Oct 1, 2001 12:00 PM

Absolute Audio
56 W. 45th Street
New York, NY 10036

Tel.: 212/730-2044
Fax: 212/730-2204

www.absoluteaudio.com

e-mail: absaudio@aol.com

In an era of diversity and multitasking, the notion of picking a specialty, honing it to its ultimate art, and sticking with it seems romantically distant. Well, that approach is precisely what has brought Absolute Audio success as an audio mastering facility.

"We focused on a few things early on, and we’ve stayed focused on them." says Jim Brick, who with his brother Tom founded the company in June 1991. "What’s enabled us to become a premier audio mastering studio is that kind of intensity directed toward a specific goal. It’s allowed us to keep a certain mindset. It’s one that polishes the craft of audio mastering, while remembering the true meaning of customer service."

The Bricks started their facility from scratch. They had a Neve Digital Transfer Console and a Neumann cutting lathe, and that’s about it. Even as the owners expanded the technical side of the company, adding new digital audio platforms such as a Sonic Solutions system, as well as an array of state-of-the-art processing gear at a newer West Side location, they also saw that the music industry was evolving. Independent record labels and self-produced artists were becoming the new paradigm, and Absolute shared a common sense of origin, time and place with these artists and companies. Absolute Audio had been marketed successfully to the next wave and became the mastering resource for emerging genres that today dominate the music industry globally: hip-hop, dance and alt-rock.

Along with owners Tom and Jim Brick, today Absolute Audio has a mastering staff that includes Fred Kevorkian, Dave Kutch, Larry Lachmann and Robert Amar.

Having begun his engineering career in his native France, Kevorkian moved to New York, where he began a nine-year stay at Sear Sound. Drawing upon his experience in a variety of musical styles, he made a switch to mastering and began his tenure at Absolute Audio.

With The Hit Factory Mastering as a starting point, Kutch made a move to a then brand-new facility, Powers House of Sound. Four years later, after making a mark there, Kutch joined Absolute Audio.

Larry Lachmann began his musical career at Sterling Sound in 1984. After years as Studio Manager, he, like Kutch, made a switch to help then-startup Powers House of Sound. There he split his time as Studio Manager while making a move over to mastering. He finally made engineering his full-time career when he and Kutch made the move to Absolute.

Amar, since starting out as a general assistant three years ago, has proven himself as an up-and-coming engineer, as well being invaluable for numerous day-to-day operations of the studio.

From a technical point of view, the engineers regard Absolute Audio as a hybrid facility, one that combines the warmth of vintage analog equipment with the cutting edge of digital technology. But the key is not the gear, rather in the way you approach it. That, and the understanding that this is all about the music. That, for Absolute, is the real bottom line.

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