Pictured in session are Jennifer Warnes and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. Photo by David Goggin.
Hollywood, CA (November 12, 2013)—Bernie Grundman Mastering has remastered Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat album for vinyl release by Impex Records.
Mastering engineer Bernie Grundman worked with the original analog masters he used to create the original vinyl release in 1987. The tribute to Leonard Cohen was Warnes’ seventh album.
“Bernie Grundman mastered my very first recording,” Warnes recalled. “Bernie and I hear music in a similar way, favoring natural sounds: hollow wood resonating, the scratch of resin on a bow, the dry thump of hands on skins, fingers plucking strings, the intimate sound of the human breath and voice.”
The album’s repertoire spans much of Cohen’s career, from his 1969 album “Songs from a Room” to his 1984 album “Various Positions” (on which Warnes sang), with two titles from Cohen’s then-unreleased album, “I’m Your Man.”
“For as long as I have been coming to Bernie for mastering—the final stage in creating a recording,” Warnes continues, “Bernie has always taken the time to invite me into his process and teach me how to listen. When I was first starting out making records, Bernie’s generous mentorship opened a whole new world of understanding about the elegant and subtle language of sound. There are so many ways the manufacturing process can change a recording for better or worse, and Bernie knows them all.”
Guest contributors on the album include guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Lindley and Robben Ford, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, keyboardist Russell Ferrante, arranger Van Dyke Parks and Cohen himself on “Joan of Arc.”
“Bernie examined our original analog reels and found them to be in good shape, I’m happy to say,” Warnes added. “These master reels passed through Bernie’s unique equipment with very little manual alteration other than the normal accommodations for 33 1/3 vinyl.”
“Famous Blue Raincoat” was produced by C. Roscoe Beck and Jennifer Warnes. It was recorded in Los Angeles at The Complex, Amigo Studios, Hollywood Sound, The Enterprise, Mama Jo’s, Salty Dog Recording and The Record Plant.
Bernie Grundman Mastering
www.bgmastering.com
