Episode 52: Levi Seitz of Black Belt Mastering RETURNS

Previous guest Levi Seitz of Seattle's Black Belt Mastering has an impressive résumé, including work with Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, Macklemore collaborator Wanz and doing vinyl cutting for last year's Pearl Jam Vault Series release and Mother Love Bone reissues. This past December, another previous guest Rocky Votolato recorded three nights of performances at Levi's home, which has now been spun into "Live At Black Belt," Rocky's first live album, cut to vinyl by Levi and limited to 500 vinyl copies on pink/white swirl. This week, Levi returns to discuss how this new project came to be and how it was recorded, the distinct difference between "vinyl mastering" and "mastering for vinyl," working recently with Halo composer Marty O'Donnell, true sound differences between 1LP or 2LP releases cut at 33RPM vs. 45, how you can tell if records in your own collection have had to be re-cut, the importance of matrix numbers within the deadwax, the myth of the "hot stamper" and a fun Paul McCartney story.