First off, for those who are just picking this up, I suggest that you read part one below first to catch up. And thanks to all my friends who are encouraging me to carry on. So here goes….
After Geoff Emericks approval, I wondered if this process could work on other recordings. I tried everything I could think of. The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Go West. This process caused the dynamics of the recordings to appear. I found that it worked on most everything. I would stay in the studio until 3:00am sometimes just pulling tracks out of my CD collection just to hear what the songs sounded like. I was like a kid on Christmas morning tearing into the coolest presents one could imagine. For the first time in years, I just wanted to sit and listen to the craftwork of some of the most amazing musicians and engineers. You don’t know what it is like to listen to Love & Marriage and have it sound like Frank Sinatra is standing right in front of you. Simply Amazing.
So what is the downside? Quite simply, other engineers mostly. There is an old joke that goes, “How many recording engineers does it take to screw in a light bulb? 10, One to actually do it and 9 others to stand around saying “ OH, I know what he’s doing! I could do that.” Sound engineers are a very egotistical lot in many ways. Not all of them, but a lot. When I first sent what I had done to someone I studied under, J. Michael Dolan, publisher of Music Connection Magazine in LA, he told me that he gave my CD to 3 people on his staff who weren’t “sound guy” types because as he said, “You know how they are.” He did tell me that all 3 of those who listened to what I had done agreed that I really had something.
The second source of “gatekeepers” (those who think their job is to keep you out) are the people who automatically think that you are a quack because some major company didn’t come up with it first. Sometimes they are someone who got into a position of power because of whose buddy they were. No qualifications whatsoever, just slapped into a spot where they could do the most damage. I would include those we call “bean-counters” or as I would more correctly call them, “lovers of money.” This latter kind have almost single-handedly destroyed the music industry. There was a time when the energy and passion of the music industry was astounding. The creative people ruled. Look at the growth of recorded music alone from 1964-1967. The Beatles went from “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to “Sgt Pepper” and the Beach Boys went from “Surfin’ USA” to “God Only Knows.” Now all we have is the disposable singers from American Idol. Flavor of the month stuff, while true greatness lurks somewhere on the hidden recesses of the internet and it’s strictly because of someone’s profit margins. We have to make profits for the stockholders. An example of what I’m trying show is in fast foods. Which tastes better and is healthier for you? A McDonald’s burger or an In ‘N Out Burger. KFC or Chick Fil-A? Well both In ‘N Out and Chick Fil-A are privately owned companies and Chick Fil-A actually has the gall to be closed on Sundays so the employees can spend time with their families. And yet I never hear of them lacking customers. I usually see a line in the drive through lane around In ‘N Out at 11:00pm. It’s not about pleasing stockholders with them, it’s about pleasing the customers.
Okay, so I’ve had my little rant however I’m not really here to complain. I’m just painting a picture of what the obstacles have been in promoting this process or anything else that threatens the dominance of the powers that be. Just remember that many engineers thought that stereo was just passing fad and that mono would reign supreme.
Now that being said, let’s get back to the process of music. As I type this I am listening to “In My Room” by the Beach Boys. The vocals are incredible and the sound just shimmers. Of course I processed it first. The separation of the vocals is stunning. What an amazing band they were!
So the question would naturally be, why hasn’t anyone jumped of this? My question exactly! A few weeks ago I dragged James Newton Howard (the film composer) into my sound booth and forced him to listen to a “before and after” presentation of the Star Wars Theme recorded at Skywalker Ranch by John Williams. His mouth kind of fell open and all he said was “WOW! You’re gonna make a LOT of money.” He said that this was something for post production and not his area, but I could tell he was impressed with it.
And I did have a meeting with a major film studio a few weeks ago. They were very nice guys and were very impressed with what they heard. I had processed some film sound tracks and showed them what the possibilities were for movies and concert videos. At the end of the meeting the three Digital Imaging guys (these are the ones who restore old movies for release on DVD) all looked at each other and just said, “So we’re all in agreement that this needs to go to the next level?”
What’s next?? Well, I do have to admit that I have learned much about this process since I first discovered it. Things to do and not to do. It is kind of like a wild stallion and can get crazy in a heart-beat so I have to spend time of listening and re-listening to recordings to make sure they are the best that can be. I have discovered that even old vintage recordings are vastly improved with this process. Bob Dylan singing “Blowin’ In The Wind” is quite moving. And I did a cut from John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk “live” at Carnagie Hall. Whoa! And I’m not really into Jazz..
I know that I could easily process all the Beatle CDs and put them out on the Net via Bit-Torrents. That would put EMI out of the Beatle selling business because they couldn’t compete with the quality. But that is not what I am about. They deserve to make profits on what belongs to them. That is why I don’t give copies of what I’ve done in complete song form to anyone. I believe that CD’s don’t have to die out. Everyone is predicting their demise. Rather, they should become Audiophile items. Sure they would cost more, but who wouldn’t want to own the Beatles Collection where it sounds like John Lennon is singing “A Day In The Life” in front of you? As perfect as the original mixes of the recordings are ever going to sound? I know that I would.
Does this kill the current method of mastering? No. The Level IX Process (as I have trademarked it) is a “finishing process.” Mastering still needs to be done and you better have a good one. The old saying of “Garbage In, Garbage Out” becomes “Garbage In, Pristene Garbage Out.” Agreat mastering job will show it’s true face on the processed music. Forget the over compression though. Music needs to breathe. Louder is not better. That is what the volume knob on your stereo is for.
So now, I have decided to by-pass the gate-keepers and take this to the people. I have no idea of how this will play out. I’m sure there will be the detractors, however let the people judge this for themselves. If enough of a noise is made, maybe EMI will decide that “audiophile” quality CDs of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Sinatra and all the others would be a huge profit making incentive and be in the best interest of their corporate reputation.
I will close this chapter of my blog with an email I received from my friend, David Gold. David and his partner Stan Ross were the owners of Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles (1950-1984). This studio was every bit as legendary as Abbey Road, Capitol Studios, Sun Studios or Motown. All the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” recordings were done there. The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”, Sonny & Cher, Herb Alpert, Buffalo Springfield, Iron Butterfly, The Ramones. The Who came to mix “I Can See For Miles” because Shel Talmy wanted David’s legendary Echo Chambers. For years Neil Young would only let David Gold master his albums. The list goes on and on. David & Stan are two true pioneers of Rock and Roll and truly wonderful people too. Take it away David……
Ken I feel your pain. I don’t know where to start, but will try to put what I have to say in some sort of order.
Much of what I have to say are my thoughts before I lost my ears, though it stands up today. When CDs first came about I was in awe. Wow, just ones and zeros. When I started to figure what the sample rate was, I was not so sure. Music is made up of more than sign waves. It is complex with multi varying odd shaped waves and peaks. Sampling might be ok for synthesizing a repeating wave, though if you think about it you are just connecting the dots in a graph. Not very accurate. When you get to the higher frequencies you may be only sampling once or twice. My point is that digital is a synthesized analog at best. The only thing that makes it sound analog is the speaker or listening device, which converts it to analog.
Digital is here to stay, at least for the present. What were the good points? For one, we were now able to reproduce frequency responses far greater than we could before and with less pre and post EQ. We did not have to contend with surface noise, which is present even with the best vinyl. Clicks and pops were eliminated. This led to an interesting phenomena, we now heard things that were masked by surface noise and tape hiss. Things like breathing, street noise that leaked into the studio, the hum of fluorescent lights and also many good things we hadn’t heard before. Some of the problems were that mastering engineers were trying to make these digital recordings sound like the analog disks they used to make, and that is where the problem began. We now had the ability to compress, limit ant make everything louder. We over EQ’d and lost the feel of what went on in the studio. I won’t go into looping, drum machines, sampling and such, that’s another story. The technology lost the warmth and quality of the performance itself. If I could have my ears back I would love to hear the singing of muted trumpets, multiple strings playing together and oh so many beautiful sounds. In analog, of course.
What ever you are doing to make a CD better is worth the time and effort that you have given it. I only wish I could hear it, but R & R has taken that ability from me. I hope that some smart company has the foresight to capitalize on your process and bring it to the market.
Good luck,
David S. Gold
