RIP Doug Sax

[Chris A]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Sax

 

http://www.discogs.com/artist/365860-Doug-Sax

 

http://www.stereophile.com/content/doug-sax-direct-cut-compact-disc

 

After having remastered almost 3000 tracks that I own, I can tell you that the ones mastered by Mr. Sax were uniformly the best ones that I had and the ones that I altered the least.

 

His Sheffield Labs recordings at The Mastering Lab in LA were and still are the gold standard audiophile recordings, including "James Newton Howard & Friends" (i.e., the band Toto in backup), which is a has been the core test disc that I use and Roy D. uses for evaluating loudspeakers and adjusting EQ.  The Lincoln Mayorga, Thelma Houston (I've Got The Music In Me) and Tower of Power (Direct) albums are also high on my list of the best audio recordings that I've heard, as well as the LA Philharmonic/Erich Leinsdorf recordings of Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet and Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries/Tristan und Isolde, et al. . on vinyl.

 

RIP Mr. Sax--your work lives on.

 

Chris

Edited April 12, 2015 by Chris A

[eth2]

WOW!

##1967 Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues - Lincoln Mayorga

1967 The Doors - The Doors

Doug Sax with 4 Lathes

##1967 Absolutely Free - Frank Zappa

##1967 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd

##1969 Ummagumma - Pink Floyd

##1970 Atom Heart Mother - Pink Floyd

##1970 Morrison Hotel - The Doors

##1971 Fillmore East: June 1971 Frank Zappa

##1971 L.A. Woman - The Doors

##1971 Sticky Fingers- The Rolling Stones

##1971 Who's Next - The Who

1971 Songs for Beginners - Graham Nash

Best Surround Album 2004

##1972 Exile on Main St. - The Rolling Stones

##1972 No Secrets - Carly Simon

##1972 Obscured by Clouds - Pink Floyd

##1972 Will the Circle Be Unbroken - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

##1973 Crazy Eyes - Poco

##1973 Living in the Material World - George Harrison

##1973 Muscle of Love - Alice Cooper

##1973 Ringo - Ringo Starr

##1973 Takin' My Time - Bonnie Raitt

##1974 Seven - Poco

##1974 The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand

##1975 Ambrosia - Ambrosia

##1975 Andrew Gold - Andrew Gold

##1975 Equinox - Styx

##1975 Prisoner in Disguise - Linda Ronstadt

##1975 Toys in the Attic - Aerosmith

##1976 Breezin' - George Benson

##1976 Glow - Al Jarreau

##1976 Silk Degrees - Boz Scaggs

##1976 The Art of Tea - Michael Franks

##1977 A Place in the Sun - Pablo Cruise

##1977 Running on Empty - Jackson Browne

##1978 David Gilmour - David Gilmour

##1978 Studio Tan - Frank Zappa

##1978 You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Neil Diamond

##1979 The Glow - Bonnie Raitt

##1979 The Wall - Pink Floyd

##1980 Mad Love - Linda Ronstadt

##1980 Stand in the Fire - Warren Zevon

##1980 The Jazz Singer - Neil Diamond

##1981 A Collection of Great Dance Songs - Pink Floyd

##1981 El Rayo-X - David Lindley

##1981 Mistaken Identity - Kim Carnes

##1982 All Four One - The Motels

##1982 Desire - Tom Scott

##1982 Get Closer - Linda Ronstadt

##1982 Toto IV - Toto

##1982 Voyeur - Kim Carnes

##1982 Win This Record - David Lindley & El Rayo-X

##1983 Caught in the Game - Survivor

##1983 The Final Cut - Pink Floyd

##1983 What's New - Linda Ronstadt

##1984 Building the Perfect Beast - Don Henley

##1984 Love Language - Teddy Pendergrass

##1984 Lush Life - Linda Ronstadt

##1984 The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking - Roger Waters

##1985 Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston

##1986 'Round Midnight with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra - Linda Ronstadt

##1986 Double Vision - Bob James

##1986 Every Beat of My Heart - Rod Stewart

##1986 For Sentimental Reasons - Linda Ronstadt

##1986 Innocent Eyes - Graham Nash

##1986 Lives in the Balance - Jackson Browne

##1986 Nine Lives - Bonnie Raitt

##1986 Tutu - Miles Davis

##1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Pink Floyd

##1987 Cancoines de Mi Padre - Linda Ronstadt

##1987 Collaboration - Earl Klugh

##1987 In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs

##1987 I Prefer the Moonlight - Kenny Rogers

##1988 Back to Avalon - Kenny Loggins

##1988 Everything - The Bangles

##1988 Old 8x10 - Randy Travis

##1988 One More Story - Peter Cetera

##1988 Other Roads - Boz Scaggs

##1988 Power - Tower of Power

##1988 See the Light - Jeff Healy

##1988 Slow Turning - John Hiatt

##1988 The Seventh One - Toto

##1988 This Note's for You - Neil Young

##1988 Very Greasy - David Lindley

##1989 Amandla - Miles Davis

##1989 New Pants - Flim & the BB's

##1989 Nick of Time - Bonnie Raitt

##1989 Spellbound - Joe Sample

##1989 World in Motion - Jackson Browne

##1990 Ashes to Ashes - Joe Sample

##1990 Blue Pacific - Michael Franks

##1990 Heroes and Friends - Randy Travis

##1990 Inside Out - Chick Corea Elektric Band

##1990 Neck and Neck - Chet Atkins

##1990 Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band - Ringo Starr

##1990 Some People's Lives - Bette Midler

##1990 That's What - Leo Kottke

##1991 Back Home Again - Kenny Rogers

##1991 Carry On - Patti Austin

##1991 Divinyls - The Divinyls

##1991 For the Boys - Bette Midler

##1991 Great Big Boy - Leo Kottke

##1991 Hard at Play - Huey Lewis & The News

##1991 Leap of Faith - Kenny Loggins

##1991 Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt

##1991 Monster on a Leash - Tower of Power

##1991 Shake Me Up - Little Feat

##1991 The Prince of Tides - James Newton Howard

##1991 Warm Your Heart - Aaron Neville

##1992 Amused to Death - Roger Waters

##1992 Home for Christmas - Amy Grant

##1992 Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett

##1993 Across the Borderline - Willie Nelson

##1993 A Single Woman - Nina Simone

##1993 Breaking Silence - Janis Ian

##1993 Duets - Frank Sinatra

##1993 I'm Alive - Jackson Browne

##1993 Live - James Taylor

##1993 Stepping Out - Diana Krall

##1993 Thousand Roads - David Crosby

##1993 Time for Mercy - Jann Arden

##1993 Traffic from Paradise - Rickie Lee Jones

##1993 Unknown Road - Pennywise

##1993 Unplugged…and Seated - Rod Stewart

##1993 What's Love Got to Do With It - Tina Turner

##1994 A Day in the Sun - Peter Frampton

##1994 After the Storm - Crosby, Stills & Nash

##1994 Cohen Live - Leonard Cohen

##1994 Crimson & Blue - Phil Keaggy

##1994 Have a Little Faith - Joe Cocker

##1994 I Love Everybody - Lyle Lovett

##1994 Peter Frampton - Peter Frampton

##1994 Rhythm of Love - Anita Baker

##1994 This is Me - Randy Travis

##1995 Feels Like Home - Linda Ronstadt

##1995 Only Trust Your Heart - Diana Krall

##1996 In My Lifetime - Neil Diamond

##1996 Jo Dee Messina - Jo Dee Messina

##1996 Peace on Earth - Kitaro

##1996 Signs of Life - Steven Curtis Chapman

##1996 The Road to Ensenada - Lyle Lovett

##1997 1+1 - Herbie Hancock

##1997 Across from Midnight - Joe Cocker

##1997 American Landscape - David Benoit

##1997 Artist of My Soul - Sandi Patty

##1997 Everywhere - Tim McGraw

##1997 Love Among the Ruins - 10,000 Maniacs

##1997 Love Scenes - Diana Krall

##1997 Message for Albert - Five for Fighting

##1997 So Long So Wrong - Alison Krauss & Union Station

##1998 Faith - Faith Hill

##1998 Gaia - Kitaro

##1998 Hell Among the Yearlings - Gillian Welch

##1998 I'm Alright - Jo Dee Messina

##1998 Sittin' On Top of the World - LeAnn Rimes

##1998 Trio II - Emmylou Harris

##1999 Breathe - Faith Hill

##1999 Forget About It - Alison Krauss

##1999 One Guitar, No Vocals - Leo Kottke

##1999 The Grass is Blue - Dolly Parton

##1999 The Song Lives On - Lalah Hathaway

##1999 The Whole SHeBANG - SHeDAISY

##1999 Tight Rope - Brooks & Dunn

##1999 Twenty Four Seven - Tina Turner

##2000 In the Flesh Live - Roger Waters

##2000 Live at Yoshi's - Dee Dee Bridgewater

##2000 More Songs from Pooh Corner - Kenny Loggins

##2000 Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek

##2001 Big Wide Grin - Keb' Mo'

##2001 Love, Shelby - Shelby Lynne

##2001 Outside Inside - The String Cheese Incident

##2001 Set This Circus Down - Tim McGraw

##2001 This Way - Jewel

##2001 Trouble in Shangri-La - Stevie Nicks

##2002 Alice - Tom Waits

##2002 At The Movies - Sting

##2002 Cry - Faith Hill

##2002 Home - Dixie Chicks

##2002 Songs for Survivors - Graham Nash

##2002 This is New - Dee Dee Bridgewater

##2003 A Thousand Kisses Deep - Chris Botti

##2003 Live - Bela Fleck

##2003 Smile - Lyle Lovett

##2004 Crosby & Nash - Graham Nash

##2004 Genius Loves Company - Ray Charles

##2004 Heart & Soul - Joe Cocker

##2004 The Chronicles of Life and Death - Good Charlotte

##2005 Hillbilly Deluxe - Brooks & Dunn

##2005 Hope and Desire - Susan Tedeschi

##2005 Jagged Little Pill Acoustic - Alanis Morissette

##2005 Jann Arden - Jann Arden

##2005 Overtime - Lee Ritenour

##2005 The Great American Songbook - Rod Stewart

##2006 Like Red on a Rose - Alan Jackson

##2006 Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing - Keith Urban

##2007 Dirt Farmer - Levon Helm

##2008 Solo Acoustic, Vol 1&2 - Jackson Browne

##2008 Still Unforgettable - Natalie Cole

##2009 Anything Goes - Herb Alpert

##2009 Breakthrough - Colbie Caillat

##2009 Electric Dirt - Levon Helm

##2009 Free - Jann Arden

##2009 Love is the Answer - Barbra Streisand

##2010 Live at the Troubadour - Carole King

##2010 Songs from the Road - Leonard Cohen

##2011 Midnight Sun - Dee Dee Bridgewater

##2012 Kisses on the Bottom - Paul McCartney

##2013 Back to Brooklyn - Barbra Streisand

##2014 Live in Dublin - Leonard Cohen

##2014 Croz - David Crosby

##2015 Shadows in the Night - Bob Dylan

[minermark]

RIP Buddy

Bigger problem is very few of the kiddies these days will EVER have this kind of skill.

78 is a good run, and his talent/gifts will be around for awile.

[OO1]

yep - he worked on tons of recordings - RIP Doug Sax , thanks for the music

[Travis In Austin]

So very, very sad. One of the big three mastering engineers who made mastering its own seperate art form to a level where studios/labels didn't even try to do it in house any longer. Famous for that all tube signal path designed and built by his brother Sherwood.

There is a great deal about him in Holzman's book about his Elektra Records.

Rest In Peace Mr. Sax.

[Travis In Austin]

Doug Sax interview

Mastering Engineer

Doug Sax

If ever there was a title of “Godfather of Mastering,” Doug Sax has truly earned it as evidenced by the extremely high regard that the industry holds him in. One of the first independent mastering engineers, Doug literally defined the art when he opened his world famous The Mastering Lab in Hollywood in 1967. The Lab has since moved to the quiet peace and beauty of Ojai, California, but the magic that has drawn such major diverse talents as The Who, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Diana Krall, Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Earth, Wind and Fire, Rod Stewart, Jackson Browne, and many, many more, continues to draw.

Do you have a philosophy about mastering?

Doug Sax: Yes. If it needs nothing, don’t do anything. I think that you’re not doing a service by adding something it doesn’t need. I don’t make the stew, I season it. If the stew needs no seasoning, then that’s what you have to do, because if you add salt when it doesn’t need any, you’ve ruined it. I try to maintain what the engineer did. A lot of times they’re not really in the ballpark due to their monitoring, so I EQ for clarity more than anything.

When you first run something down, can you hear the final product in your head?

Oh yes, virtually instantly, because for the most part I’m working with music that I know what it’s supposed to sound like. Once in a while I’ll get an album that’s so strange to me because of either the music or what the engineer did, that I have no idea what it’s supposed to sound like and I often will pass on it. I’ll say, “I just don’t hear this. Maybe you should go somewhere where they’re glued into what you’re doing.”

For the most part, I’m fortunate to usually work on things that sound pretty good. I work on most of the recordings from great engineers like Bill Schnee, George Massenburg, Ed Cherney and Al Schmitt. These are clients that I’m the one they go to if they have a say in where it’s mastered. Every room has its claim to fame and mine is that I work on more albums nominated for engineering Grammy’s than any other room, and probably by a factor of three or four to the next closest room.

How has mastering changed over the years from the time you started until the way it is now?

My answer is maybe different than everyone else’s. It hasn’t changed at all! In other words, what you’re doing is finessing what an engineer and artist has created into its best possible form. If an engineer says, “I don’t know what it is, but the vocal always seems to be a little cloudy,” I can go in there and keep his mix the same yet still make the vocal clearer. That’s what I did in 1968 and that’s what I still do. The process is the same and the goal is the same. I don’t master differently for different formats because you essentially make it sound as proper as you can, and then you transfer it to the final medium using the best equipment

One of the things that has changed recently is that every client that comes in wants vinyl again. Almost nothing comes into the Lab that doesn’t do vinyl anymore. For one thing, it doesn’t cost that much. For another $1500 you can be doing vinyl, and you’re in a young market as the people buying these turntables are 18 to 25, and that’s proven. If you want to get your album to people that are really listening to the music, that’s the way. It’s also where the people that are going to buy hi-res downloads are coming from as well.

Right now we’re mastering a Jackson Browne album and making a CD master, MFIT master, 96k master, 192k master, DSD master and vinyl. That’s 6 different formats. Three years ago we made a CD master and that was it. That’s becoming more and more routine.

I think this is all an offshoot from the phonograph record in the home. The fact that someone has to make a commitment to listening to a record and won’t be listening on earbuds but real loudspeakers is a revolution right there.

Is it true that you were the first independent mastering engineer?

Absolutely. Independent has to be clarified because if you go back to the late ‘60s and before, everything was done in-house. You were signed to a label, you were given an A&R man, and you stayed within the label. If you recorded at Capitol, then you went down to Capitol’s mastering to get your product cut to lacquer. You went to Capitol’s art department and they gave you the artist that designed your cover, and that’s the way it was.

It was really at the end of the ‘60s that certain top producers would say, “I love the security, but I would like to work with an artist that’s not on this label. I would like to work with Streisand, but she’s on Columbia.” So they started to break off from the label and really started the process where nobody is tied to one any more. The cry became, “If you sign me, I’ll use the engineer I want and I’ll record and master where I want.” That’s 40 years of hard fought independence, so from the standpoint of an independent that is not aligned with a label, just a specialty room that handles mastering, the answer is yes.

I was one of the pioneers when there was no independent business. We opened up our doors in December 27 of 1967 and by ’71 or ’72, you couldn’t get into the place because we were so busy. By ’72 we were doing 20 percent of the top 100 chart and there weren’t a lot of competitors. There was Artisan in LA, and Sterling and maybe Master Disk just starting in New York, and that was it. Now there seems to be a thousand because the reality is that it’s very easy for someone to go into this business now, or for the artist or engineer do it yourself. You can get a workstation with all the bells and whistles for a song and a dance. A Neumann lathe setup in 1972 was $75,000, and that was just the cutting system; you still needed a room and a console, so you had to have a big budget, and there was only a few people doing it as a result. Now you fire it right up.

And don’t forget that in the industry for almost ten years there were no tones on an analog tape, so you didn’t know how to line up to the machine.

There were no tones?

No tones. I’m one of the instigators in railing on these guys to go back and print the tones so I could at least set my machine to where your machine was. There was no such thing as nearfield monitoring either. It didn’t exist. People used to go to these strange studios with big speakers in the wall, most of which were useless as far as relating to the real world, and the engineers never knew that they were out in left field because they had nothing to take home. The cassette was just starting and only a handful of engineers that I can think of actually had a 15 ips (inches per second) tape machine at home that they could take home a mix and find out where they were.

I started the process in the early ‘70s just in self-defense. I would say, “Look, before you do anything, come in with your first mix on-the-house and find out if you’re in trouble. We’ll listen to it and get you straight.” I just got tired of watching these guy’s eyes open the first time they ever heard their mixes outside of the studio. “Oh, my God. I couldn’t hear any highs in the studio so I kept adding highs.” That absolute horrendous reality is really the reason why nearfields came in.

[Travis In Austin]

Doug Sax with four lathes

[billybob]

Rest in Peace!

[DizRotus]

RIP

I'll spin some Sax masters later today in his honor.

 

FYI:

 

Genius Loves Company, by Ray Charles, the 2004 Grammy winner for Doug Sax, is downloading from Pono Music Store as I type.  HDTracks version is $24.98; Pono's is $17.99, both are 192/44.

Edited April 4, 2015 by DizRotus