Steve Hoffman (audio engineer)

Last updated

Steve Hoffman
Born (1951-12-04) December 4, 1951 (age 72)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationMastering engineer
Website www.stevehoffman.tv

Steve Hoffman (born December 4, 1951) [1] is an American audio mastering engineer.

Contents

Career

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles in 1951. [1] In the 1970s, he worked in radio before joining MCA Records as catalog research and development coordinator.[ citation needed ] For the next decade, he was responsible for compiling hundreds of budget cassette releases for MCA's Special Products division, with a focus was on jazz and big band recordings.[ citation needed ]

In 1984, Hoffman sent copies of several Buddy Holly master recordings to John Pickering of the Picks, the vocal group that had backed Holly on most of his early singles. The Picks overdubbed new vocal parts onto at least 60 recordings and sent them back to Hoffman at MCA, hoping MCA would have issued these "new" recordings as an album. This did not occur, and Hoffman was subsequently fired from MCA, reportedly for the unauthorized lending of the tapes of Pickering. [2] In 1992, Pickering approached Viceroy Records to arrange for distribution of these recordings, but MCA made it clear that Pickering did not have legal clearance to release such recordings. [2]

In 1985, Hoffman worked on a series of releases aimed at the CD market which bore the title "From the Original Master Tapes." This series included works of artists such as Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and John Coltrane. He also plied his trade with the Dunhill Compact Classics and Audio Fidelity labels. [3] [4]

Approach

The adjustments Hoffman makes depend on the quality of the tape source and the equalization choices of the mixing engineer. While he avoids noise reduction, he does add subjective "colorations" through subtractive equalization and up to five layers of vacuum tube distortion. [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crickets</span> American rock and roll band

The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the Billboard Top 100 chart on September 16, 1957. The sleeve of their first album, The "Chirping" Crickets, shows the band line-up at the time: Holly on lead vocals and lead guitar, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, and Joe B. Mauldin on bass. The Crickets helped set the template for subsequent rock bands, such as the Beatles, with their guitar-bass-drums line-up, performing their own material. After Holly's death in 1959, the band continued to tour and record into the 1960s and beyond with other band members through to the 21st century.

<i>The Buddy Holly Story</i> 1978 film by Steve Rash

The Buddy Holly Story is a 1978 American biographical musical drama film directed by Steve Rash which tells the life and career of rock and roll musician Buddy Holly. It features an Academy Award-winning musical score, adapted by Joe Renzetti and Oscar-nominated lead performance by Gary Busey. The film also stars Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad Janis, William Jordan, and Maria Richwine, who plays María Elena Holly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunswick Records</span> US record label

Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coral Records</span> American record company

Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recording studio</span> Facility for sound recording

A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mastering (audio)</span> Form of audio post-production

Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device, the source from which all copies will be produced. In recent years, digital masters have become usual, although analog masters—such as audio tapes—are still being used by the manufacturing industry, particularly by a few engineers who specialize in analog mastering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multitrack recording</span> Separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole

Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive whole. Multitracking became possible in the mid-1950s when the idea of simultaneously recording different audio channels to separate discrete tracks on the same reel-to-reel tape was developed. A track was simply a different channel recorded to its own discrete area on the tape whereby their relative sequence of recorded events would be preserved, and playback would be simultaneous or synchronized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Rich</span> American jazz drummer and bandleader (1917–1987)

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.

A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contemporary Records</span> American record label

Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe B. Mauldin</span> American rock and roll musician and songwriter (1940–2015)

Joseph Benson Mauldin, Jr. was an American bassist, songwriter, and audio engineer who was best known as the bassist for the early rock and roll group the Crickets. Mauldin initially played a double (standup) bass, then switched to a Fender Precision Bass guitar. After several years with the Crickets, he became a recording engineer at Gold Star Studios, the Los Angeles studio which became the "hit factory" for Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and other major 1960s rock performers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Scott</span> British record producer and engineer

Ken Scott is an English record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, David Bowie, Duran Duran, the Jeff Beck Group, Supertramp, and many more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Porter (sound engineer)</span>

Bill Porter was an American audio engineer who helped shape the Nashville sound and recorded stars such as Chet Atkins, Louis Armstrong, the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Gladys Knight, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Skeeter Davis, Ike & Tina Turner, Sammy Davis Jr., and Roy Orbison from the late 1950s through the 1980s. In one week of 1960, his recordings accounted for 15 of Billboard magazine's Top 100, a feat none has matched. Porter's engineering career included over 7,000 recording sessions, 300 chart records, 49 Top 10, 11 Number Ones, and 37 gold records.

<i>Dicks Picks Volume 27</i> 2003 live album by Grateful Dead

Dick's Picks Volume 27 is an album by the Grateful Dead, the 27th installment of their archival release series. It was recorded on December 16, 1992 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, in Oakland, California. It was released in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of multitrack recording</span>

Multitrack recording of sound is the process in which sound and other electro-acoustic signals are captured on a recording medium such as magnetic tape, which is divided into two or more audio tracks that run parallel with each other. Because they are carried on the same medium, the tracks stay in perfect synchronization, while allowing multiple sound sources to be recorded at different times.

The Picks was an American vocal quartet that backed Buddy Holly and the Crickets' band on nine of the first twelve Crickets releases on Brunswick in 1957, as well as backing Buddy Holly solos for group sounds. The original members were John Pickering (lead), Bill Pickering (tenor), and Bob Lapham (baritone).

Warren Huart is an English record producer, musician, composer and recording engineer based in Los Angeles, California who is most associated as a music producer and/or engineer in the recording industry as a multi-platinum producer for The Fray, Daniel Powter, Marc Broussard, Trevor Hall, Korn, Better Than Ezra, James Blunt, Matisyahu, Ace Frehley, Aerosmith and Howie Day. His film and television credits include Inglourious Basterds, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, MTV’s The Hills, Lost, Scrubs, and Grey’s Anatomy.

<i>Memorial Collection</i> 2009 compilation album by Buddy Holly

Memorial Collection is a 2009 compilation album of American singer–songwriter and rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly's master takes and hit singles, including some rare recordings. Along with Down the Line: Rarities, this album was released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Holly's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toby Scott</span> American record producer

Toby Warren Scott is an American record producer, engineer and sound mixer. In addition to serving as an engineer on 18 Bruce Springsteen albums and numerous live performances, Scott has also recorded artists including Bob Dylan, Natalie Merchant, Steve Perry, Bette Midler, Blue Öyster Cult, Alison Goldfrapp, Tommy Tutone and Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul.

<i>The Agora, Cleveland 1978</i> 2014 live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

The Agora, Cleveland 1978 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, released in December 2014 and was the second official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives.

References

  1. 1 2 "Steve Hoffman". Allmusic . Retrieved January 21, 2024. Born December 4, 1951 in Los Angeles, CA.
  2. 1 2 Rowland, Hobart (December 19, 1996). "Bone to Pick". Houston Press . Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  3. In Search of the Holy Hi-Fi Grail JazzTimes, March 2007
  4. 1 2 Tape Op Magazine > Articles > Steve Hoffman
  5. Sreedhar, Suhas (August 1, 2007). "The Future of Music". IEEE Spectrum . IEEE . Retrieved March 1, 2018.