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Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey.

Biography

Note to Calbi from John Lennon

Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop Reilly High School in Fresh Meadows. Calbi earned his bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications at Fordham University, where he studied with Marshall McLuhan and his staff for three of those years. He then earned his master’s degree in Political Media Studies (Speech Department) at the University of Massachusetts. During these college years, Calbi drove an NYC cab and sold ladies shoes, and was intent on becoming a documentary filmmaker. However, Calbi was asked by someone who worked at the Record Plant studio to drive a truck to Duke University to record the band Yes on their Close to the Edge Tour; soon after that, he began his career in 1972 as an assistant studio engineer at the Record Plant, working alongside engineers Jack Douglas, Jay Messina, Shelly Yakus, and Jimmy Iovine, who was an assistant engineer at that time. In two years, Calbi began cutting vinyl in the mastering room with his high school and college friend, Tom Rabstenek, who had taken over the Cutting Room after George Marino left to work at Sterling Sound. During this time, Calbi helped Tom cut the lacquers for Stevie Wonder‘s Innervisions, among others, from the notes that George had left. In his first year as a mastering engineer, Calbi mastered his first platinum record, Eric Carmen by Eric Carmen, John Lennon‘s Walls and Bridges, and in 1975, David Bowie‘s Young Americans and Bruce Springsteen‘s Born to Run. Calbi worked at the Record Plant until 1976 when a position was offered to him by Lee Hulko, owner of Sterling Sound.[1]

During his early years at Sterling, Calbi worked alongside Lee Hulko, George Marino, and Ted Jensen and became known for mastering punk classics for the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Patti Smith, as well as Tom Petty, Bill Frisell, Aretha Franklin, and Todd Rundgren, among others.[2] In 1994, Calbi left Sterling for Masterdisk, where he worked until 1998 when he, Ted Jensen, and Tom Coyne, along with Murat Aktar (Absolute Audio co-founder) and UK-based Metropolis, purchased Sterling Sound from Lee Hulko.[3]

Awards and nominations

TEC Awards

Calbi has garnered 12 Mix Foundation TEC Award nominations for Creative Achievement, winning two of them.[4]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 John Mayer, “Waiting on the World to Change” (2006) Record Production / Single or Track Won
2007 John Mayer, Continuum (2006) Record Production, Album Won

Selected works

Calbi has mastered over 7,500 albums during his career; a list of noteworthy music Calbi has mastered includes:[5]

Catalog remastering highlights:

References

  1. ^ Patino, Juan (November 2011). “Greg Calbi: Sterling Mastering Maestro”. Tape Op. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  2. ^ “Presenters”. Audio Engineering Society. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  3. ^ Bambarger, Bradley (September 26, 1998). “Mastering Pros Plan NYC Studio”. Billboard. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  4. ^ “TEC Awards Past Winners”. TEC Awards. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  5. ^ “Biography of Greg Calbi”. Sterling Sound. Retrieved March 31, 2015.