactly the same and with not very much transient response or dynamics.

I feel like Andre 3000 singing about wanting to find a classy girl.  Who's the shit for vinyl mastering in the US?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum but I thought you guys would have an opinion on where you send your work.

Nicholas

[TotalSonic]

fwiw - Bob Ludwig no longer has a lathe in his studio.  He's used folks like Stan Ricker, Don Grossinger, and once even myself (although I don't currently have a lathe either) in the last few years to do his cutting for him.

As far as who is "best" - to me it depends on what you are looking for.  There's tons of great vinyl mastering engineers out there and many can do great work for you - each will do slightly different approach.  

If we're talking dance cuts at very hot levels then I've usually been very impressed with the work of Nilz Patel at The Exchange in London - http://www.exchangemastering.co.uk/ , and Shane McEnhill at Heathmans - http://www.heathmans.co.uk/shane.html

In the USA a lot of the best folks aren't really actively cutting anymore (i.e. Herbie Powers Jr.) - but Tony Dawsey and Paul Gold are a couple people I think do great work here in NYC.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[imdrecordings]

Quote:

In the USA a lot of the best folks aren't really actively cutting anymore

SAys you!
Here are three that I know of in the US.


Paul Gold - Salt Mastering in NY
Roger Siebel - SAE Mastering in AZ
JJ Golden - Golden Mastering in CA

[brett]

find out who release records in canada uses. the tracks I bought were pretty good. some of the cuts didn't work well but they were just getting going then and I think the tracks were comming form a already limited digital source. their latter realeases sounded pretty good.

[amorris]

Hey thanks for those names. Does anyone know a good source for info on lathe setup and operation? my buddy has a lathe but we are hesitant to mess it up.

[seedyunderbelly.com]

I recently Spoke with Paul Gold.  That is who I would try,  Magneto Mastering Gave an favorable and compelling reference.

www.saltmastering.com

[TotalSonic]

amorris wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 09:39

Hey thanks for those names. Does anyone know a good source for info on lathe setup and operation? my buddy has a lathe but we are hesitant to mess it up.

Absolutely the best person for this in the USA is Al Grundy.  You can PM me at steve at totalsonic dot net for his contact info.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Fletcher]

I haven't had vinyl done in a really long time... but Tony Dawsey up at Masterdisk [45th St. NYC] did some of the best work I can remember having done.  Can't say he's the best... but he's probably who I would book if I were going to have some vinyl cut.

Peace.

[JGreenslade]

In the UK, as well as Nilz and Mike @ The Exchange, there's also John Dent @ Loud Mastering. Try a search - Dent's been mentioned at PSW before with regards to the quality of his work.

If cost is no object, there's always Bernie Grundman (a favourite of mine I must say).

Next time I'm involved in a project for vinyl, I may well try Paul Gold.


Justin

[mgod]

Bernie Grundman will still do vinyl, and his lathe is driven by extremely good tube amps derived from Contemporary Records, where he trained in the 60s under Roy DuNann and Les Koenig.

DS

[Tim Padrick]

If they take outside work: http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-about-us.aspx

[Fletcher]

Does Ted Jensen still cut vinyl up at Sterling?

[Alan Meyerson]

Definitely Grundman