[bdiament]

Hi jtwrace,

What about recommending your best work?

Moi?  ;-}

For mastering, I think some of my best work for a major label was the 13 original Bob Marley albums I remastered for Tuff Gong (Island) in 1990.  Though I'd been a pro engineer for about 15 years by then, I think I finally learned how to EQ by the time this project came in.  (It may sound strange to hear that but I think most engineer's EQ is far from transparent -- it *sounds* like EQ to my ears.  It is much like editing audio -- if a colleague were to say to me "great edit!" I'd consider it a failure because they could tell an edit occurred.  Things like edits and EQ should be invisible to the listener.  It is something I'll create a blog entry about at some point but for now, I'll just say I believe it took me 15 years to learn how to EQ.)  I *lived* those albums for six intense weeks and the experience was wonderful!

Most of the other masterings I'm most proud of are for independent clients, such as "Nou La", an album of Haitian music from Vo-Duo, "Waves" by Work of Art (who I've also recorded for Soundkeeper), David Thomas Peacock's "Grim Determination Meets The Fields of Sorrow" and more recently, the remastering of the eponymous reggae CD by "The Natural Mystics".

Having said the above, in view of my feeling that 90-95% or more of a recording's ultimate sonic quality has already been determined by the time the signals are leaving the microphones, the work I'm most proud of to date are the four albums (so far) I've produced, recorded and mastered for my own label, Soundkeeper Recordings.  Each is different from the others musically and each was a labor of love for the work of an artist I have great respect for.  The most recent three of the four were all recorded at 24/192 with the best (most transparent and true to the input signal) mic preamps and digital converters I've ever heard by a good margin.  (Only problem with that is I can no longer blame the gear for any flaws in the recordings, for which I now must take full ownership.)  Planning the next project now.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[Geardaddy]

I have only 20+ albums in DSD128 (Opus 3, 2L, a few others) but they are quite amazing when played back on a good DSD128 capable DAC.  Randy had his exaSound E20 (I won the E28 but it is primarily a multichannel DAC and the E20 is clealry better at 2 channel) here on Friday, and I blew his mind with some of the analog-direct-to-DSD128 that Hugo and Jan Eric have done over at Opus 3/dsdfile. 

Yes, I agree fully with your contention that a DAC first must be SOTA at handling redbook, our stand bearer, and likely 90% of the titles in most music lovers catalog.  Everything else is secondary (unless, as Randy and I found out, you upsample, offline, redbook-to-DSD128).  The E20 was polite (and maybe a little boring) in native 16/44 but fabulous with the same titles at DSD128!  I have not normally been a conversion (PCM to DSD) fan but this was a clear case of "getting to the sweetspot".  Western Digital is gonna love Randy. 

Ted, thanks for the intel.  I have heard similar reports from friends who are farting around with DSD.  128 seems to be a quantum leap beyond 64 and has peaked my curiosity although the titles available are LIMITED (thus my jab about swedish jazz trios). 

I have believed for some time that the "revolution" in digital audio was at the software level and not hardware (ala Phasure).  I am intrigued by what's coming down the pike from Merging Technologies with Quad DSD, etc.  What software is available for MAC to perform "offline" rebook up sampling?

[wisnon]

GD,

The revolution is in both the hardware and software. As processing power increases, you will see better digital audio results.

I will send you some articles.


You can use the Free Korg Audiogate or the reasonable Jriver 19 for Mac.

I think for a bit more you can get the Mac version of Signalyst.
Or contact to buy a license for Linux and Mac OS X (119€ excl VAT),

[Geardaddy]

Ted, have you done any comparisons of upsampled Redbook versus native DSD?

[ted_b]

Ted, have you done any comparisons of upsampled Redbook versus native DSD?

No, cuz I know of no recording that is native in both.  Any redbook layer upsampled is clearly inferior to the native DSD, but that redbook layer of the SACD was downsampled anyway.  Not a fair test.

[Geardaddy]

Ted, that is what I thought.

Norman, my Lampi quip was a joke.  I still want one!  Thx for the links

[Brad]

Barry,

Thanks for your comments on your favorite recordings.  I appreciate the insight and the "look behind the curtain"   

[wisnon]

Ted, that is what I thought.

Norman, my Lampi quip was a joke.  I still want one!  Thx for the links

I know, that why I quipped back!

[wushuliu]

For mastering, I think some of my best work for a major label was the 13 original Bob Marley albums I remastered for Tuff Gong (Island) in 1990. 

Some of the first CDs I ever bought were the Marleys you mastered. I believe you did some Yes as well. So as a teenager I associated your name with quality before I even knew there was such a thing as an audiophile. So I'm so stoked you're on these forums. Thanks for all your work!

[jtwrace]

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Barry+Diament

[wushuliu]

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Barry+Diament

Anita Baker 'Rapture', another one of my early purchases and a desert island disk for me.

[launche]

Very impressive list.

Brings back some great memories. Not sure if they were your versions but the time I spent in my younger days listening to my Garrard stereo to some of the Marley records were great.  To this day if my system can't play Marley enjoyably the hell with it.  Later to Wide Awake in America and Under A Blood Red Sky every night all summer long...Electri-Coooo.  The pirated radio premier of Appetite, static ridden as it was on that old stereo with a weak signal still the best experience I've had with that record and never any more impactful then that first fuzzy listen.  I still do have Rapture on vinyl and I do remember it well, great album.

[bdiament]

Hi wushuliu,

Some of the first CDs I ever bought were the Marleys you mastered. I believe you did some Yes as well. So as a teenager I associated your name with quality before I even knew there was such a thing as an audiophile. So I'm so stoked you're on these forums. Thanks for all your work!

Thank you for you kindness.
Yes, I have had the good fortune to work on some early Yes CD releases too.


Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[Geardaddy]

Barry, any comments?

[bdiament]

Hi Geardaddy,


What can I say?   


Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com