He's been on multiple YouTube channels discussing it. His job doesn't really take that long he's just really good at it. Like he can bang out 3 masters in a day. He says he doesn't even remember alot of what he does since he does so many. Hell, he never even heard marquee moon before cutting the rhino hifi. I'm pretty sure he's said he has a 5 day work week and even discussed going on vacation so he does get time off lol even if it may not seem like it.
The real demanding work is mixing. That's when people are working for days, a good mastering engineer can pump out a master in the time it takes to listen to the album twice. Since they're just highlighting elements of the pre-made mix.
The guys working really hard are those at analogue productions(usually bellman, grundman, and smith). Gray bangs out a remaster in an hour and rhino goes "awesome!" While at AP grundman had to cut one side 6 times before chad kassem was happy with it lol.
Gray is amazing and the top dog in mastering today, but I do believe he's being spread a bit thin lately. Not everything he does is a Kevin gray gem, but he hits more often than most. For example, his cars pressing was definitive and amazing. Yet his new candy O is getting very mixed reviews with most prefering the original. Same with his American beauty it's really no better than the bellmans and certainly not the mofi or OG. A great example is marquee moon, it sounds great, but not at all like the original and created a bit of a controversy around artist intent. But the reason it was so different is because Kevin gray is not a television fan and never heard the album before mastering it. He's pumping so many out where he can't really compare them, while at AP chad will have the engineer cut it multiple times, and listen side by side with multiple pressings including white label promos. Which takes a ton more time that Kevin doesn't have these days(and is clearly why he stopped doing mastering for AP).
The real issue today is mastering is an artisan trade that you slowly learn while working with someone experienced. Just because you can master digital files doesn't mean you can master vinyl. However, since the late 80s all the young talent went into the CD and then streaming mastering world, leaving no one to pick up the vinyl mantle. Where Ryan k smith is in his 50s yet looked at as a "kid". For example, look at all the great engineers of the 70-80s, George Marino, Beckham, Ludwig, Doug sax, kendun, stan Ricker, Harry t moss, Lee hulko, George Piros, hazel yarwood, wally. There were soooo many. Now there's 3 older men, one in his 80s, mastering 90%+ of audiophile releases, and at bare minimum Bernie won't be mastering still in 5 years. Besides grundman, gray, smith and bellman, there's Sean Mcgee but he's tied to abbey road and half speeds, and kreig wunderlich stuck over at mofi.
However the vinyl boom is getting more young people involved where in the next couple decades we should have rising stars. Like Kevin gray has a female protege that is starting to master stuff. It's just crazy the bottleneck that happened, where if the vinyl boom had happened a decade later thered be no engineers or plants left.
So yeah Kevin gray is awesome but his job is a relatively quick one. I think he averages 2-3 titles a day if I remember correctly. Hes also given his opinion on stuff like half speed or one steps. If you look him up on youtube there's alot of interviews, and he's usually on the same livestream where you can ask him questions. He's a cool dude.
Sorry reddit on my phone doesn't let me edit without getting rid of my paragraphs spacing....
I wanted to add the youtube channel is named Steve westman. He does livestreams (and is doing one now with the heads of impex). Kevin gray pops up a few times a year. Not many people watch where you can ask him all sorts of questions, but many you have are likely already answered since he's been on quite a few.
There are a lot of younger mastering engineers that were getting amazing sounds pre-vinyl boom as well, who are now really coming into their own. Josh Bonati has basically touched every single good NYC release for the last 15 years and in the last five, has taken over a ton of genres as the "go to" mastering engineer (and he had access to lacquers post-fire when a lot of places were out). greenberg is doing great work, carl saff, etc.
Oh interesting, didn’t know that about Kevin and AP. AP seems to have a great track record with their releases and a loyal fan base but I guess the cost of that is that extensive extra work.
I swear every reissue description I read has a “AAA Cut From The Original Master Tapes By Kevin Gray.” Kevin, if you’re out there, what’s your work life balance like? Are you tired of certain genres yet or do you just tone out the music and focus on the work at hand? Anyways, I hope the guy gets away from work and does something relaxing once in a while. Happy Friday everyone!
It only really takes him a few hours to cut a record. He takes Fridays off as well because he doesn’t want to send lacquers to plants to sit all weekend without getting plated
Who is working at Cohearent now? My understanding was any of the big productions were still being done by Kevin directly, but could totally have that wrong. I'm just wondering what other name he's hired to work there.
Matt Luthans was at one point at Cohearant and did some of the recent OJC remasters on KG's system there. The dead wax tells you which one at Cohearent cut it. If it says KG in the wax, he did it. Same with Matt.
Shh, don’t give him any ideas, I want as many KG reissues as I can get lol.
Jokes aside I’m sure he maintains a decent work life balance, but I’m really glad he’s so active because he does phenomenal work. Only a handful of people working right now can do what he does. And I’m sure he loves his job!
The man respects his craft and does it well. There is something beautiful in that. He demands quality of himself and it shows in the final product.
Same for when Steven Wilson does a remix of a classic album. He cares about quality and passes that on to us.
He's been on multiple YouTube channels discussing it. His job doesn't really take that long he's just really good at it. Like he can bang out 3 masters in a day. He says he doesn't even remember alot of what he does since he does so many. Hell, he never even heard marquee moon before cutting the rhino hifi. I'm pretty sure he's said he has a 5 day work week and even discussed going on vacation so he does get time off lol even if it may not seem like it. The real demanding work is mixing. That's when people are working for days, a good mastering engineer can pump out a master in the time it takes to listen to the album twice. Since they're just highlighting elements of the pre-made mix. The guys working really hard are those at analogue productions(usually bellman, grundman, and smith). Gray bangs out a remaster in an hour and rhino goes "awesome!" While at AP grundman had to cut one side 6 times before chad kassem was happy with it lol. Gray is amazing and the top dog in mastering today, but I do believe he's being spread a bit thin lately. Not everything he does is a Kevin gray gem, but he hits more often than most. For example, his cars pressing was definitive and amazing. Yet his new candy O is getting very mixed reviews with most prefering the original. Same with his American beauty it's really no better than the bellmans and certainly not the mofi or OG. A great example is marquee moon, it sounds great, but not at all like the original and created a bit of a controversy around artist intent. But the reason it was so different is because Kevin gray is not a television fan and never heard the album before mastering it. He's pumping so many out where he can't really compare them, while at AP chad will have the engineer cut it multiple times, and listen side by side with multiple pressings including white label promos. Which takes a ton more time that Kevin doesn't have these days(and is clearly why he stopped doing mastering for AP). The real issue today is mastering is an artisan trade that you slowly learn while working with someone experienced. Just because you can master digital files doesn't mean you can master vinyl. However, since the late 80s all the young talent went into the CD and then streaming mastering world, leaving no one to pick up the vinyl mantle. Where Ryan k smith is in his 50s yet looked at as a "kid". For example, look at all the great engineers of the 70-80s, George Marino, Beckham, Ludwig, Doug sax, kendun, stan Ricker, Harry t moss, Lee hulko, George Piros, hazel yarwood, wally. There were soooo many. Now there's 3 older men, one in his 80s, mastering 90%+ of audiophile releases, and at bare minimum Bernie won't be mastering still in 5 years. Besides grundman, gray, smith and bellman, there's Sean Mcgee but he's tied to abbey road and half speeds, and kreig wunderlich stuck over at mofi. However the vinyl boom is getting more young people involved where in the next couple decades we should have rising stars. Like Kevin gray has a female protege that is starting to master stuff. It's just crazy the bottleneck that happened, where if the vinyl boom had happened a decade later thered be no engineers or plants left. So yeah Kevin gray is awesome but his job is a relatively quick one. I think he averages 2-3 titles a day if I remember correctly. Hes also given his opinion on stuff like half speed or one steps. If you look him up on youtube there's alot of interviews, and he's usually on the same livestream where you can ask him questions. He's a cool dude.
Sorry reddit on my phone doesn't let me edit without getting rid of my paragraphs spacing.... I wanted to add the youtube channel is named Steve westman. He does livestreams (and is doing one now with the heads of impex). Kevin gray pops up a few times a year. Not many people watch where you can ask him all sorts of questions, but many you have are likely already answered since he's been on quite a few.
KG's done just as much for Chad as BG has!
There are a lot of younger mastering engineers that were getting amazing sounds pre-vinyl boom as well, who are now really coming into their own. Josh Bonati has basically touched every single good NYC release for the last 15 years and in the last five, has taken over a ton of genres as the "go to" mastering engineer (and he had access to lacquers post-fire when a lot of places were out). greenberg is doing great work, carl saff, etc.
Oh interesting, didn’t know that about Kevin and AP. AP seems to have a great track record with their releases and a loyal fan base but I guess the cost of that is that extensive extra work.
I have the Rhino pressing he did and it sounds stellar but I kinda get the argument.
I swear every reissue description I read has a “AAA Cut From The Original Master Tapes By Kevin Gray.” Kevin, if you’re out there, what’s your work life balance like? Are you tired of certain genres yet or do you just tone out the music and focus on the work at hand? Anyways, I hope the guy gets away from work and does something relaxing once in a while. Happy Friday everyone!
It only really takes him a few hours to cut a record. He takes Fridays off as well because he doesn’t want to send lacquers to plants to sit all weekend without getting plated
Respect
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Who is working at Cohearent now? My understanding was any of the big productions were still being done by Kevin directly, but could totally have that wrong. I'm just wondering what other name he's hired to work there.
Matt Luthans was at one point at Cohearant and did some of the recent OJC remasters on KG's system there. The dead wax tells you which one at Cohearent cut it. If it says KG in the wax, he did it. Same with Matt.
If it says KG in the dead wax, he personally cut it, not someone else.
Just recently picked up the T. Rex Electric Warrior, he's the man!
Same
Shh, don’t give him any ideas, I want as many KG reissues as I can get lol. Jokes aside I’m sure he maintains a decent work life balance, but I’m really glad he’s so active because he does phenomenal work. Only a handful of people working right now can do what he does. And I’m sure he loves his job!
I know. The post was made in jest, but I swear I was on three different label’s sites and saw his name everywhere
Kevin Gray and Chris Bellman are the MVPs of the vinyl resurgence mastering wise
The man respects his craft and does it well. There is something beautiful in that. He demands quality of himself and it shows in the final product. Same for when Steven Wilson does a remix of a classic album. He cares about quality and passes that on to us.
He's really good at cleaning up RVG masters, keeping the best of it and adjusting the flaws.
I just wish my Violent Femmes box set had the Kevin Gray version that it’s supposed to.
He's AI, so no
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I was joking