Bob Katz is an American

audio mastering Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will ...

engineer and author of a popular book on audio mastering. Katz has mastered three

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

–winning albums and one nominated album. Projects he has worked on have received Grammys and acclaim from

audiophile An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...

s, and his book on mastering is considered by some to be the "definitive work on mastering".

Career

Katz taught at the

Institute of Audio Research The Institute of Audio Research (IAR) was an educational institution in New York City. Students of IAR were offered a wide variety of academic programs in the field of music production and audio engineering. Students could choose from courses i ...

from 1978 to 1979. In 1988, Katz joined Chesky Records and began recording jazz and classical artists there, as well as producing oversampled commercial recordings. In 1990, he founded an audio-mastering company called Digital Domain Mastering, where he continues to work. In early 2015, Katz began a regular blog, Katz's Corner, on the headphone enthusiast site InnerFidelity.

Grammy Award–winning albums

Grammy Award–winning albums mastered by Bob Katz: * 1985:

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...

, ''The Words of Gandhi'' * 1997: Paquito D'Rivera, '' Portraits of Cuba'' * 2001: Olga Tañón, ''Olga Viva, Viva Olga''

K-system, K-stereo and K-surround

Bob Katz proposed the K-system to measure audio levels and standardize

dynamic range Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics), the study of forces and their effect on motion Brands and ent ...

in recorded audio. He has developed the proprietary systems K-stereo and K-surround. These processes are designed to "recover lost or amplify hidden ambience, space and imaging, and generate stereo from mono signals without adding artificial reverberation".

References

External links

Digital Domain MasteringBob Katz credits at AllMusicBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Bob American audio engineers Living people Mastering engineers Writers from Hartford, Connecticut Writers from New York City Place of birth missing (living people) University of Hartford alumni Wesleyan University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Engineers from New York (state)