His VS cut sounded amazing amazing!!!!! Thanks so much for this. So nice to have this place at home here in Seattle. He needs to recut/master Dark Matter!
@@revelry1969 why would Levi's sound any better when the problem was Dark Matter was mastered stupidly hot, no-one is going to make it sound any different as the mastering has been approved. If you want to hear Dark Matter with dynamics you need to buy the Blu-ray and rip the Atmos mixed down to stereo, gorgeous and dynamic.
@@trackingangle929wonder if some of these were from DSD. I have a few of Levi cuts and they do NOT sound digital. Wondering whether that VS was from DSD since I think Sony was involved.
@@revelry1969 no, Vs used the existing 24-bit digital master you can download from HDTracks etc. Sony don't use DSD at all for anything pop/rock/rap/R&B etc
I've been away for a few days and had a notification from you Mike that you toured Woodland with Dave Rawlings, but the video's not there. Any chance you'll repost it?
Curious about these. Can’t decide if the albums hold up for me or not. But man he isn’t kidding about the loudness wars being in full force. The cds always sounded like caca. Curious to what Mr Seitz and team is able to do with Hybrid. The earlier releases on vinyl didn’t impress much.
We will have shortly have Dylan Pegin's reviews. He came to visit me so he could hear it on a great system....it will be a very comprehensive and accurate review. Dylan is a very good listener. I say that because we both agreed on everything we heard!
Did I hear the guy say one of his clients is Beyoncé? First of all I don't listen this artist music...that's a joke. Second most record buyer who buys Beyoncé records don't have good critical listening skills and wouldn't know what to listen for. What a waste cutting a record for this artist. If I had to choose the following two female artist regardless of the era ....Beyoncé and Linda Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt by far the better female artist to listen to. No tape machine in the cutting room! No way...I'd rather have my cuts done by Bernie, Kevin or Ryan at Sterling!
Black Belt Mastering has a nice set-up, but, for cutting records, the playback equipment falls short. For those who he is cutting lacquers, it is common for them to use Technics SL-1200 turntables or their clones. I know it is harder and harder to get them, but the Shure M97xe cartridge is commonly used. So, say BBM cuts lacquers for Analogue Productions, Chad Kassem is going to evaluate the test pressings on his Technics SL-1200G's, equipped with Shure M97xe cartridges, Chad may hear something he might not like. He sends the TP's back to BBM, because they use a turntable which resembles something Fisher-Price might have manufactured, BBM may possibly not be able to hear what Chad had concerns over. It's similar to whether you are mastering something for digital as opposed to mastering for a record. The mastering company should synch their equipment to what the customer uses.
The lathe cuts lacquers, the turntable has nothing to do with it. Many different turntables are used to playback acetates or test pressings. For instance, Ryan Smith at Sterling uses a George Merrill Polytable. I've been to mastering facilities worldwide and your claim that SL-1200s or clones are used is really not so. The Shure M97xe is no longer manufactured and is not the best choice IMO....Abbey Road uses a Station 681EE for instance....
@@trackingangle929 Look at what Chad Kassem uses, SL-1200G's with Shure M97xe carts. In the QC department at QRP and they use Technics SL-1200's and 1000's, equipped with Shure M97xe carts. Look at Third Man Record Pressing, they use the SL-1200 and clones. Look at GZ, they have a wall of SL-1200's. I could go on and on............Gotta Groove uses an AT clone of the SL-1200. I've got a Stanton(turn your spell-check on), that's Stanton 681EE somewhere which came in a vintage QRK radio station turntable I acquired years ago. The lathes cut linearly, not like a home Willcox-Gay. To play a record back properly you'd want a linear tracking turntable. The "S" and "J" style tubular tone arms are superior as Capehart discovered in the late-40's and radio stations discovered in the 1970's as Technics was taking over the market.
@@trackingangle929the Shure V15 V is what I’ve seen most commonly used as reference in mastering rooms, this includes Sterling Sound & Abbey Road. Which hasn’t been manufactured in even longer, nor have the thin wall beryllium-cantilever stylus assemblies. M97 is a decent enough newer approximation if you can get a better stylus for it than the stock elliptical
Great interview. Great to see another mastering engineer in the fold that cares about music and quality.
Thanks! I built this space myself from an empty shell...framed, wired and treated all with mastering in mind. Excited for whats to come!
A thoroughly enjoyable video from start to finish!
Thank you! I loved meeting Levi and making the video.
So excited for these, cannot wait to get my ears on them!
Awesome ✌️ many thanks as always Mike
Of course, it was a pleasure. Thank you!
For those Linkin Park fanatics, you’re welcome: 20:59
Cool to see a VPI Scout table in the mastering room!
His VS cut sounded amazing amazing!!!!!
Thanks so much for this. So nice to have this place at home here in Seattle. He needs to recut/master Dark Matter!
Yes, Vs. sounds incredible! Levi told me he didn’t cut Dark Matter, it was cut by an engineer in Germany.
@@michaeltrochalakis6526 bummer on dark matter. We will have to wait for a Levi cut. The dark matter cut was horrendous
@@revelry1969I thought it was great. Different, but great!
@@Game_Impala I am not picking on the music. The music is great. The vinyl production bad. Very bad. Get the atmos blu ray much better.
@@revelry1969 why would Levi's sound any better when the problem was Dark Matter was mastered stupidly hot, no-one is going to make it sound any different as the mastering has been approved. If you want to hear Dark Matter with dynamics you need to buy the Blu-ray and rip the Atmos mixed down to stereo, gorgeous and dynamic.
Great place , Love to see young folks succeed and do well.
Great job Michael!
Thanks Jefferson! It was truly a pleasure!
great intrerview Michael
Thank you, my pleasure. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
hey michael T, good video!!
Thanks Dave!
I never have the things in these videos. Except this time. I have the same black tool bench as him…
It's a solid desk for sure!
I bought the Pearl Jam VS. 45rpm and it sounds fantastic. Great mastering.
Decent mastering but it wasn't remastered for vinyl, it used the existing 24-bit digital remaster.
Thanks! Very proud of how the 45RPM cuts turned out.
Yes, sorry, cuts. Sounds great! I plan on getting Yield as well which people are saying is definitive over the original pressing.
I’m not seeing any tape players there. Would it be correct to deduce that he always masters from high rez digital files?
Yes. He's exclusively mastering from files
Bummer... :/
@@trackingangle929wonder if some of these were from DSD. I have a few of Levi cuts and they do NOT sound digital. Wondering whether that VS was from DSD since I think Sony was involved.
How so?@@R3TR0R4V3
@@revelry1969 no, Vs used the existing 24-bit digital master you can download from HDTracks etc. Sony don't use DSD at all for anything pop/rock/rap/R&B etc
He’s definitely one of us tweakers. 👍🏻
There's a lot to tweak with vinyl...very mechanically satisfying process to navigate!
Exercise bike in the mastering room?
why not?
It's important to keep fit.even when cutting straight fire👍
@@trackingangle929How many other mastering engineers have them in their studio? Kevin? Bernie? Ryan?
@@dimebagdave77 I agree but I just found it out of place.
Levi is definitely in shape, as you can tell. We need exercise bikes in our listening rooms.
I THINK I OWN NIRVANA NVM THAT IS CUT BY LEVI. GEORGE HORN IS LEGENDARY,. HE CUT LOTS OF OJC LPs IN THE 80s
I really want to hope that the album "The Hunting Party" will also be released in this One step series🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Tracking Angle just published reviews of all three One Steps. Two of them earned ratings of “10”, the other a “9”!
Pretty stoked!
Which album received a lower rating? Hello
Pinside sent me here!
Welcome, Friend :)
I've been away for a few days and had a notification from you Mike that you toured Woodland with Dave Rawlings, but the video's not there. Any chance you'll repost it?
Yes. It's back up. Had to remove some things Dave didn't want public
👍🔥
too bad my linkin park one steps
arrived damaged, with scuffs scratches and particles all over the vinyl itself.
I have now received 4 replacement copies - each is covered in scratches, white particles, and finger prints. Wild.
Weird that Linkin Park music would be chosen for One-Step release…..
Money and Business
Curious about these. Can’t decide if the albums hold up for me or not. But man he isn’t kidding about the loudness wars being in full force. The cds always sounded like caca.
Curious to what Mr Seitz and team is able to do with Hybrid. The earlier releases on vinyl didn’t impress much.
We will have shortly have Dylan Pegin's reviews. He came to visit me so he could hear it on a great system....it will be a very comprehensive and accurate review. Dylan is a very good listener. I say that because we both agreed on everything we heard!
Did I hear the guy say one of his clients is
Beyoncé? First of all I don't listen this artist music...that's a joke. Second most record buyer who buys Beyoncé records don't have good critical listening skills and wouldn't know what to listen for. What a waste cutting a record for this artist.
If I had to choose the following two female artist regardless of the era ....Beyoncé and
Linda Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt by far the better female artist to listen to.
No tape machine in the cutting room! No way...I'd rather have my cuts done by Bernie, Kevin or Ryan at Sterling!
Never comment again
Thanks!
Rather a dry and bland interview - perhaps have the Q&A whilst continiung to walk around the Site..🤔
Michael is not a super-experienced interviewer but I thought he did a very good job.
Black Belt Mastering has a nice set-up, but, for cutting records, the playback equipment falls short. For those who he is cutting lacquers, it is common for them to use Technics SL-1200 turntables or their clones. I know it is harder and harder to get them, but the Shure M97xe cartridge is commonly used. So, say BBM cuts lacquers for Analogue Productions, Chad Kassem is going to evaluate the test pressings on his Technics SL-1200G's, equipped with Shure M97xe cartridges, Chad may hear something he might not like. He sends the TP's back to BBM, because they use a turntable which resembles something Fisher-Price might have manufactured, BBM may possibly not be able to hear what Chad had concerns over. It's similar to whether you are mastering something for digital as opposed to mastering for a record. The mastering company should synch their equipment to what the customer uses.
The VPI isn't high end enough for you? 😂
"they use a turntable which resembles something Fisher-Price might have manufactured" ?? 🤣
The lathe cuts lacquers, the turntable has nothing to do with it. Many different turntables are used to playback acetates or test pressings. For instance, Ryan Smith at Sterling uses a George Merrill Polytable. I've been to mastering facilities worldwide and your claim that SL-1200s or clones are used is really not so. The Shure M97xe is no longer manufactured and is not the best choice IMO....Abbey Road uses a Station 681EE for instance....
@@trackingangle929 Look at what Chad Kassem uses, SL-1200G's with Shure M97xe carts. In the QC department at QRP and they use Technics SL-1200's and 1000's, equipped with Shure M97xe carts. Look at Third Man Record Pressing, they use the SL-1200 and clones. Look at GZ, they have a wall of SL-1200's. I could go on and on............Gotta Groove uses an AT clone of the SL-1200.
I've got a Stanton(turn your spell-check on), that's Stanton 681EE somewhere which came in a vintage QRK radio station turntable I acquired years ago.
The lathes cut linearly, not like a home Willcox-Gay. To play a record back properly you'd want a linear tracking turntable. The "S" and "J" style tubular tone arms are superior as Capehart discovered in the late-40's and radio stations discovered in the 1970's as Technics was taking over the market.
@@trackingangle929the Shure V15 V is what I’ve seen most commonly used as reference in mastering rooms, this includes Sterling Sound & Abbey Road. Which hasn’t been manufactured in even longer, nor have the thin wall beryllium-cantilever stylus assemblies. M97 is a decent enough newer approximation if you can get a better stylus for it than the stock elliptical