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Post by larpy on Aug 27, 2024 3:40:22 GMT
The previous incarnation of this website (now lost to a server meltdown) had a more complete history of STeve's history but, as best I can remember, the Hoffmeister was hired by Marshall Blonstein to "master" DCC CDs in the early 1990s after STeve was fired from MCA. At the time, DCC was a bottom-feeding MoFi imitator. STeve got sole credit for mastering the digital releases because, despite his lack of mastering experience, Blonstein apparently didn't give a damn. As STeve admitted on his forum, he mastered those discs at home using a DAT machine (DCC was not exactly a spare-no-expense operation). But when it came to mastering vinyl (which MoFi still did, so DCC did as well), STeve didn't have the required skills, so Kevin Gray (a mastering engineer who worked at MCA when STeve worked there as a compiler) was recruited to actually run the lathe. It would appear that STeve was not so much a mastering engineer as an "EQ consultant."
As far as I know, Gray has never talked about his time spent as STeve's beard, but in the late 2000s he abruptly stopped working with der Hoffmeister. STeve never explained why (that I ever saw), but the conclusion many of us came to was that Gray's association with STeve had become a liability. Gray went on to public (well, audiophile) acclaim as a mastering engineer for Analogue Productions. But, since his foreshortened stint with MCA, STeve doesn't seem to have worked for anyone other than Marshall Blonstein, who started Audio Fidelity after DCC went belly up. Without Kevin Gray, STEve flailed about until he found Stephen Marsh to take his place, but once Blonstein closed down Audio Fidelity and the money stopped, Marsh stopped working with STEve. As far as I know, STeve hasn't "mastered" anything since.
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Post by Chicken in Black on Aug 27, 2024 8:55:32 GMT
Marsha gave interviews where he stated that Hoofy was the equivalent of a rock star, as he had the ability to talk about the albums and the tapes in an evocative way, contributing a lot to the promotion of the new releases by DCC. Hoofy came up with the “breath of life” gimmick for instance and put the company on the map while it didn’t have the resources otherwise to compete with Mobile Fidelity. Don’t forget that the address for Audio Fidelity was a P.O. Box at a mall.
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Post by Boozin' Susan on Aug 27, 2024 14:29:44 GMT
Marsha gave interviews where he stated that Hoofy was the equivalent of a rock star, as he had the ability to talk about the albums and the tapes in an evocative way, contributing a lot to the promotion of the new releases by DCC. Hoofy came up with the “breath of life” gimmick for instance and put the company on the map while it didn’t have the resources otherwise to compete with Mobile Fidelity. Don’t forget that the address for Audio Fidelity was a P.O. Box at a strip mall. C’mon now, don’t forget the word that truly elevated the legend of AF into the stratosphere! |
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Post by Los Narcosatanicos on Aug 29, 2024 19:09:11 GMT
The previous incarnation of this website (now lost to a server meltdown) had a more complete history of STeve's history but, as best I can remember, the Hoffmeister was hired by Marshall Blonstein to "master" DCC CDs in the early 1990s after STeve was fired from MCA. At the time, DCC was a bottom-feeding MoFi imitator. STeve got sole credit for mastering the digital releases because, despite his lack of mastering experience, Blonstein apparently didn't give a damn. As STeve admitted on his forum, he mastered those discs at home using a DAT machine (DCC was not exactly a spare-no-expense operation). But when it came to mastering vinyl (which MoFi still did, so DCC did as well), STeve didn't have the required skills, so Kevin Gray (a mastering engineer who worked at MCA when STeve worked there as a compiler) was recruited to actually run the lathe. It would appear that STeve was not so much a mastering engineer as an "EQ consultant." As far as I know, Gray has never talked about his time spent as STeve's beard, but in the late 2000s he abruptly stopped working with der Hoffmeister. STeve never explained why (that I ever saw), but the conclusion many of us came to was that Gray's association with STeve had become a liability. Gray went on to public (well, audiophile) acclaim as a mastering engineer for Analogue Productions. But, since his foreshortened stint with MCA, STeve doesn't seem to have worked for anyone other than Marshall Blonstein, who started Audio Fidelity after DCC went belly up. Without Kevin Gray, STEve flailed about until he found Stephen Marsh to take his place, but once Blonstein closed down Audio Fidelity and the money stopped, Marsh stopped working with STEve. As far as I know, STeve hasn't "mastered" anything since. From what I can find on ProQuest, the media clippings match up to Steve's claim that he started with DCC in 1987. Quickly, you can find articles crediting him with mastering their Ray Charles reissues (alongside Ray Charles himself, allegedly). In 1995, the Hartford Courant said that Gray was "second engineer" on one of the Ray Charles reissues, whatever that means, but that it was mastered all analog by Steve and Ray. OK...? Something I'd missed before: In the 2000 LA Weekly article that touts him as the remastering GOAT, though ProQuest doesn't have a scan, just the text, it does have the photo captions. One of them is "Kevin Gray, mastering engineer and vinyl specialist for Future Disc Systems, checks on the manufacture of a new vinyl LP of Joni Mitchell's 'Blue' album for DDC." The text of the article describes Steve as handling that mastering. Without the photo, I have no idea what "checking on the manufacture of a new vinyl LP" means, but it jumped out at me. |
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Post by larpy on Aug 30, 2024 2:09:30 GMT
Early on, the DCC LPs listed StEve as "mastering engineer" and Kevin Gray as "second engineer." STeve always liked seeing his name come first and capitalized. It was only later (mid '90s or so) that the covers of the DCC LPs credited the mastering to both of them equally (though Steve's name came first, naturally).
But as I recall, the dead wax on every DCC LP I've seen reads "SH + KG" or "KG + SH." Gray was the one who actually worked the lathe and did the inscribing.
Everything I've read (and, sadly, I was a shit-for-brains member of his forum for a number of misbegotten years, so I've read more than any sane person should ever be forced to) indicates Hoffman is a mere knob twiddler. No more and no less. His idea of "mastering" is to turn on the reel to reel (or CD player), add 6 dBs at 60Hz, remove 6dBs at 6KHz, and press "record" on the DAT machine.
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Post by Los Narcosatanicos on Aug 30, 2024 2:17:50 GMT
So...here's an interesting wrinkle to add to that. I happened to be reading Michael Fremer's review of one of the Analogue Productions versions of Pet Sounds because I was trying to remember which other versions he recommended: www.analogplanet.com/content/pet-sounds-analogue-productionsIn going over which other pressings he compared it to, he referred to the DCC version as "The DCC Compact Classics reissue mastered by Steve Hoffman (cut by Kevin Gray) and the Capitol reissue of a few years ago." Uh...what? These days, something like that is pretty common, like with the latter day Bob Ludwig vinyl after he stopped cutting lacquers himself. A respected veteran mastering engineer that doesn't cut vinyl anymore masters a digital file, and then someone who still cuts lacquers runs it to the lathe. But...the DCC Pet Sounds vinyl was an all-analog release that came out in 1995. Is there any way to read this other than "Steve made some EQ suggestions and Kevin did literally everything else?" or am I missing something? I don't remember seeing Fremer openly alluding to the true Hoffman story before. |
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bradman
Better than Steve
Posts: 5,323
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Post by bradman on Aug 30, 2024 16:51:31 GMT
Hoffman can barely play a record, much less cut one.
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Post by larpy on Aug 31, 2024 5:25:25 GMT
Fremer is the Steve Hoffman of audio "journalism": just as self-important, arrogant, and thin-skinned as the pube-collecting knob twirler. Higher profile though, which must piss STeve off. But even Fremer has implied here and there that he knows STeve is a con artist. Were he actually a journalist and not the industry shill that he is, he'd write more honestly about it. But that wouldn't be good for the industry, so he doesn't.
But, yeah, Fremer has mentioned more than once that Gray actually cut the records STeve "mastered."
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Post by hoffa_nagila on Aug 31, 2024 13:10:37 GMT
Fremer is the Steve Hoffman of audio "journalism": just as self-important, arrogant, and thin-skinned as the pube-collecting knob twirler. Higher profile though, which must piss STeve off. But even Fremer has implied here and there that he knows STeve is a con artist. Were he actually a journalist and not the industry shill that he is, he'd write more honestly about it. But that wouldn't be good for the industry, so he doesn't. But, yeah, Fremer has mentioned more than once that Gray actually cut the records STeve "mastered." I'd love to see Fremer vs Hoofman. Oiled up on the mat. |
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Post by aaa-appreciator on Aug 31, 2024 16:50:50 GMT
Fremer is the Steve Hoffman of audio "journalism": just as self-important, arrogant, and thin-skinned as the pube-collecting knob twirler. Higher profile though, which must piss STeve off. But even Fremer has implied here and there that he knows STeve is a con artist. Were he actually a journalist and not the industry shill that he is, he'd write more honestly about it. But that wouldn't be good for the industry, so he doesn't. But, yeah, Fremer has mentioned more than once that Gray actually cut the records STeve "mastered." I'd love to see Fremer vs Hoofman. Oiled up on the mat. Now there’s an image. |
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Post by ledzeppelin2rl on Aug 31, 2024 17:15:13 GMT
Fremer did call SHTV a bunch of "wankers". I'll give a like to that comment.
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Post by aaa-appreciator on Aug 31, 2024 17:17:14 GMT
Fremer did call SHTV a bunch of "wankers". I'll give a like to that comment. Yeah, but 9/10 yanks don’t understand what wanker means so use it too lightly. |
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Post by Los Narcosatanicos on Sept 1, 2024 2:13:41 GMT
Fremer is the Steve Hoffman of audio "journalism": just as self-important, arrogant, and thin-skinned as the pube-collecting knob twirler. Higher profile though, which must piss STeve off. But even Fremer has implied here and there that he knows STeve is a con artist. Were he actually a journalist and not the industry shill that he is, he'd write more honestly about it. But that wouldn't be good for the industry, so he doesn't. But, yeah, Fremer has mentioned more than once that Gray actually cut the records STeve "mastered." Fremer is a character and a hothead, and yes, it's weird how he acts like a serious journalist when he's pretty much always been a record and equipment reviewer (which there's nothing wrong with in and of itself!). And I've side-eyed him more lately because I caught the video from a few years ago where he was slavishly defending Electric Recording Company and the lacquer grifters from very legitimate criticisms by Mike Esposito (who he had cryptically accused of not liking ERC because they wouldn't wholesale to him?!?!?). But there are things I like about him, most notably that unlike a lot of old-head audiophiles, he seems like he genuinely has a passion for directing people — especially younger people — towards good-sounding relatively inexpensive gear. It shouldn't be rare, but it kind of is, and I appreciate that about him. But...yes, he's eccentric at best and way too deep into the audiophile ecosystem. I decided to search his old website for references to Steve Hoffman, and while I do not have the time to read a long interview from 20 years ago right now, I did catch this: www.analogplanet.com/content/crafts-unobtainable-lush-life-small-batch-one-step"I don’t have an original pressing, nor do I have the OJC or either Analogue Productions reissues cut by Kevin Gray, one at 33 1/3 and one at 45rpm, but I do have the 1997 DCC Compact Classics version. Though it says 'mastered by Steve Hoffman,' we know that Steve does not cut lacquers and that many records for which he receives mastering credit were cut by Kevin Gray. This one doesn’t have Kevin’s usual initials used back then but instead has an “SR”, which I’m assuming means Stan Ricker cut it." From what I read in the intro to the 2004 interview, it doesn't seem like he always knew this, though? |
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Post by huffyhoffy on Sept 1, 2024 3:24:07 GMT
Fremer is such a putz. I'm constantly trolling him in the comments section of his YouTube videos and he never fails to take the bait.
When he keels over, I hope his wife sells his record collection for $1 each at a garage sale, since the asshole was laughing about a woman doing that with her recently deceased husband's collection, in one of his videos. Fremer got a bunch of valuable records for $1 each because the guy's wife didn't know any better, and Fremer thought it was hilarious. What a prick.
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Post by Chicken in Black on Sept 1, 2024 17:35:38 GMT
There could be some hot stampers in the bunch.
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