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Tell us about Steve Hoffman?
Steve
was born and lives in Los Angeles, California. He has a Master's degree
in Mass Communication Sciences from Cal State, Northridge. Steve spent
time On-air on public radio during college his college days and then was
an afternoon broadcast engineer at a commercial LA station. He then
moved to MCA Records for nine years, where he found buried treasures in
the vaults and championed the idea that catalog artists' re-releases
could be profitable.
Let's see a picture of Steve.
(This was taken in the 90s at DCC. The picture is of me with fan Claus
Cheng. It was taken by his ex-wife. The tape is some
Creedence Clearwater Revival master....I needed a haircut. Click HERE
to see the picture.
Is
there a Mrs. Steve Hoffman? If so how did you meet and what does she
think about your work?
Steve
has been married since July 2, 2001 to Karla
who tells a little about herself: Before I met Steve, I was a model for Jordache Jeans,
and did other modeling work. Then I went back to college and got a BA in
English. I've worked in the record biz too, in fact that is how Steve
and I met: At the C.E.S. in Las Vegas four years ago. DCC and the
company I used to work for (Cisco Music), shared a demonstration suite
at the Alexis Park Hotel, where most of the Audiophile companies strut
their stuff. He walked in----Our eyes met---and that was it. (And I'm
not kidding!) One child,
Michael Kenneth Hoffman, who was born October 14, 2003 and two dogs, "Scruffy", a
terrier mix, "Tatters" a Mini schnauz..., and we had one more, "Sauci"
a Mini Italian Greyhound that we had to put to sleep on January 12,
2004. She was an incredible 19 1/2 years old. I had her as a pup, and
believe me, even though we knew this day was coming, I was heartbroken.
On the other hand, the dog lived a amazingly long life, and she lived
one year longer than our vet thought she would so every day was a
blessing. I'll miss her.
OK,
Steve. Is Karla for real? We'd like a picture!
OK.
It's not a great one...but here it is. This was taken at my high school
reunion and it was 100 degrees in the shade! The other people there were
cut out to protect the innocent. Click HERE
for picture.
Well,
Karla, what do you think about Steve's work?
I
also know that Steven works his butt off to do the best work he can.
I've seen him work for many days on remastering one song, until he
"has it". He is very dedicated.
Steve, how did you get into mastering?
I was hired at MCA as an
administrator; the guy who thought up the projects on paper. I worked on
20 projects per month and wormed my way in to the engineering side of it
because I didn't like how the projects were coming out. But I was not an
official engineer. After that he joined DCC and has worked there
until it's demise in 2001.
Since
we all pretty much agree that we enjoy the remastering work you do,
maybe you can tell us about some of the folks who got you rolling - who
are the folks who showed you tricks at an early age? What unsung heroes
at MCA or in the radio biz made the vacuum tube glow above your noggin?
At CSUN in the 1970's, the director of the radio station was a guy named
Doug Brown. He was just a student, but REALLY into the history of Pop
radio. When I worked at the station, he taught me how to cue the records
for a fast segue, watch the gain, watch the limiter (and why) and all
the other fancy tricks that make radio DJ's sound so good. Radio king
Bill Drake (the inventor of "Boss Radio") showed me (when I
worked for him in college) the differences in "cuttings", and
how two copies of the same disc cut at different times could sound
totally different, depending on the cutting engineer and the tape used.
Blew my mind. THAT was why he had 10 copies of the same LP or 45!
Here's
a random thought - most of us working stiffs go to work, come home and
kick out the jams on the old hi-fi; what the heck do you do to kick back
after a busy day of masters? I'd guess the novelty of cranking up the
Close 'N Play (my first record player - man, do I miss the tonality of
that beast) might not be the same for you... so, do you fire up Zippy
for some Green Acres action, run the old Lionel train endlessly in
loops, or stare endlessly at your UNIVAC screen (gotta have tube driven
computer action at the lavish Hoffman estate)....
Are you asking me what my hobbies are? That's cute.
Well, I like to spin records of all three speeds, using neat vintage
gear, watch old movies, watch funky old TV shows on Zippy, Buster and
(new) Nigel, hang out with my wife and three dogs, do Leica photography,
cruise around in my 1962 Buick Skylark, and generally try and be normal.
I also spend time each day on the computer like most folks, cruising
cyberspace, and I guess you could say that I "converse" with
my electronic pen pals (like you).
What
are your earliest memories of music?
Well,
I grew up in the 1950's, and my parents had a 1945 Zenith phonograph. A
great old machine. It was a phonograph-radio. My first memory is my
father playing something on there. I must have really liked it because I
crawled over to the speaker and, I don't know I was maybe one and a
half, but it was Benny Goodman's Let's Dance. I know that because I
asked him years later what it was he remembered first playing for me.
What
kind of music do you like?
I
was a music minor and a psych major in college. Always been into old
music and old records ever since I was kid. I'm equally well versed on
jazz from the 1920's as I am on 1960's rock. Ultimately my favorite
group is the Beatles.
The
name of our band was "Quagmire". It was made up of MCA Records
people who could play. There were four (sometimes five) of us. I think
that was it for the entire company. Silly, but we were pretty OK, as
long as we didn't try for any lofty musical heights. We had a deal with
my landlord. We could make as much noise as we wanted in my apartment,
one night a week (Tuesday night) for three hours. In return, when the
landlord went on vacation (which was a lot), I had to take his place as
the junior landlord... Mainly we did covers: The Shadows/Beatles/Who/BTO/Elvis,
etc. You know, the usual stuff. Two of the Quag's are still working at
UNI, one lives in NYC and married a famous record producer, and one is a
computer expert who STILL has the largest LP collection I have ever
seen!!!
What
instrument did you play?
Oh yeah, I forgot that. The fun part, was that we could (mainly) switch
instruments, to keep from getting stale.
I usually played guitar, but sometimes drums or keyboards (helpful on
"Good Lovin", "Let's Dance", or anything by the Sir
Douglas Quintet or Joe "King" C.)
How many instruments can you play?
I play several instruments, average-ly. I was taught guitar by a
electric player I knew in high school. I drummed since I was a lad, and
I took piano when I was 8 until after college. Can't play any reeds,
brass or violin-type instruments. But, being able to play piano, means
one can play pipe organs, Xylophones, Marimbas, etc. That's pretty neat.
Also, playing drums, one can play triangle, tympani, and all types of
cool percussion. I used to goof around in school in the band room. Fun,
but pointless, since I lacked the discipline (sp?) to really be good. I
can carry a tune, but couldn't get away with singing lead on anything
newer than 1966.. I love guitars, and even though I can't play like
Clapton, I can at least play the same type of guitars he plays.
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Bibliography
1. Interview with Steve Hoffman conducted on November
13, 2000 By: Douglas Hess, Jr. WLTP Radio News in Parkersburg, WV
2. Discussion forum at www.stevehoffman.tv
Return
to Interview page of www.stevehoffman.tv
for more Steve Hoffman interviews.
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