Bernie Grundman on Mastering and Cutting Vinyl | Red Bull Music Academy

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From an early age, Bernie Grundman knew he wanted to make sound his life. He followed this early interest throughout his time in school and the Air Force and on to Hollywood, where he became head of mastering at A&M Records in 1968. Grundman’s work at A&M helped result in hundreds of platinum and gold recordings, including Carole King’s Tapestry, Steely Dan’s Aja and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In 1984, Grundman established his own studio in Hollywood, where he has continued to turn most of what he touches to gold, including Prince’s Purple Rain and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic.
In this Studio Science episode, recorded at Grundman's studio as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles, the noted engineer discussed his sonic philosophy and put it all in context by mastering and cutting to vinyl a track by local artist Sweatson Klank.
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#BernieGrundman #CuttingVinyl #RedBullMusicAcademy
__________________________
TOPICS:
1:15 - Mastering philosophy
07:09 - Mastering set-up and process
11:51 - Monitoring and mixing
14:44 - Pre-master recommendations
18:48 - Cutting vinyl
25:41 - The importance of not being prejudiced
For more RBMA Studio Science episodes, head here: daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/...
The Red Bull Music Academy is a global music institution committed to fostering creativity in music. We celebrate music, its culture, and the transformative minds behind it. Begun in 1998, the Academy has taken the core principles that underlie its annual workshop for selected participants and applied this curatorial approach to events, lectures, and city-wide festivals throughout the year.
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[@cheynemcnab6540]

When you see “BG” in the dead wax you know you’re getting that primo sound

[@Gamer420life]

Damn I actually see that quite a bit. Ima look for jt more now

[@Deluxeta]

Same with CB (from the same studio), Matt, Bazza, Stu, Miles, and a whole lot of others.

[@michaelhorgan9525]

"KPG" (Kevin Gray) is also a great engineer.

[@bagley232]

I have seen Mr. Grundman's name on countless Albums. appreciate his contributions to the industry

[@landryprichard6778]

I loved hearing him distinguish the difference between an artists' opinion of their own music and how it will sound on someone else's sound system.

[@shadowmixx]

I wonder if the people in that room really understood and appreciated the magnitude of greatness that stood before them sharing his wisdom and years of knowledge. I remember as a kid coming up before the 'digital'age and the 'loudness' wars; I would read credits on albums and the name that kept re-occuring on most every record was "Mastered by "Big Bass"Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering". As I grew to truly learned what mastering was and I looked up these guys; that's when I relized that these legends were only a heartbeat away. #Salute to the "Masters" of mastering. Peace

[@DanJWilcox]

Dude Hudson Mohawke is there. I think he knows his stuff - the last tnght record was blessed by Grundman lol.

[@JRoth1970]

I am a huge soundtrack-score fan and so I "know" Mr. Grundman...after more than twenty five years I bought a new vinyl: John Williams - Star Wars The Last Jedi. What a great vinyl it is. I totaly forgot how good Vinyl can be. The CD of this score is outstandnig, but the vinyl is also. Mastered by Patricia Sullivan who works for Grundman many years. So this combination: John Williams, Recording-Engineer Shawn Murphy and Mastering-Engineer Patricia Sullivan...that's the dream of every soundtrack-fan. I own many recordings where the name Bernie Grundman is on it. Legend. So realy nice to see a new video of him and his important work. One thing I realy like and appreciate: "...you sit down and listen to the music..." in those buisy days it's a rare but important thing: get time to listen music and relax!!!

[@AnalogSoundsystemInternational]

Bernie I hope you are reading this, You are one of a kind, and Ive always admired your work in the art of mastering. I really hope you have taught many people this prestigious artform. I have always admired how spot on you are when the source recording (tape or digital) sounds exactly like your Mastering cuts.

[@joesosa41]

He has mastered so many of my favorite vinyl presses and represses and his name precedes him.

[@TheNadasvada]

BG, my man! A legend in the business of mastering for vinyl. Certainly a mark of quality.

[@danender5555]

Incredible, how that girl in studio is watching her phone rather than listening to one of the greatest mastering engineers.

[@Freedom4Ever420]

The mastering engineer was very sexist and transphobic to assume girls know about nail polish

[@weifanhuang9038]

I watched the entire video, and the woman didn't pick up her phone until the last two minutes. What's wrong with you?

[@youngalexander3166]

This was highly informative, and those last couple minutes are enlightening. Thank You!

[@senyamalikin3056]

The whole thing was interesting but the last couple of minutes were priceless

[@nunyabiz2016]

That perspective on music, so wise

[@joshuajones9482]

I find this to be the best example on KZbin of a Quality recording room. Whenever you can clearly hear someone talking on a video with loud music playing at the same time without distraction from the music while focusing on his voice says a lot about the room, which is the most important part in hifi.

[@Nephilim-81]

I’m amazed at how we’re still in 2020 and a lot of people just don’t get it that crushing your mixes doesn’t sound good at all. A ton of modern music sounds pretty bad today with all the digital processing and peak limiting of waveforms. Bernie Grundman preserves dynamics and doesn’t cater to the loudness wars and that is why I love the guy. All one has to do is listen to Supertramp’s live in Paris (1978) on Cd 💿 and take note. ;)

[@ralex3697]

A genius and humble man

[@najinelson6742]

Thanks to Bernie Grundman especially for having mastered Prince's awesome early albums before Purple Rain and his masterpiece Sign 'o' the times

[@davids840]

My favorite olschool piece of gear in this studio definitely is that phone on the wall, classic sound

[@somndahma9581]

I loved watching this, thanks for sharing! I will DL it to share with my friends. I would love to ask so many questions regarding monitoring and room physics for mastering studios...

[@DanJWilcox]

Love HudMo chilling in back, taking in all the genius from Bernie. He definitley connected with him after - his mastering on TNGHT II was fantastic especially on the vinyl pressing!

[@Eddsucks]

Pew pi pew pew pepepepew

[@alainvincent1309]

This Is Gold.

[@williamkinsey4979]

Bernie your a genuis. What you unearthed on those new pink floyd vinyl releases is nothing less than a revelation!

[@bubz75]

Mastered MJ’s Thriller. #THE DON!

[@techslfink9722]

I've known his name and - what's more - his work for decades. Great to her the story of the master himself!

[@Goodtradition]

Enjoyed this very much. Thanks

[@cstarcrusher]

hudson mohawke rightfully paying astute attention

[@Onewerdy]

That is him, yeah? Lol @ folks trashing the audience.....They're just absorbing

[@thaexception3406]

Insightful for real!

[@itonybrown]

incredible video

[@redjupiter2]

This is fantastic. I now love this man!

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

so interesting! thanks

[@angelrafaellanc]

Hey love the video. It would be helpful to get a direct feed of what he's doing. It's hard to hear the nuances of his work through whatever microphones you guys are using. Otherwise, LOVE the video. Thank you for sharing and capturing his wonderful depth of knowledge.

[@MrMircs]

what console is that? great video thanks!

[@ogasi1798]

nice ! thank you redbull

[@jas_bataille]

Jesus the phases are absolutely perfect on that mix, spot on! Great job :)

[@Andersljungberg]

What is the name of the song

[@Madrrrrrrrrrrr]

Duh it's under produced and digital. Although i hear some freq's of the kick get cancelled by the bassline. Typical digital behaviour in my book. Also the OG mix was too dynamic restrained. I don't know what he did but he opened up the top end nicely. Also heard him do a cover of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd with more real instruments mix to vinyl and that sounded way too dynamic for me. And too boxy. Also 45 rpm 12" i think.

[@GulfCoastConnection]

Great interview. Much coaching, tips, etc in this from a master of mastering. Man has mastered some of you and your parents fav records wether you know it or not.

[@cromosktal]

Awesome!!!

[@mtheorymkali5770]

Greatness!!

[@jaytea42]

Mega Respect for Bernie !

[@vitoponzio2234]

What brand/model monitor speakers is Bernie using?

[@hang-sangitch]

Awesome

[@Tazmanian_Ninja]

"ok..." (that interviewer...)

[@UdiKoomran]

I am curious to hear Mr. Bernie opinion on the sonic merits of cutting vinyl from digital source. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to master to digital?

[@APKSRMKS]

GODLY

[@skibbitybopity]

What song is he working on?

[@bbarrera86]

there's a big problem about what he says around 12:10, he talks about the details... the thing with details is that if you compress them u are allowed to hear them better cause they get louder, but the real trick is to let them be heard how they were originally performed without altering it's dynamics so that you can get more emotion and a better sense of what the artist felt when recording it.

[@jas_bataille]

Thank God you have to point it out to this legend... seriously? He repeatedly said that the job is to make it "louder but a good musical experience) through and through, he never said to compress the details. Sheesh

[@h7opolo]

I think he got the message across that he really aims to get the message across.

[@FrankieG63]

Great and inspirational to all vinyl music lovers, artists and producers. Thanks a lot for this technical contribution. Love that. Frankie G. from Germany

[@SPAZZOID100]

Considering that everything Kevin Grey cuts soubds fantastic, i will heed his advice on half speed mastering.

[@nebstaism]

what monitors is he using ?

[@wxlvandy]

Anyone know what monitors Bernie was using?

[@jamieanderson7757]

tannoy components with custom cabinets and crossovers for the mains according to his website

[@nicholasosczypko2248]

Just wondering why videos by audio guys are uploaded with such a low volume...the first part of the the video is about volume...know your audience....I'm not watching this on a 4k tv with a loud sound system...I'm on my phone or tablet nowadays....

[@etyrnal]

would be funny to make a player that could PLAY the "hair" (the cutout/chip) -- just because we could

[@iTomAnks]

What's the name of the tune?

[@gman1010]

Black art, amazing video

[@likesnoozn]

This looks like Bernie Grundman, a giant in his field, is giving an invaluable education on his craft to four millennials from a prison release program.

[@williamdarkzydeblackenedha9344]

Haha! Yeah.. this interviewer seems totally clueless as to what he's being told.

[@babyfacerizzo]

Haha dude, one of those is Sophia Coppola.. :@

[@jas_bataille]

They were respectfully listening...

[@likesnoozn]

@@jas_bataille more like having to listen to your dad about why eating your vegetables is good for you.

[@mikechivy]

He just nods his head "oh yeah totally. Of course"

[@GnCFilms]

We see you, gesticulating guy at 1:32!

[@zackamania6534]

Nothing says excellent mastering and 50 years of music production like….. Red Bull

[@roneystapes]

Ikr, it's ridiculous 😂😂

[@revokdaryl1]

It IS made in Austria, after all 🇦🇹.

[@sicarioinfantry78]

Legend

[@REBELDONOG]

Bernie Grundman is awesome

[@Andersljungberg]

What do you say about DSD. have you thought anything about native DSD. NOTE DSD is not PCM. The second best thing according to some is to transfer analog audio to DSD and that it is better than transferring PCM to DSD. whats your opinion ?

[@underworldent4817]

class act.

[@josebarrera_]

Cannot say enough about Bernie, a legend and genius, but I get distracted by the beautiful girl sitting wearing the orange blouse...she is gorgeous!!

[@allanblack1645]

Thanks Bernie great stuff. Interesting you used this particular track to demonstrate. Not telling grandma how to suck eggs, but maybe next time demonstrate a ‘not so good’ sounding track so the punters can really hear your talent. Cheers.

[@DJJOHNNYT1]

❤️🌟

[@jessefillmore]

Bernie is a living legend . I hope he is passing down his knowledge .

[@michaelhorgan9525]

He has several people in his studio that also master records along with a studio in Tokyo.

[@michaelhorgan9525]

Chris Bellman is an excellent engineer that works there and knows his stuff in regards to cutting vinyl.

[@ludgelovesbass]

the pencil sharpener tho

[@donkeyfacekilla1]

Is that Hudmo in the white t shirt??? haha

[@RBMA]

Yes it is!

[@tuveuxlademocratieoutuveux4692]

*The documentary is superb and highly informative !... So sad though that the great man had to work on so unbearable a piece of percussive techno shit for the demonstration of his mastering technique !!...*

[@jas_bataille]

I gotta agree with that. I was very well produced, but what I liked about it the most are how perfect the phases where... mais enfin voilà il faut un peu de mélodie ;)

[@jjjjj2220]

That a hip hop track or dubstep track

[@Luis-mq8pg]

🤯

[@Andersljungberg]

You may have been influenced by time I think at the time when dire Straits had their hits then the dynamics were much better than on today's pop music. it was probably even better in the early 2000s. But loudness was coming. and it's not like an automatic level recording on a cassette player. here we are literally talking about cutting sound tops. where basically everything sounds equally loud on certain recordings. which there are graphic images that show from sound analyzes

[@Gamer420life]

Does anyone know of any AAA albums hes mastered?

[@stayalivegaming1018]

Nirvana - Nevermind (BG in the deadwax, usually on the pallas pressings) Dave Brubeck - Time Out Analogue productions He has done hundreds of different ones, but those two just came to my head straight away.

[@mikechivy]

Fleedwood Mac Rumours. He did the 33 and 45. Both as good as any vinyl ever made.

[@stayalivegaming1018]

@@mikechivy the pallas versions of rumours were mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, he might have mastered some original pressings, but not the 45 ones.

[@mikechivy]

@@stayalivegaming1018 ah you’re right

[@genericjesus8803]

I gots t’ get me one of those vinyl cutting machines

[@Btvstudio]

the guy interviewing Mr. Grundman is awful. I can't stand the unimpressed people sitting on the wall. This man has a wealth of knowledge and it's squandered with these people who don't look like they care.

[@burns46824]

Chick with the orange tanktop is ballin', tho.

[@FlyHighSociety]

this a good interview, allowing the person to speak. I wanna hear what Mr Grundman has to say and not an interviewer who is constantly interjecting or going off on excited tangents.

[@donkeyfacekilla1]

@@FlyHighSociety Exactly! Let the expert speak!

[@nunyabiz2016]

They looked focused intently like they were taking it seriously.

[@FlyHighSociety]

@@GnCFilms those 'people' including a producer that worked on A TON of Kanye West music for the last 10 years or so, credited and uncredited. Don't judge a book by it cover or how someone appears under lights and camera. google Hudson Mohawke and Laurent Fintoni before you judge them any further.

[@MajorCulturalDivide]

He says it's going 45 rpm and we're not going to use a lot of the disk so we can make it loud. Why does it work that way?

[@StringerNews1]

Loudness is what the lateral excursions of the groove represent. The wider the excursion, the louder the sound coming out. With 45 RPM EP, you don't have the same aerial density as a LP, so you can use that extra area to make louder grooves. With a LP you need to take care to keep the groove from running into the next one, so loudness must be controlled, or you run out of space.

[@MajorCulturalDivide]

Thank you. What decides how long the run-out groove should be? According to what you say one would think the run-out groove (not sure what it's called) would be as short as possible so the record could use all of the available space for loudness. But it always seems to vary. I even have some records where the run out groove is almost half the record.

[@StringerNews1]

Records turn at a constant angular velocity of 33-1/3 or 45 RPM. One consequence of that is that the linear velocity varies as the groove approaches the center of the disk. Long story short, the part near the outer edge has better fidelity than the part near the spindle. One way to maximize fidelity is to put the recording on the faster part of the record. That's one reason why the lead-in portion is always minimal. The consequence of that is less play time. You can make up time by squeezing the groove pitch, but then other sonic problems creep in. It's all a give-and-take operation. Finding the ideal balance of all parameters is a fine art. An ideal lead-out will begin to increase pitch as the sound level drops, so you will not hear a pre-echo from the next groove over (it's all one groove, of course) that's louder. That should increase to a proper lead-out that gets the stylus to the park groove quickly, but not too quickly. You don't want the lead-out to cause the inertia of the tone arm to pull the stylus out of the groove. You do want to have a large enough lead-out so if you accidentally drop the stylus back down on the record, it's not likely to damage a part where the recording is.

[@MajorCulturalDivide]

I had no idea so much went into making a record. It's a wonder the vinyl sounds anything like the master tapes with all that needs to be considered. Thank you for the information.

[@StringerNews1]

You're very welcome. Yes, vinyl records are imperfect copies in pretty much every way of the original work product. Before CD, I would have considered selling my first born to possess tape copies of my favorite music. Back then the technology didn't exist to do that without wearing out the original, or incurring lots of generational loss. Today we could have it, if only we didn't have so many _ex_ _post_ _facto_ alterations under the guise of "mastering". You can see that the process of making records requires mastering. Making a dub, to analog or digital does not.

[@ZiadSidawi]

Loud, loud... most commercial songs have no dynamics and harsh. Stop the loudness war and get better headphones amps and speakers.

[@guitarfoundry]

i've bought some albums and they are utterly unlistenable...I have a very high end system and it reveals the harshness and grain..Pink Floyd 'remasters' are awful unless its the Doug Sax...Amy Winehouse..awful

[@ZiadSidawi]

simon lloyd check the master level meters on his screen at 17:03....it looks the dynamic range is not more than 3dB! this is mastering for $10 ear buds and nothing else. Alas, most remastered albums are unlistenable. They teach in mastering now how to clip the digital converter and bring back into the analog domain; this is insane.

[@etyrnal]

Not everyone has listening rooms. Much music is enjoyed by the the working masses... while driving the car to work, or taxiing noisy kids to school, regular people who BUY the music that PAYS for the artists gear, the engineers studio, and exec producers summer cottage, need to be able to hear that "nuance" OVER the roar of life. Don't be so pedantic?

[@wildbill6976]

I think many of them do it on purpose to take advantage of mp3 compression that most will be using anyways (mp3 works by removing sound imperceivable to human ear); i.e. louder/harsher = higher distortion/frequency = more compressible. I've noticed it over the last 20+ years when converting various media formats to mp3. You just don't get the same level of compression out of the classics because they were recorded & mastered properly to begin with.

[@MrmelodyUs]

@@wildbill6976 all in the transfer

[@Fontsman]

The platter on the cutter doesn't seem very good. You've got high engineered hi-fi turntables with precision bearings for playback and yet the cutting lathe platter looks pretty ropey.

[@jas_bataille]

Thank God you're here to tell this poor man with no experience about this that his cutting plate is "ropey"... a cutting plate cannot be as smooth as a plate for playback, because you have to put pressure on it.

[@Fontsman]

@@jas_bataille Well you've got Turntables by SME, Goldmund, etc, which use state of the art bearings far beyond what we see here. So I see only benefits when using that level of engineering in cutting lathes.

[@dabbidaa1547]

​@@Fontsman That equipment is worth something like 500k conservatively estimated. I think they know what they are doing and the equipment is up for the job.

[@Kezleu]

Zappa in New York 40 anniversaire édition...

[@dialecticalspectacle]

Wish they picked a better song to demo with, otherwise very informative.

[@DrAudioBot]

i know! those high pitched 32nd note 808 snares are as annoying as auto-tune...

[@IronMan-tk8uc]

@SergioMartelli Exactly (even though I absolutely hate this type of sound).

[@user-yk4gd1fl4z]

Great. Except that god awful non structured collection of samples thrown together.

[@GustafTW543]

Sonochi No Sadame

[@GustafTW543]

JoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooJo

[@aladdin_007official]

!

[@DJALfutureclassicmusic]

Sooooo loooong

[@nogoogleplus]

Golden insights from a Master.....on a side note who is the super cute brunette in the orange t top... she made it harder to concentrate :)

[@m9shamalan]

where is the weird echo on his voice coming from?

[@guitarfoundry]

Fuck the loudness wars and morons who think hifi is an iphone or something with Sony written on the front. Real music fans have to suffer for the unwashed masses..yes i am an elitist....Loud CD's almost always sound awful and i tend to avoid anything that's been 'enhanced' or 'remastered'..I often hit the forums to see what the consensus is for a particular version of a recording i want to buy..The great thing with CD's is that they are out of fashion (just like vinyl was) so bargains galore can had..They will have their day again...If im buying vinyl i always try and buy the original or earliest pressings i can get before any reissues, unless i KNOW that the reissue has improved the original, not just made it louder...there are a few Blue Note vinyl reissues that are better than the 50's versions..a few... The trouble is most people say that are fans but they are not, they listen to crap through crap..Yes Im a cork sniffing snob but i like composition, performance and production/mastering done properly not for the masses of idiots.

[@mtheorymkali5770]

simon lloyd damn! ok ok! I feel ya man.. that's what's up.

[@The90sGamingGuy]

I totally agree with your point about loudness wars they are absolutely stupid. Dynamics in re-issues is slowly making a come back and if it does fully come back the record companies need to learn a lesson not to keep up with this stupid loudness wars B.S.

[@mikechivy]

Calm down

[@Tholli18]

it's so annoying that they overlayed a sound and did not play what is actually heard in the room. He switches the speakers on and off and you simply hear the same thing still playing. Why bother making this documentary then?

[@ruthlesscutthroat4030]

you forgto to mention Led Zep.

[@MrBrainneeded]

if you think major labels are disgusting look at red bull

[@JoeLaFon3]

Bryan Cranston

[@dmomcilovic9185]

all this skill and knowledge, only for the zombie Iphone generation to listen to compressed crap on youtube

[@UberPilot]

store.acousticsounds.com/d/128461/Roy_Orbison-Crying-45_RPM_Vinyl_Record

[@sb848]

ok boomer

[@thepuppethead1188]

yeah that zombie iphone generation,what with independent bands releasing every new album on vinyl and vinyl sales beating out all digital purchases for 3 years in a row

[@zip7806]

WTF. Don't ever put a Water Bottle on Bernie Goodman's custom Mastering Console. How rude and he's the Guest.

[@dannydaniel8975]

I'd rather cut my vinyl from a cassette tape than a Wav file

[@ytnsanw]

Dude with shades and the beard looks as though he's napping...

[@EmeraldWoodArchives]

I wish he'd have been working on something else on this day. That track is so annoying.

[@Blacksheep1042]

Strangely after much thought- it’s only the listeners / costumers fault. we buy / stream / “ donate to an independent project “ and what for ? Even the “sacred “ genres like blues, jazz, acoustic music , world music are way to HOT nowadays after mastering- why ? Our fault, and our fault only If enough of us will boycott the music industry until high dynamic/ HD standards/ models will be adopted- guss what ;) Our fault, our responsibility.

[@jake.sherman]

I feel like the crew that made this was not the right crew for this job…

[@natanyofsho]

Is that Lana del Rey?

[@guitarfoundry]

the track in this video is absolute crap.

[@Liza.Wharton]

that is besides the point

[@somndahma9581]

lets hear yours pale...

[@soulchorea]

25:45 is for you :)

[@nickburlton5821]

Yep he does address that towards the end

[@horowizard]

It's heartbreaking watching such a skilled Mastering Engineer working on such putrid crap.

[@sovietcomrade4970]

He probably gets a lot of money for it

[@antonmedvedev1128]

And the track is sooooooo annoying! It sounds like some of those "experiments" my classmate would do when we were in our early 20s back in 2002.

[@rickyninja9693]

Agreed. Not a good example for this.

[@familysoundschannel2895]

Call that thing they were producing "music" should be prohibited by law if we were living in a fair, advanced or ethic world.

[@ashleyhoney3435]

Could he choose a worse song.