I’m here with Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer par excellence and owner of Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine. Earlier tonight, Bob hosted an animated panel hosted by the P&E Wing on what it will take to get consumers to appreciate…and purchase…hi-def, 5.1 sound. Bob? What did you learn?

Thanks, Tom!

Right now I’m at the Palm Studios managed by Zoe Thrall who is a dear friend of mine. I used to work with Zoe when she was working with Little Steven and Bruce Springsteen. Then Zoe took over managing the Hit Factory and did a brilliant job.

So our Recording Academy Panel today was an investigation of the question: Music has the power to heal, to raise goosebumps on your arm, and even to make you cry. While of course one can get a great experience listening on the poorest gear, we feel that listeners would get more thrills and get a more accurate picture of what the artist and producers REALLY want you to hear if you listen on higher-end equipment. Then there is the issue of education. Most kids today don’t hear non-amplified instruments very often. Most of what they hear are mp3 files on mediocre earbuds. How do we sonically educate people to know what really good sound IS? Do we take some trucks around the country and do a road-show?

We had a lot of very cool panelists who raised lots of good questions. We probably raised more questions than we answered but it really gave everyone food for thought.