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Post by Brick Wall on May 23, 2022 1:18:48 GMT
So let's get down to the actual nitty gritty. Let's do the do about what really matters about Steve Hoffman. Outside of all his horseshit about impossible lunches, imaginary friends and meetings, tall tales of his bullshit youthful adventures and all that other crap all of us have seen through for decades, let's examine his essence. That being, of course, his remasterbations. His raison d'être, as t'wer. Note: this may be good or bad, depending upon your perception. Feel free. I will start with some bad shit. Both releases suffer from severe overload of proprietary bass, plus some nasty mid-bass boost which makes these albums sound severely bloated.
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (DCC GZS-1025)
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (DCC GZS-1035)
In the interest of fairness, I will also submit that the Hooofman's fairy dust worked really well on:
Doors - S/T (DCC GZS 1023)
Ray Charles - Ingredients for a Recipe for Soul (DCC-GZS-1027)
Over to you.
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Post by hoffa_nagila on May 23, 2022 1:58:45 GMT
Fill out your equipment profile before commenting on sound quality.
I won't comment on sound quality but I will briefly mention the Leon Russell album. There are multiple versions and the earlier ones don't even feature the correct mixes for some songs. The Gold edition corrects this although I believe some pre-song chatter is left on that wasn't on the original album. (Also Masters Of War is not the original mix that appeared on some vinyl editions, although that mix appears on the earlier DCC). A few other comps he was involved with featured some alternate mixes, some labelled as such and others not. But he did the Delta Lady CD (on Del Rack) which contains all remixes, and they are the best kind of remixes. Buried elements are brought to the fore, unused elements are reintroduced, other things are removed. I wish this mentality was more prominent with remixing instead of "trying to keep it the same but more modern" which often leads to results that are either better or worse than the original rather than creating something totally new and different. I'll give him some points for that.
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Post by braindead on May 23, 2022 12:53:03 GMT
"got my copy of the new Audio Fidelity 24k gold CD of The Pretenders first album yesterday, "remastered" by Steve Hoffman.
What an absolute trainwreck!
Two songs, maybe three are missing overdubs. Another, stop Your Sobbing, is at the wrong speed!
To make it worse, limiting has been applied and this sucker is loud.
Can it get any worse for Audio Fidelity and Hoffman? You would think that Hoffman would at least listen to an earlier CD or LP of a title he is remastering, and if not, that someone at Audio Fidelity would do some basic QC?
Adding to the now lengthy list of AF fiascos, from Morrison Hotel (digital noise), Soft Parade (compression), The Band (copy tape used) and Deep Purple In Rock (digital clicking on the first track), you's gotta wonder what's going on there, and if they can get their act together.
A waste of $25 on this thing, gang, so if you're thinking of getting it, think again."
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Post by braindead on May 23, 2022 12:59:26 GMT
Muzyck said: ↑
I'll be interested in knowing if The Phone call has the "flown in sound effects". Are they on the master, or not? In any case, I have this on order.
This album. Geez. Good luck.
No, they are not on the master tape. They would have to be flown in from the EQ'd and limited production dub.
Steve Hoffman, Nov 15, 2014#58
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Post by Chicken in Black on May 23, 2022 14:32:25 GMT
This one is special as Audio Fidelity had a later go at it and documented what they had used on Facebook. Each sentence there sounds (rightly so) like a "Fuck you, Steve!" |
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Post by sₚⲁᵣₖydₒg on May 24, 2022 1:26:39 GMT
This one is special as Audio Fidelity had a later go at it and documented what they had used on Facebook. Each sentence there sounds (rightly so) like a "Fuck you, Steve!" Your post only added more confusion, CiB. From what you said it sounds like Audio Fidelity re-reissued it later in some corrected form. MoFi actually did the later release. Unless I'm totally confused too. Your quotes above originally ended with "With great respect and appreciation for your support, Rob LoVerde Mastering Engineer Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab"  |
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Post by Chicken in Black on May 24, 2022 1:55:01 GMT
Sorry, I mixed up MoFi and Audio Fidelity. That was of course Mobile Fidelity, the more reputable label, that documented how they handled the tapes. And LoVerde, without ever naming Steve, must have taken some glee from just stating a few facts that highlight how sloppy Steve was with that particular release he had supposedly overseen.
We actually talked about that particular release on a different thread. When people started to listen to the CD, they discovered glaring mistake after glaring mistake. Steve would address them by blaming them on some anonymous guy who had screwed it up at some point after he had applied his usual “magic” on the tapes until he was out of excuses and called the release “FUBAR”, which allowed him to leave the conversation without any further explanation. After that, the thread got a lot of messages removed, including his.
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Post by ledzeppelin2rl on May 24, 2022 2:31:45 GMT
The original Pretenders CD, the Rhino remaster and MFSL had no problem with the telephone sound effects, but Audio Fidelity did. Incredibly sloppy work for a supposedly audiophile label and brickwalled also. Audio Fidelity had a laundry list of reissues with problems. If any other label name were on those the SHites would still be howling over it. They would have said they should have let Hoffman reissue those. I believe The Cars Heartbeat City was another botch job also. Doors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a few others were defective also.
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UDII
Cynthia
Posts: 1,331 
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Post by UDII on May 24, 2022 3:43:16 GMT
Sorry, I mixed up MoFi and Audio Fidelity. That was of course Mobile Fidelity, the more reputable label, that documented how they handled the tapes. And LoVerde, without ever naming Steve, must have taken some glee from just stating a few facts that highlight how sloppy Steve was with that particular release he had supposedly overseen. We actually talked about that particular release on a different thread. When people started to listen to the CD, they discovered glaring mistake after glaring mistake. Steve would address them by blaming them on some anonymous guy who had screwed it up at some point after he had applied his usual “magic” on the tapes until he was out of excuses and called the release “FUBAR”, which allowed him to leave the conversation without any further explanation. After that, the thread got a lot of messages removed, including his. He threw Robert Vosgien under the bus, it was all his fault. |
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Post by sₚⲁᵣₖydₒg on May 24, 2022 4:29:53 GMT
Sorry, I mixed up MoFi and Audio Fidelity. That was of course Mobile Fidelity, the more reputable label, that documented how they handled the tapes. Thanks for clarifying that. I could have phrased my response a little nicer, sorry. Also I don't recall MoFi's guys ever having to reach out to strangers on the internet begging for a place where they could remaster some Bread or cha-cha album or whatever. |
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Post by Brick Wall on May 24, 2022 21:54:47 GMT
Daddy's string of major fuck ups started coincidentally right around the time Kevin Gray threw Hoffman's ass out of his (Gray's) AcousTech studio. This would indicate that while babysitting Hoffman Gray also kept an eye on the proceedings.
I am assuming it was Marsha at Audio Fidelity who found Daddy a new "home" at Stephen Marsh mastering. How hapless Hoffman was, was evidenced by his open request for help with a corresponding thread at SH.tv.
There was a not insignificant difference in the new constellation. There was no longer a decades long friendship at its core. Hoffman and Gray had known each other since their time together way back to when they were both employed at MCA.
No doubt Stephen Marsh was not offering his studio time for free; Audio Fidelity was paying the bill. And it is my personal belief that Stephen Marsh had zero interest in anything beyond the basic use of his studio. Was he going to proof test pressings? Reexamine and approve/disapprove mastering? I don't think so.
So Steve Hoffman was basically on his own. And the real, severely limited, if not downright pathetic limits of Daddy's true "skills" reared their ugly heads. My take on the self-absorbed, preening, narcissistic flim-flam "artist" hiding behind the curtain.
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Post by Brick Wall on Mar 30, 2023 23:00:16 GMT
Ooops. MFSL done did again reveal the damage STEVE HOFFMAN can do to a remasterbation. The new remaster of Hotel California by Shawn Britton once again exposed the Hoffman standard over-cooked bass blooming into the midrange and smearing of the overall presentation (yes, yes, I know it's an Iggles album). Britton's disk disc showcases an organic whole versus the standard in-your-face Hoofman EQ (exhibit A which would be the Hoofman mangling of the DCC Pet Sounds). But the good news is that the DCC Hotel California seems to be going for big bucks. My copy is in the for sale pile.
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Post by streamingservice on Apr 2, 2023 21:40:05 GMT
Do people over there seriously think he's a mastering god or do they just say it to get on his good side since he owns the forum? The nut riding for a guy who really hasn't done much is unreal. I've listened to some of his stuff and I'm seriously not impressed, the only good one I've heard was DCC L.A woman, the rest of his shit just sounds muddled and bassy with total focus on the mids and no care about anything else. Also that prick swears he's never compressed anything in his life but I'm not buying it, some of those DCC releases are clearly compressed.
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Chungus
Sir Ringo
High time we had a definitive Who CD pressings thread
Posts: 659
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Post by Chungus on Apr 3, 2023 18:31:07 GMT
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