How were most famouse hit tracks mastered

rob aylestone said:
I think you hit it. The traditional Mastering Engineer (in real world job title) had the ears to make quality judgments based on the current sound of good quality - a judgement call by a skilled person one step away from the studio. [snip] A sort of unappreciated job role now.
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Word to the peeps in the house.

I hang out on a few forums/groups that think it's about "making it really loud" (and don't get it at all).
 
Not sure if Kramer had the exact same application when mixing Hendrix as Parsons did mixing Dark Side of the Moon.
 
It may be a short intro, it may only be a single cow bell, but this is one of the best and most recognized ever in the hard rock era:

 
Smooth Glaze is a TDM only plug-in developed by Doug Sax and Sonic Solutions. It's no longer sold and runs only on Digital Coprp's Alpha Server (and requires the long-discontinued SS-428x conversion system).

It's used in all the top mastering studios, and Abbey Road has a modified version to run on 220v. The big problem are the energy and cooling requirements, but it is the untouched standard in the mastering world.
 
With regard to "groove jumping" in the upper echelons of the hi fi world "high trackability" cartridges* were developed, the most famous being perhaps the Shure V15ll. People also spent small fortunes on superb pu arms from the likes of SME. This resulted in a sort of "tracking war" where, because a tiny few systems COULD track a disc (at about the magic 1grm) records were produced with levels to match and us poor folk found our Goldrings could not cope!

At the other end of the scale were the "Woolies" records "KTell's Greatest Hits" these were cut at a much lower level so as to cram in more tracks and the S/N ratio was appalling!

*NB what these cartridges gained in tracking ability they lost in flatness of frequency response. Most had a broad, 2-3dB dip in the mid range. Their output was also some 4-5dB below most other carts' of the day so you needed a top end RIAA pre amp.

Meant to ask, Rob what are the Celestions?
Dave.
 
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Ha! DL8's. I am getting on well with the new Adam 8" speakers, but still not the same. Different - not better or worse.

I'd forgotten all about SME arms, V15 (MkIII) were the ones I was familiar with - and I remember the K-Tel scandal when the hifi folk discovered unsold LPs were mascerated - including the paper labels - then made into new LPs. One of the hifi mags (What Hifi?) had a photo of a groove with bits of paper embedded in the vinyl sidewalls making the narrow grooves even noisier. No wonder CDs were welcomed with open arms.
 
noah330 said:
Smooth Glaze is a TDM only plug-in developed by Doug Sax and Sonic Solutions. It's no longer sold and runs only on Digital Coprp's Alpha Server (and requires the long-discontinued SS-428x conversion system).

It's used in all the top mastering studios, and Abbey Road has a modified version to run on 220v. The big problem are the energy and cooling requirements, but it is the untouched standard in the mastering world.
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I see, so you cant get that plugin anymore so whats the best next plugin similar to that one?
 
I say, mastering is to make the end product sound the way the artists (to include the sound engineer) are trying to make it sound, consistently across many varied devices that will play it.

Not sure I even said anything, but it sounded good in my head :)
 
BDJohnston said:
Not sure if Kramer had the exact same application when mixing Hendrix as Parsons did mixing Dark Side of the Moon.
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It has always been my understanding that Parsons was just an engineer on Dark Side, and that he didn't actually mix the record.
 
panax_27 said:
Throughout the decades were most hit songs typically mastered by making the final track brighter or clearer or did they typically put a smooth glaze over a brighter sounding mix? i know they were done both ways but my question is how would of the "best" sounding tracks typically be done in the end? Thanks
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The answer is that the track was tonally balanced through a combination of passing through boutique hardware compressors/EQs and manipulated by other bourique compressors And eQs. And then limited with boutique hardware. Also, it involved being recorded by someone else and mixed by another someone with the best possible quality gear available at the time.

So, do all of that and you've got it 😏
 
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TimOD said:
It has always been my understanding that Parsons was just an engineer on Dark Side, and that he didn't actually mix the record.
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It was involved in the mixing with Chris Thomas. Regardless, my point stands, does it not? Was mixing for those artists the same, with very different styles of music? That's the point that was made, but whatever.
 
Whilst I have THE greatest respect for Bird Garden Audio and am very grateful for his time, to say "adding a layer of vacuum tubes" did not add anything is bit odd? They will have added quite a bit of harmonic distortion.

Dave.
 
Bird Garden Audio said:
Sorry Dave. What I meant was he didn't add or take away anything with equalization. I should have made it more clear in my post. You are right about the tubes but I was highlighting how little the amount of processing was needed.
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I was not sure I had the nerve to even make my comment but I see now you are a gentleman. Yes, I do understand. I mentioned "valves" (to give them their PROPER name!) because it is one area of audio that I do understand a bit and they are never 'harmless'.

Having been infesting recording forums for over ten years I have found that many posts are about "pimping up" the recordings the average Joe makes and that some seem to think there is some 'magic mojo' that will turn an alsoran song into a colossal hit. You have shown that this was never the intention and most 'mastering' was done in the spirit of 'do no harm' and in accordance with the original artist's/produces wishes and ideas.
Of course it also had to 'fit' on that most inferior of mediums, vinyl!

Dave.
 
I have read many books by bands/musicians/engineers/producers. The most recent one I read was Tony Visconti....good book (I like any book about bands, music etc. even band and people I don't like). I found it very interesting when he spoke about 60's/early 70's recordings made in the USA vs: England, and how different the equipment and "their approaches" were very different. He was from NY and fell in love with the London way, and ultimately moved there. He also spoke about how he didn't like certain specific albums, and how they were recorded, he backed up any opinion he had. Just info because some may be interested.
 
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