Greg Calbi
Greg Calbi | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born |
Yonkers, New York, United States | April 3, 1949
Occupation(s) | Mastering engineer |
Associated acts | Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, David Bowie, The Ramones, The Strokes, Jim Steinman |
Website |
sterling-sound |
Greg Calbi is an American mastering engineer.
Biography
Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949 in Yonkers, NY and raised in Bayside, Queens. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop Reilly High School in Fresh Meadows, NY. Calbi earned his bachelor's degree in Mass Communications at Fordham University where he studied with Marshall McLuhan and his staff for 3 of those years. He then earned his master's degree in Political Media Studies (Speech Department) at the University of Massachusetts. During these college years, Calbi drove a NYC cab and sold ladies shoes, and was intent on becoming a documentary filmmaker. However, Calbi was asked by someone who worked at the Record Plant to drive a truck to Duke University to record Yes on the Close to the Edge Tour and soon after that began his career in 1972 as an assistant studio engineer at the Record Plant, working alongside engineers Jack Douglas, Jay Messina and Shelly Yakus, and Jimmy Iovine who was an assistant engineer at that time. In two years, Calbi began cutting vinyl in the mastering room with his high school and college friend, Tom Rabstenek, who had taken over The Cutting Room when George Marino left to go to Sterling Sound. During this time, Calbi helped Tom cut the lacquers for Stevie Wonder's Innervisions among others from the notes that George had left. In his first year as a mastering engineer, Calbi mastered his first platinum record, Eric Carmen by Eric Carmen, John Lennon's Walls and Bridges and in 1975, Calbi mastered David Bowie’s Young Americans and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run. Calbi worked at the Record Plant until 1976 when a position was offered to him by Lee Hulko, owner of Sterling Sound.[1]
During his early years at Sterling, Calbi worked alongside Lee Hulko, George Marino and Ted Jensen, and became known for mastering punk classics for The Ramones, Talking Heads and Patti Smith, as well as Tom Petty, Bill Frisell, Aretha Franklin and Todd Rundgren among others.[2] In 1994, Calbi left Sterling for Masterdisk where he worked until 1998 when Calbi, Ted Jensen and Tom Coyne, along with Murat Aktar (Absolute Audio co-founder) and UK based Metropolis, purchased Sterling Sound from Lee Hulko.[3]
Awards
Grammy Nominations:
- 2007 Album of the Year - Continuum - John Mayer
- 2014 Album of the Year - Blessed Unrest - Sara Bareilles TEC Awards
Calbi has garnered 12 Mix Foundation TEC Award nominations for Creative Achievement, winning two of them.[4]
- 2007 Record Production, Single or Track - "Waiting On The World to Change," Continuum, John Mayer
- 2007 Record Production, Album - Continuum'', John Mayer
Selected works
Calbi has mastered over 7500 albums during his career[5]
- 1974 Eric Carmen - Eric Carmen
- 1974 Walls and Bridges - John Lennon
- 1974 Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan
- 1974 Inseparable - Natalie Cole
- 1975 Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
- 1975 Young Americans - David Bowie
- 1975 Blondie - Blondie
- 1975 Captured Live - Johnny Winter
- 1975 Greatest Stories Live - Harry Chapin
- 1975 Ramones - Ramones
- 1976 Even in the Quietest Moments - Supertramp
- 1976 Marquee Moon - Television
- 1976 Rocket to Russia - Ramones
- 1977 Easter - Patti Smith Group
- 1977 White, Hot & Blue - Johnny Winter
- 1978 Breakfast in America - Supertramp
- 1978 Damn the Torpedoes - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
- 1979 Remain in Light - Talking Heads
- 1980 Making Movies - Dire Straits
- 1980 Beauty and the Beat - Go-Go's
- 1980 Scissors Cut - Art Garfunkel
- 1980 Willie Nile - Willie Nile
- 1981 Concert in Central Park - Simon & Garfunkel
- 1981 Forever, for Always, for Love - Luther Vandross
- 1981 Mesopotamia - The B-52's
- 1982 Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect - Todd Rundgren
- 1982 Hearts and Bones - Paul Simon
- 1982 Legendary Hearts - Lou Reed
- 1983 Footloose - Original Soundtrack
- 1983 Milk and Honey - John Lennon/Yoko Ono
- 1984 Serious Business - Johnny Winter
- 1984 Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega
- 1984 Who's Zoomin' Who? - Aretha Franklin
- 1986 Graceland - Paul Simon
- 1987 Before We Were Born - Bill Frisell
- 1987 Crossroads - Eric Clapton
- 1988 Ramones Mania - Ramones
- 1990 Attack of the Killer B's - Anthrax
- 1990 Concert in the Park - Paul Simon
- 1991 Mama Said - Lenny Kravitz
- 1992 Over My Heart - Laura Branigan
- 1993 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan
- 1994 Pearls - David Sanborn
- 1995 New Moon Daughter - Cassandra Wilson
- 1996 Songs from the Night Before - David Sanborn
- 1996 Flaming Pie - Paul McCartney
- 1997 Gone, Just Like a Train - Bill Frisell
- 1997 Rant and Roar - Great Big Sea
- 1998 Chasin' Gus' Ghost - John Sebastian & the J Band
- 1998 God Save the Smithereens - The Smithereens
- 1998 Mirrorball - Sarah McLachlan
- 1999 Life'll Kill You - Warren Zevon
- 2000 Live at Red Rocks - Rickie Lee Jones
- 2000 Songs in Red and Gray - Suzanne Vega
- 2001 Lost in Space - Aimee Mann
- 2001 Is This It - The Strokes
- 2002 Holy Roller Novocaine - Kings of Leon
- 2002 Future Kings of Spain - Future Kings of Spain
- 2002 It Still Moves - My Morning Jacket
- 2002 Stumble into Grace - Emmylou Harris
- 2003 Battle for Everything - Five for Fighting
- 2003 Legs to Make Us Longer - Kaki King
- 2005 Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
- 2005 Continuum - John Mayer
- 2006 Grand Central - Jeff Golub
- 2007 Here & Gone - David Sanborn
- 2008 Day Old Belgian Blues - Kings of Leon
- 2008 Fall - Norah Jones
- 2008 Popular Songs - Yo La Tengo
- 2008 Never Going Back - Shemekia Copeland
- 2009 Fuerza Natural - Gustavo Cerati
- 2009 Blood/Candy - The Posies
- 2009 Just Across the River - Jimmy Webb
- 2009 Memories of You - Bette Midler
- 2009 Of the Blue Colour of the Sky - OK Go
- 2010 Industrial Silence - Madrugada
- 2010 Bon Iver - Bon Iver
- 2010 Devil's Rain - Misfits
- 2010 Fixin' to Die - G. Love
- 2010 Go-Go Boots - Drive-By Truckers
- 2010 Ramble at the Ryman - Levon Helm
- 2011 Boys & Girls - Alabama Shakes
- 2012 Four MFs Playin' Tunes - Branford Marsalis Quartet
- 2012 Fade - Yo La Tengo
- 2012 Traveler - Trey Anastasio
- 2012 All the Little Lights - Passenger
- 2013 American Ride - Willie Nile
- 2013 Save Rock and Roll - Fall Out Boy
- 2013 Mosquito - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- 2013 Big Sur - Bill Frisell
- 2013 Quartette Humaine - Bob James and David Sanborn
- 2013 In the Wake - Tea Leaf Green
- 2013 Trouble Will Find Me - The National
- 2013 Birth in Reverse - St. Vincent
- 2013 The Blessed Unrest - Sara Bareilles
- 2014 Cheek to Cheek - Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett
- 2014 Hungry Ghosts - OK Go
- 2014 If I Was a River - Willie Nile
- 2014 Too Bright - Perfume Genius
- 2014 Brill Bruisers - The New Pornographers
- 2015 No Cities to Love - Sleater-Kinney
- 2015 Chasing Yesterday - Noel Gallagher
- 2015 In Extremis - Francis Cabrel
- 2015 Space Is Still the Place - The Bright Light Social Hour
- 2015 Currents - Tame Impala
Catalog Remastering Highlights:
- 1988 Crossroads - Eric Clapton (purported to be the first box set ever)
- 2010 Signature Box - John Lennon
- 2012 Dual Layer DSD/PCM 15 Album Catalog Box set - Bob Dylan
- 2014 The U.S. Albums - The Beatles
- 2014 Start Together - Sleater-Kinney
- 2014 OT Remasters - 11 albums, 1 DVD - Tamio Okuda
References
- ↑ "Interview: Greg Calbi". http://tapeop.com/interviews/86/greg-calbi/. External link in
|website=
(help); - ↑ "Presenters". AES New York 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ↑ "Billboard Sept 26 1998". Billboard p.148. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ↑ "TEC Awards Past Winners". TEC Awards. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ↑ "Biography of Greg Calbi". Sterling Sound. Retrieved 31 March 2015.