Ron McMaster

Ron McMaster grew up in the Sacremento area and joined a rock band while still in school. The band went through a few name changes before settling on Public Nuisance. They released a single and later recorded a full album (Gotta Survive), which was not released at that time. Years later the album was released on CD and gained the attention of Jack White who at first covered some of their songs and later signed the band to his label, Third Man Records. While still in school Ron also taught drums at Andy Penn’s Drum Shop before moving to Los Angeles where he started a new career as an engineer in the recording studios. He was hired by United Artists as a Mastering Engineer in 1980, and a year later they changed their name to EMI, where Ron remained until his retirement. The physical location of his studio changed in 1986 when he was asked to work from the famous Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. Among his projects over the years was mastering Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys for vinyl for the famous album’s 25th anniversary. Over the years he worked on several projects for Jackson Browne as well as special projects for the Rolling Stones and recordings by jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton and Bill Evans.

Interview Date:
May 5, 2021
Job Title:
Mastering Engineer

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