Mastering at Fantasy Studios in Berkley, CA

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 11:28 pm

Any feedback on the mastering done at this studio? I'm searching for a mastering house in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Thanks

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2002 4:57 am

...

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 9:32 am

I'm not familiar with the place. Are they new?

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 11:30 am

No they're not new.

Santans's "Supernatural" was recorded there, also Green Day "Dookie" was done there too. There is a ton of history at that studio, I just haven't heard the mastering work.

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 11:36 am

....

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 3:26 pm

Fantasy Mastering has been around for a long time. I think the chief guy there is George Horn. Maybe do a search on Allmusic.com and see what comes up.

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:38 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by McSnare:
Fantasy Mastering has been around for a long time. I think the chief guy there is George Horn. Maybe do a search on Allmusic.com and see what comes up.

I've heard good reports about George's mastering work. Some others in the Bay Area to check out would be John Cuniberti at The Plant Mastering in Sausalito and Michael Romanowski, formerly of Rocket Labs but now independent. Bob Olssohn recently moved from the Bay Area to Nashville, but he might dial in that "Bay Area sound" if you ask real nice. Smile

Best,
JL

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 4:06 pm

It depends on what you need. Here's some biographical info. about the three most experienced mastering engineers in the Bay Area. You wouldn't go wrong with any of them.

George Horn is the most experienced. He learned at CBS Records, worked at Kendun in LA for several years and then returned to the Bay Area when Fantasy opened their facility. This is a typical first class label-owned facility and George has probably mastered more hit records than anybody else in town.

(510) 549-2500

George taught Paul Stubblebine at CBS and Paul held down the CBS facility after David Rubinson took over the studio. Paul is internationally renowned for audiophile recordings as well as indi acoustic albums. He was the first in the country to do HDCD mastering. Paul built (but did not own) the now defunct Rocket Labs. He currently works out of the former Wally Heiders' Studio C in San Francisco. If you want exotic analog gear or a 1" two-track, Paul's your man.

(415) 469-0123

Ken Lee learned at Sonic Arts and moved on to do superb work at Mobile Fidelity and Rocket before going on his own. When I left Ken seemed to be the busiest mastering engineer in town with many very satisfied clients across all genres.

(510) 428-9276

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 8:03 pm

Gary Cirimelli recently contacted us about mastering. Talked to him last week. He's a real nice guy. His latest work as you may know was Neal Schon's Grammy-nominated album which Gary produced/mixed/mastered.

This topic sponsored by: