The Wilder Side of Life...Oops, I meant Levels!

[rondr]

Looking through Billboard Magazine I noticed in the Traditional Jazz Chart for the past couple of weeks that Christian McBride and Inside Straight have a release called "Kind of Brown" listed in this chart. Being a fan of traditional jazz and the like I decided to make the trip to the nearest B&N and grab a copy. Thinking all along, in a 2009 mode, this disc is gonna be blastin' just like most all releases today. Much to my surprise the overall level of this disc is very conservative and just full of dynamics, much like back in the day when. The performance is great and is one that will bring much listening pleasure for those who purchased it. The reason for posting here in this forum is I felt it is the right place to give thanks not only to the musicians for their performance but also to all those in the line of production, especially Mark Wilder. Just like earlier versions of "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis that was mastered by Mr. Wilder "Kind of Brown" is also mastered by this mastering engineer. I just want to say "Thank you Mr. Wilder" for keeping things on "The Wilder Side of Life."

Cheers,
Ron Rice

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by rondr

Looking through Billboard Magazine I noticed in the Traditional Jazz Chart for the past couple of weeks that Christian McBride and Inside Straight have a release called "Kind of Brown" listed in this chart. Being a fan of traditional jazz and the like I decided to make the trip to the nearest B&N and grab a copy. Thinking all along, in a 2009 mode, this disc is gonna be blastin' just like most all releases today. Much to my surprise the overall level of this disc is very conservative and just full of dynamics, much like back in the day when. The performance is great and is one that will bring much listening pleasure for those who purchased it. The reason for posting here in this forum is I felt it is the right place to give thanks not only to the musicians for their performance but also to all those in the line of production, especially Mark Wilder. Just like earlier versions of "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis that was mastered by Mr. Wilder "Kind of Brown" is also mastered by this mastering engineer. I just want to say "Thank you Mr. Wilder" for keeping things on "The Wilder Side of Life."

Cheers,
Ron Rice

I had the pleasure of listening to the original "Kind Of Blue" master tapes with Mark in his mastering room at Sony Music Studios back when I was a cub and he made the mistake of mentoring me. Tube tape deck, no digital anything. Just me and mark and a lot of analog loveliness. It was one of the best, most satisfying and enlightening listening experiences of my life.

Mark was responsible for a large majority of those great listening experiences and probably the reason why I'm not a complete hack. I'm forever grateful.

Oh yeah, and he's probably the best mastering engineer in the world.

So there.