Steve Hoffman: Mastering The Beach Boys, Miles Davis, & More

BY KEITH HANLON

As a mastering engineer, Steve Hoffman has worked on many classic recordings, but very few of them would be considered standard CD or LP releases. After working at MCA on reissue CDs from Buddy Holly and The Who (among others), he entered the audiophile world. He is currently a free agent, working on SACDs for Audio Fidelity and LPs for S&P Records. He made his name as the mastering engineer for DCC Compact Classics. Throughout the '90s, DCC specialized in producing 24-karat gold compact discs. They released gold disc versions of albums by The Doors, Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys, Miles Davis and many others. Even non-audiophiles feel that these discs are the definitive versions. Indeed, the first time I heard his work on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, I felt as though I was hearing what Dylan heard in the control room during playback. Steve's trademark is what he refers to as the "breath of life" — recordings that are dynamic and natural sounding. You don't have to have a $50,000 system to hear the difference.

Trey Spruance: Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3

BY OLIVIA OYAMA

If you spend some time around Trey Spruance, it's not uncommon to hear him expounding on Islamic theologians, geopolitics or holes in the Big Bang Theory. Yet Trey is better known not for his encyclopedic abilities, but for his former band Mr. Bungle and current project Secret Chiefs 3. Trey's most under-appreciated talent, however, is his masterful engineering ability. He started recording by tracking his high school band, Mr. Bungle, on a Tascam Porta One 4-track cassette recorder. When they were signed to Warner Bros. Records, Trey seized the opportunity to learn as much he could. He befriended engineer Billy Anderson [Tape Op #33], who taught him the ins and outs of studio recording. By Mr. Bungle's third record, they were linking three 24-track, 2-inch tape machines and two ADAT machines together to accommodate their ever-expanding orchestrations. At the same time, Trey had been tracking his other project, Secret Chiefs 3, in Bungle's rehearsal space. While Secret Chiefs 3 share Mr. Bungle's extensive orchestration and track density, they didn't have the same extensive recording budgets. This forced Trey to develop creative solutions to realize his musical visions in his home studio. Many records later, he has cultivated a set of surprisingly original techniques for getting the most out of home-recording and professional studios.

Andrew Huang: Songs To Wear Pants To

BY VIJITH ASSAR

Brian Eno: U2, Coldplay, Talking Heads

BY LARRY CRANE AND JOHN BACCIGALUPPI, JOHN BACCIGALUPPI

With his early years in Roxy Music, arty solo albums in the '70s, the creation and conceptualization of "ambient" music, groundbreaking collaborations with David Bowie and as the producer of albums for Devo, Talking Heads, U2, James and Coldplay, Brian Eno should need no introduction to the readers of this magazine. Most likely no one else has discussed and analyzed the art of capturing music as much as Eno. He's obviously gifted with a constantly active mind. It has long been a dream of mine to meet this man, as well as ask him questions about music and the art of recording. One recent sunny day in London found John and I walking down a dead end street leading to Eno's workshop near the famed Portobello Road. We waited patiently while paintbrushes were cleaned, cats discussed and tea made; then we sat down for an hour and talked.

Brian Eno (bonus): The Saga Behind the Eno Illustrations...

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI

Ed Eastridge: Recording Country Classics in a Ford F-6000

BY RALPH HEIBUTZKI

Joel Hamilton (bonus): Black Keys, RZA, Jim Jones

BY ALLEN FARMELO

In Tape Op #85 we interviewed Joel Hamilton about working on the Blakroc project. Here's a bit more about his background.

Valgeir Sigurósson (bonus)

BY ALLEN FARMELO

It's not an exaggeration to say that most non-Icelandic people come to know of this tiny island country through the records Valgeir Sigurðsson made with Björk, and there's no denying that these records were some of the most innovative, genre-bending works of their time. From an engineering and production perspective, Sigurðsson's work with Björk made her desire to blend pop, punk, electronica and neo-classical sounds and sensibilities into a sonic reality, and doing so required a fearless exploration of cutting-edge recording and production techniques. While hanging out with this softly-spoken yet candid Icelander, I came to quickly realize that Björk was really only one snapshot in a long-arcing career that, in many ways, is only now starting to hit its full stride with the development of his own label and creative collective, Bedroom Community. Artists like Ben Frost, Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon and Puzzle Muteson collaborate with Sigurðsson to create albums that defy genre, and therefore easy description: Frost's music can sound like wolves mauling prey; Muhly's like the a global information network on speed; Amidon's like an Appalachian lucid-dream; and Sigurðsson's like a wistful, longing landscape. Yet, all of these albums cohere around Sigurðsson's highly articulate production style that elegantly combines acoustic recording and electronic manipulation. I met up with Sigurðsson in his Greenhouse Studio, housed in an impossibly entwined residential cul-de-sac about 10 minutes from downtown Reykjavik. His studio is uniquely modern and airy, designed to let the rain be heard and the outside air let in.