Mastering Engineer Jon Astley on The Who 14 LP Box Set Coming From MCA

UMG/MCA recently announced a new 14 LP The Who studio recordings box set featuring 11 titles (Tommy and Quadrophenia were double LPs).

The set includes all original artwork, posters, inserts and "more."

The set was mastered by "... Jon Astley and Miles Showell at Close to the Edge and Metropolis Studios." Close to the Edge is an all digital facility that does high resolution digital and SACD mastering, while Metropolis is a highly regarded, veteran UK cutting facility.

According to Astley, in an email, "I decided not to squash these at all (as is the current fashion) and ran what tapes I could still run into mastered DSD, 192, or 96 files using analog EQ only where needed." At Metropolis they..." put a "soft valve (tube) analog compressor over nine of the albums."

Astley first saw The Who in 1965.

We're still trying to clarify which albums came from tape for this project and which used previously mastered to DSD material. Also key is who will press.

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