Studio Monitor: Absolute Audio's Zervos Switches Shops To Masterdisk

Leon Zervos, a veteran of New York studio Absolute Audio, has joined crosstown competitor Masterdisk. The move puts Zervos in the company of other high-profile mastering engineers who have changed affiliations in recent months.
Masterdisk owner Doug Levine says, "Leon and I see this appointment as mutually beneficial. He comes with a wealth of clients, which is great for Masterdisk, and he has a diversified following, which I find very attractive. He's worked with "N Sync, the Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Eddie Palmieri, Plácido Domingo, and Big Pun.
"But what really sold me on Leon was that I brought him here one evening so he could play some CDs and listen to the rooms, and I watched his body language," Levine continues. "When I saw his foot tapping to the music, I said to myself, "This guy is an engineer, and he has a passion for what he does.' I appreciate that, and I know clients appreciate it too."
Another plus for Zervos was that he hit it off with the Masterdisk staff, which includes Howie Weinberg, Tony Dawsey, Andy Vandette, and Roger Lian. "He liked the staff, and he liked the vibe," says Levine. "It's a good marriage."
Zervos will begin work at Masterdisk as soon as his room is completed, which Levine estimates will occur by the third week in August. Zervos will occupy the studio used first by Bob Ludwig-who left Masterdisk in 1993 to open Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine-and later by Scott Hull, who left this year to join New York studio Classic Sound.
Levine says Zervos' studio was rebuilt from scratch. "The room is a fortress," notes Levine. "It's been completely demolished, except for the concrete slab, which we lowered and put stiffer springs in to accommodate the additional mass that we're going to put in there."
Designed by Francis Manzella, who worked on Zervos' room at Absolute, the new Masterdisk studio will be wired with surround-sound capabilities and fitted with two front and two rear speakers. The front center speaker, used for 5.1-channel mastering, will be brought in when needed, according to Levine.
"It's a real high-end audio room," says Levine, noting that Dawsey and Weinberg will be the next beneficiaries of room redesigns at Masterdisk.
Zervos' studio will be outfitted with vintage Neumann equipment, Sontec EQs, a Z-Systems six-channel EQ, Manley limiter/compressors, Dunleavy 5 monitors for the front left and front right, and smaller Dunleavys in the rear.
News of Zervos' affiliation with Masterdisk follows a period of relative calm in the mastering sector, which was roiled by a period of unprecedented turnover earlier this year. Commenting on the current state of affairs in the industry, Levine says, "The dust seems to have settled."
Zervos was not available to comment at press time.
In other mastering news, Renee Goodwin, an eight-year veteran of Los Angeles studio Future Disc, has moved over to Precision Mastering as project manager, according to Precision owner Larry Emerine. She is the second former Future Disc staffer to join Precision, after mastering engineer Tom Baker, whose former affiliations include Oasis.
Music Biz 2005 (MB-5), a futuristic conference designed to give attendees hands-on experience in the latest multimedia technologies, is scheduled to take place Oct. 15-17 at the Ex'pression Center for New Media in Emeryville, Calif.
Through its Internet site and literature, the MB-5 encourages participants and attendees to "imagine it's five years from now. How do you think the music business will have changed? What will an artist's Web site consist of? How was the MP3 issue resolved? What is the function of a "record label'? What are the latest formats for recording and playback? What will it take to be a music industry leader in 2005?"
The event is being organized by a group of Bay Area industry veterans: producer David Schwartz; co-producer Kelli Richards; operations manager Keith Hatschek; executive producers Leslie Ann Jones, Steve Savage, Gary Platt, and Peter Laanen; and associate producers Andrew Keen and Craig Deonik.
Schwartz says, "This is the first and only conference of its kind to offer industry leaders the opportunity to dive into the latest recording, music creation, and Internet technologies. Rather than just talking about the tools that are changing our industry, attendees will get to venture out on the cutting edge with the assistance of leading producers, artists, and Internet technologists. MB-5 will be educational, challenging, and, most of all, fun."
Michael Greene, president/CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, says, "It's clear to many of us that the music and radio industry are going through a dramatic transition at the moment, a transition which promises a much-needed shake-up of the status quo. I'm looking forward to MB-5 as a great place to discuss the issues and make tangible progress."
Besides keynote speeches, panels, and discussion groups, the MB-5 will include live performances and workshops in the school's studios, an on-stage technology clinic, a "town hall" forum where attendees can actively participate in a variety of discussions about new technologies and trends, master classes on 5.1-channel music, a DVD mastering workshop, and a live demonstration of a 5.1-channel project.