The Brothers in Arms Rejection by Steve Hoffman

[arj]

During a recent audio roundtable, Hoffman revealed why he turned down the chance to work on his “favorite Dire Straits album.”

When the label approached him about the project, Hoffman asked what source material they had. However, it turned out that they only had the CD production master, not the original digital stereo mixes.

“Ew. We don’t want that. That’s an EQ dub,” Hoffman said during the interview

Mastering Legend Refused to Touch This Classic Album After Hearing What the Label Offered

His stance exposes the compromises labels often push when remastering classic albums.

www.headphonesty.com

For tape-era albums, he wants the original analog stereo master (mixdown) tapes, i.e., the final two-track mixes, not the multitrack session reels. If shipping those isn’t possible, he’ll accept a 1:1 analog safety copy at 30 IPS, ½-inch, made straight across without added EQ.

For digital-era titles, he asks for the original digital stereo mixes created at the end of mixing, before any CD mastering. Those mixes aren’t locked to a release format, so they give the cutting engineer room to work.
Labels are increasingly reluctant to hand over true masters. In fact, some will not ship originals at all, which stalls projects before they start. It’s mostly because of safety concerns