That's our Prince!

Master of Music Mastering

You May Have Never Heard of Bernie Grundman, But You've Heard His Work Millions of Times Over

November 13, 2008

Michael Aushenker , Staff Writer

Carol King's 'Tapestry,' the monster 1970 hit that launched a thousand folkies, 25 million records sold; Prince's 1984 R&B blockbuster 'Purple Rain,' 13 million records sold; Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic,' arguably the blueprint for contemporary rap, 8 million sold; Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' the biggest-selling album of all time, more than 45 million units sold.

All of these iconic albums''and many more on your CD tower and laptop''have one man in common: Bernie Grundman.

This Pacific Palisades resident is not a record-label executive or a producer or even a musician. But in the recording industry, you can say that he is a mastermind. Grundman, in his mid-60s, is one of the biggest names in mastering in the world, and he has directly or indirectly (via his team of sound engineers at Bernie Grundman Mastering) mastered hundreds of gold- and platinum-selling recordings. In addition to the aforementioned albums, Grundman personally mastered milestone recordings by the Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Sergio Mendes, Joe Cocker, Steely Dan, Supertramp, Ludacris, Mos Def, Mary J. Blige, Lucinda Williams, Macy Gray, Christina Aguilera, Fergie, Gwen Stefani, 50 Cent, and the Pussycat Dolls.

Aside from Nashville, where the country scene is 'almost like a closed community,' Grundman tells the Palisadian-Post that his team handles the lion's share of today's music: 'In the East Coast, there are three main people back there, but on the West Coast, we're the biggest.'

Mastering is a post-production process of sound-balancing.

'Some people think we're mixers, we're really not,' Grundman says. 'We're the last creative process in the production of a compact disc and the first part of manufacturing.

'We do the adjustments. Sometimes the whole band is here. They sit in and we deal with what can be done to make it a complete experience for the listener. It's all about the emotional impact of the recording, trying to decide if there's any way to heighten that experience.'

In the past decade, another generation of Grundmans has taken to the soundboards. Bernie's son, Paul Grundman, works as a technician for his father/mentor.

'Take a band like U2,' says Paul, 35. 'We're currently doing U2 re-masters. We play back their music. We then do as little as we can to hurt it and as much as we can to help it and mix it as loud as they want it or as quiet, and then we make that master. We can add extra bass. Most mixing consoles can't get that loud. We're able to make it so much larger.' He pegs Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation 1814' (which Bernie worked on in 1989) as the album which sparked an escalation of super-sizing sound.

'Unfortunately, it's become a contest of who's the loudest,' Bernie Grundman says, cautioning that 'going loud interferes with the musicality. You stop when you start hurting the music. There is degradation that occurs going louder.

'We've built a lot of our own equipment,' he adds. 'Or we've modified existing equipment. We do a lot of work on our system to keep an album's dynamics.'

'He masters everything from bluegrass to death metal,' says his son. 'Bernie is known for being a minimalist. He doesn't turn knobs just to turn knobs. He balances according to what he feels is right unless you're the artist and you have your say. Then he listens to you.'

Born in Minneapolis, Bernard Grundman, a second-generation American with ancestry from Germany, Sweden and Norway, moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, when he was 8. He first experienced high-quality sound at 14 and became obsessed with audio.

In his early 20s, Bernie entered the Air Force, working on electronic warfare.

'When I got out of the service, I decided I wanted to be a recording engineer,' Grundman says. While attending Arizona State University, 'I went to a studio in Phoenix. One of my Hollywood idols was working there: Roy Dunann.'

A recommendation got Grundman an interview with Lester Caning, owner of the Hollywood jazz label Contemporary Records. After two years there and a growing reputation, Grundman joined the burgeoning A&M records (founded by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss) to head their mastering department. After 15 years at A&M and more than 100 gold and platinum albums, Grundman opened his Hollywood studio in 1984 with his artist wife Claire and former A&M head of maintenance Karl Bischof. In 1997, Grundman opened a new mastering facility in Tokyo, and the following year his current 20,000-sq.-ft. home base on North Gower Street.

Despite the commute to Hollywood, Grundman loves the Palisades, where he has lived since 1977. Grundman, who worked on the Doors' third album, 1968's 'Waiting For The Sun,' remembers that Doors producer Paul Rothschild lived here, as did 'Waiting''s producer/engineer, Bruce Botnick. 'He lived on Via de la Paz at the very end at the bluffs in a very modern Neutra house for many years.'

Grundman digs 'Mayberry's, Caf' Vida. We were at Kaye 'N' Dave's just a couple nights ago.

'You can't easily find a place in L.A. that has a small village feel,' he continues. 'It's quiet. That's why a lot of creative people live in the Palisades. You get a sense of being farther away than you are from the city.'

Grundman has fond memories of working on many of the biggest-selling albums in recording history.

'['Tapestry' producer] Lou Adler told me, 'Here's a preliminary tape; we want to hear what we have,' Grundman recalls. 'There's an infectious thing about it. I feel good when I listen to it. That's why it's so simple; it was a demo. It had a magic thing.'

Carol King's album clung on the charts for more than six years, grabbed 1971's top Grammy Awards, and became history's biggest selling album until 'Thriller.'

'Prince is a funny guy,' Grundman remembers. 'He was based in Minneapolis. He didn't like the music industry. He'd come in for one day, then go back and there'd be new stuff. He was already working on his next project. He was very withdrawn and quiet. When I saw him on TV in concert, I couldn't believe he was the same person.'

The 1992 smash 'Chronic' came into Grundman's hands intact as a G-Funk masterpiece.

'I worked on that one less than any of them,' Grundman says. 'We ran that thing once, made a disk.'

Despite uber-producer/rapper Andre Young's menacing Dr. Dre persona, Grundman notes, 'He's a real gentleman. Sophisticated, talented.'

This year, Grundman garnered his second Grammy when Herbie Hancock won Album of the Year for 'River: The Joni Letters.'

'That was a surprise, a long'shot,' says Grundman, who also mastered rap duo Outkast's 11-times-platinum double album from 2004, 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,' which spawned 'Hey Ya!'

And, of course, there was the King Kong of albums, produced by Quincy Jones.

'Not that we didn't add to it, but it came in great shape,' Grundman says of the landmark 1983 album 'Thriller.' 'That went back out for remix. It came in past deadline. They didn't care. They took two more months, fine-tuned it. It came back in.

'Everyone knew it was going to be big. You put it on and every tune was so powerful and dynamic and beautifully done.'

Paul Grundman is charged up: there's a unicorn running through Bernie Grundman Mastering that he's bursting to talk about. A unicorn called 'Chinese Democracy.'

On this day in early October, only hearsay floats online (since confirmed) that the new Guns 'n' Roses album (in truth, a glorified Axl Rose solo project with some hired Guns) will come out on November 23. Were this any other much-anticipated album, this would generate excitement free of cynicism and skepticism...except that news of this oft-delayed CD's arrival has broke so many times that 'Chinese Democracy,' 15 years in the making, has become an industry punchline. But Paul knows better because he's already heard it: 'Chinese' exists, it's completed, and it's at his father's studio.

At Grundman Mastering, Paul, who lives on the Malibu/Palisades border, works in that rarefied environment where he gets to preview such releases.

'Today, our studio makes up sometimes more than 40 percent of the Top 10 charts,' Paul notes. 'That's pretty beyond amazing.'

Outside of mastering, Paul drums for his singer wife, Celeste Csato, a lifelong Palisadian.

'Celeste's father, Peter Csato, had been cutting my father's hair for 15 years at Le Studio on Via de la Paz,' Paul explains of how they connected. After three years, Paul and Celeste's work relationship grew personal. Married on August 23, the pair continues to record and tour locally (see 'Local Songbird Soars Again,' July 17).

Paul sums up his father's success:

'He's so good and has such a love for his work. I feel incredibly honored and lucky to be near him. When you're a kid, your father is just your father. When you grow up, you look at your father differently. On a month-to-month basis, I'm constantly blown away by how great he is.

'He is the fairest guy I've ever met. That's what I learn from him''how to be fair to people''just by example.'

Visit his Web site BernieGrundmanMastering.com.

For information on Paul's recording services and Celeste's vocal coaching, visit www.PaulGrundman.com.