An Interview With Mastering Engineer Dave Gardner

Gardner Discusses His Longtime Career and Recent RSD Black Friday Releases

Record Store Day - Black Friday Edition - is here and this year ORG Music has two interesting releases in store for listeners. The first release finds David Grisman & Jerry Garcia taking an interlude into jazzy territory on the reissue of So What on a two-disc vinyl set. The album - recorded in the early 90s, but released in 1998 - has never seen a vinyl release until now. The second release ORG offers is Creative Improvisation Ensemble by Marion Brown & Leo Smith which was originally released in 1975 (though it was recorded in 1970), the album features new cover art.

The man behind the mastering of both albums is Dave Gardner who has done much mastering work for ORG Music over the last many years, both as a part of Infrasonic Sound and now under his own imprint, DSG Mastering. Dave and I took this opportunity to not only talk about the these Black Friday releases, but also to discuss the many albums in my personal library where he's left his sonic thumbprint.

We also discuss the archival and contextual approach that he brings to his mastering work. You’ll learn about the work that goes into each project, before anyone even listens to a note of music! It’s important to Dave that the music not only sound great, but that the release is in step with what its creators intended

.