Ade Emsley: Re-master of Metal legends
Ade Emsley’s brief vita on his Table Of Tone Mastering Ltd/Orange Amplification home page mentions “many years of mastering experience along with designing and building high end, one off, analogue audio equipment”. A humble description, as he is the company director and he was responsible for the remastering of the entire Iron Maiden back catalogue (more info in this VIDEO).
Thankfully he found time to fill us in about his latest project:
How did you get involved with music mastering? What was your first assignment?
I was working as a tape OP around 30 years ago, using two Pultec 1A’s into a 670 comp. Also modifying tape machines for lookahead at 33, 1/3 and 45 rpm.
How did you come to work with Iron Maiden on remastering so many of their albums?
Steve Harris (Maiden mastermind and bass player, the ed.) liked the sound of an album I mastered so he came over with The Book Of Souls mixes straight from Paris and we cut it in 6 hours. We were also in the process of getting good tape transfers from the original 1/4″ and 1/2″ master tapes of the back catalogue albums.
Did you speak with members of Iron Maiden during remastering sessions?
Mainly just tried to get everything the way Steve wanted things to sound.
Ade, you have designed a guitar. Could you tell us about this? How did this idea come about?
My friend Jason Burns has his Blast Cult workshop down the road from me, so I figured it would be rude not to design something and get him to build it. All the best guitars were designed and made in the 50’s, so I kept it traditional with a nod to Gretsch and Gibson.
You have remastered albums by the band Tank. What was that like?
The Tank albums were not remasters. They were mastered at time of release. Cliff Evans got me to master them once they’d been mixed. He currently runs a label called Conquest Music.
What are you working on now?
A mixture of stuff. Some Rock albums, some Blues albums, some Pop tunes, some Alternative tracks.
Can’t mention any names until release is announced.
Thank you for the interview!
Text: John Wisniewski photo: T.o.T.M. Ltd website