Georgetown Masters

[Bob Olhsson]

As some of you know, I've found myself a womb away from my home workroom in the analog room at Georgetown Masters here in Nashville.

It was built by the late Denny Purcell, and is one of the best places in the world to hang, sip a single malt, smoke a Havana and listen to music. After Denny's recent premature death, the business was taken over by Andrew Mendelson, who Denny had stolen from Telarc Records to become his successor. Andrew is probably the hottest young mastering engineer in the world, finishing second only to Brian Gardner last year in #1 Billboard Hot 200 Albums.

One thing I love is that I can start a sentence about audio and Andrew can finish it. The synergy is remarkable and it's so cool to be working with a wildly successful young guy who I feel truly "gets" it, with the same passion for music I have. The room remains the same work in progress it has always been under Denny, from the infamous pair of audiophile-modified 660 "Fairchildren" to a brand new SPL analog and digital router that lets you compare any lashup of gear you can possibly dream up at the touch of a button.

It's thrilling to work in this room and the monitors have been right on the money when I compare work with my trusty Duntech Sovreigns here at the house. It really doesn't get any better than this. My clients and I have been very pleased.

[nobby]

sip a single malt, smoke a Havana and listen to music.

It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it :lol:

Congrats on landing that gig!

[dwoz]

seems like lots and lots of mastering rooms are going to transmission line speakers...what do you think?


dwoz

[Bob Olhsson]

Bob Ludwig started it all at Masterdisk.

He wanted something with the balls of his Altec monitors but the merceless midrange clarity of his Quad electrostatics. After using big 24 inch subs with stacked Quad panels at both Sterling and Masterdisk, Tom Jung turned Bob on to the Duntechs during the late '80s and the rest is history.

Georgetown used Duntechs for years but switched to the Novas in order to be able to do a surround room with all the same monitors. Duntech was going through changes at the time and was no longer distributed in the US. I've been amazed by how close the Novas are to the Duntechs.

http://www.novaaudio.com/layout.html

[malice]

I'm looking at the Georgetown mastering site.

I notice they have Requisite limiters.

What is your call on those Bob, I'm a big fan myself, but I own a mono Pal+ that I only use for tracking vocals, bass and acoustic bass and guitars.

malice

[Bob Olhsson]

The Requisite does Doug Sax style "warm glue" really well. Kind of like a pair of tube LA3as rather than the mushy sound of most 2as if that makes any sense. I've tended to use the side chain filtering pretty aggressively. Like all optos the two channels don't track perfectly so you need to take great care but I think the results are well worth the extra time spent.

For aggressive compression the API sounds better. It's sort of like an SSL but infinitely more adjustable.

I haven't heard anything "universal" that I like as well as making the appropriate choice between those two, digital or nothing at all. We just got a brand new matched set of three Vari-Mus for surround that I haven't tried out yet.

[Mixerman]

I haven't heard anything "universal" that I like as well as making the appropriate choice between those two, digital or nothing at all. We just got a brand new matched set of three Vari-Mus for surround that I haven't tried out yet.

I can tell instantly when one of these has been put on my mix.

Mixerman

[malice]

The Requisite does Doug Sax style "warm glue" really well. Kind of like a pair of tube LA3as rather than the mushy sound of most 2as if that makes any sense.

It does to me.

I was wondering what was the trick that would make this clone different from a 2a, and that would allow it to be put across the mix buss.

A bit faster on release time perhaps, that would fit the 3a description, with a cleaner signal path.

I love using them on voice tracking and then mix with an LN1176.

I have to try the stereo comp one of these days.

malice

[Bob Olhsson]

The old Vari-Mus sure softened the focus when you listened with the levels carefully matched up so you weren't just being hyped by more volume. These are supposed to be "different."

Of course lots of popular stuff flunks that test...

[otek]

Bob,


out of curiosity, how do you find the Nelson Pass amps? I haven't seen those over here (Sweden) for some time.... Though I think a company named Subas Audio is still distributing them here.

[Bob Olhsson]

The monster Pass amps seem really good but it's no surprise since Nelson is an old hand at high-end designs. His approach is a very simple signal path.

There is also a Pass preamp acting as a volume control and input switcher. It all seems to be real happy with the Pacific Microsonics converters but they have killer line stages so it's hard to say how the Pass gear would sound with other gear. Probably very good but I haven't tried it myself.

[Bob Olhsson]

We got 8 Grammy noms this year 4 of them in album categories!

Best Female Country Vocal Performance - Gretchen Wilson

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal- Little Big Town

Best Country Song - Gretchen Wilson

Best Country Album - Little Big Town

Best Bluegrass Album - Ricky Skaggs

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album - Leeland

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album - Israel & the New Breed

Best Short Form Music Video - Big & Rich

We also did production work on Neil Young's project that was nominated 3 times.

[bunnerabb]

Holy crap, man!


Woo!


:Thumbsup: :very happy:

[Tim Armstrong]

Sounds like you're having some fun, Bob! Congrats on all the nominations!

Cheers, Tim

ps- my friend James Pennebaker has left "Big and Rich" and is about to start working for Fender's Nashville office as "artist relations manager", which means he gets to actually sleep in his own bed in Mt. Juliet, and is incredibly available to play fiddle, pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, or even guitar...

Gotta promote my friends!:D

[Bob Olhsson]

I'm really proud of Andrew and the entire Georgetown team!

[malice]

congrats to you and Georgetown mastering team.

malice

[Les Ismore]

Hi Bob,
I was spending some time in Nashville in 2000/2001 and I submitted some of my work and applied for a job with Denny at Georgetown. He and the crew there were just incredibly nice people and they invited me in several times to sit in and get a feel for the place.
After deep thought I ended up moving to Vancouver Island and getting married instead. I sometimes wish I had stayed but there is something in the nature and ocean here that fulfills a spiritual side that I need. Denny was really nice and very supportive to me. He was also very funny. He was re-mixing a lot of classic albums in 5.1 at that point.
It's very unfortunate about his untimely early passing. I guess none of us knows when we will be going. So I know that for me I strive to live every year as though it could possibly be my last.
Anyway I have no regrets, but perhaps if I had stayed I possibly might have ended up working there with you! (I sure could have learned a lot).
Best of luck, Les Ismore

(Pete Honychurch)