Sterling Sound

US-based mastering firm that has, to date, been responsible for the mastering of more than 28,000 vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes since 1968. It was originally based in New York. However, in 2018, the company decided to split up into two different locations: one in Nashville, Tennessee, and the other in Edgewater, New Jersey. The former location opened sometime in 2018. Also appears as: - Sterling Sound Studios - Sterling Sound Studios, NY - Sterling Sound, NY - Sterling Sound (NY) - Sterling Sound, N.Y.C. - Sterling Sound, NYC - Sterling Sound, New York - Sterling Sound, New York City - Sterling Sound, New York, New York - Sterling Sound New York - Sterling Sounds - Sterling Sounds, N.Y.C. - Sterling Sounds (NY) - Stirling Sound, New York - Stirling Sound, New York, NY - Stirling Studio New York - Sterlingsound Regarding vinyl runouts, "STERLING" may be found either stamped or hand etched. Also quite faint "Sterling Sound" etchings can be found. The studio is also identified as "SS", sometimes quite small and the "SS"s' at Sterling Sound appear only at the end of 1969, followed by the first appearance of the small stamped "STERLING". For the company, please consider using Sterling Sound Inc.. Sterling was founded by Lee Hulko & Joachim "Joe" Paschek in October 1968, with the studio at 56 W. 45th St. Manhattan. Bob Ludwig joined in 1969 and the facility then moved in 1970 to larger premises, offering two mastering suites, in the Screen Actors Guild building at 110 West 57th Street. George Marino joined the Company in 1972, after which Ludwig departed in 1975 to join Masterdisk - being replaced in the same year by Greg Calbi (from Master Cutting Room) and Ted Jensen (from Mark Levinson's MLAC), the latter taking over much of Hulko's mastering, whose tasks had turned to technical & management duties. In 1977 the Company again moved to 1790 Broadway, offering 5 suites with the latest state-of-the-art acoustics, where they were joined by José Rodriguez. In 1980 the facility was updated to digital and, in 1990, Paschek departed and sold his shares to Hulko. Four years later, Calbi departed to join Masterdisk and was replaced by Tom Coyne (from Hit Factory Mastering). In 1995 Joe Palmaccio joined (from Polygram Studios). In 1998 Murat Aktar, of Absolute Audio, joined forces with Jensen, Calbi & Coyne to purchase the facility from Hulko - in partnership with Metropolis Studios; Palmaccio leaves. Following Hulko's retirement the Studio began its move to Chelsea district of Manhattan in February 1999, being joined by Chris Gehringer (from Hit Factory) at the 1790 Broadway suite, along with Chris Athens in March. Calbi then moved to the Chelsea suite and, in January 2002, the move to Chelsea was completed followed by closure of Broadway. Fast forward to 2018. After spending a total 50 years living in New York City, and near the end of their 20-year lease with the Chelsea Market, Sterling Sound decided to split up into two different locations: one in Nashville, Tennessee (with two mastering studios) and the other in Edgewater, New Jersey (with six). The Nashville location opened 2018. The following mastering engineers have worked at SS (with their runout identification): Chris Athens > STERLING CA Greg Calbi > STERLING GC or STERLING ⚾ or Ⓗ or ☆STERLING Greg Fulginiti > STERLING GF José Rodriguez > STERLING JR Jack Skinner > STERLING JS, or Jack Lee Hulko > STERLING LH Ray Janos > STERLING RJ Ryan Smith (2) STERLING RKS Bob Ludwig > STERLING RL Tom Coyne > STERLING TC Ted Jensen > STERLING TJ Chris Gehringer > cg George Marino (none) Joe Nino-Hernes > STERLING JN-H Will Quinnell (none) UE Nastasi Jay Franco Steve Fallone Joe LaPorta Seth Foster Kevin Reeves Justin Shturtz Joseph M. Palmaccio Dave McNair Randy Merrill Aya Merill Idania Valencia Leon Zervos Richie Rivera