When asked how to create a good recording, John Atkinson will tell you to use good musicians in a good room. The people behind Benchmark Media Systems, makers of some of today’s most highly regarded digital audio converters, headphone amps, and mic preamps, agree.
Listening to music from the legendary catalogs of Decca, Atlantic, Stax, Sun, Parlophone, etc, it’s hard to believe that several of those immortal recordings were made in a single session. How could any of those revered recordings have been made in one day? Simple... They had a killer studio, great gear, an extremely talented crew, and, most importantly, great artists. They were the masters from their day.
The team at Benchmark has therefore developed a series of videos called “Masters From Their Day,” in which a group of collaborators set out to answer the question, “How good can a recording sound if it’s produced in just one day?”
The goal here is not only to pay homage to the catalogs of classic labels such as Decca, Stax, and Sun, but also to show Benchmark’s gear at work, being used in the trenches—good tools employed by skilled craftsmen, an invaluable event witnessed and practiced far too infrequently in these computerized days.
As a bonus, we get a taste of the tension inherent to just about any recording session, and we get to enjoy an excellent song. The first episode brings us “Came Out of a Lady” by Rubblebucket, recorded at KAS Music & Sound in Astoria, Queens, by Alex Lipsen and Joe Castellon (recording engineers), Gavin Lurssen (mastering engineer), and Elias Gwinn (producer/mix engineer), using Benchmark microphone preamps and A/D/A converters.
Go to the “Masters From the Day” website to learn more about the project, download an uncompressed version of “Came Out of a Lady,” participate in the spirited comments, and sign up to be notified of future videos.
Want to learn more about Benchmark’s products?
Read John Marks’ column on the Benchmark DAC1, Sam Tellig’s column on the DAC1 Pre USB, and John Atkinson’s complete review of the DAC1 USB D/A processor, all three awarded our highest rating in “Recommened Components.”
When asked how to create a good recording, John Atkinson will tell you to use good musicians in a good room. The people behind Benchmark Media Systems, makers of some of today’s most highly regarded digital audio converters, headphone amps, and mic preamps, agree.
