Tom Coyne's first wish was to work in the music industry and through sheer persistence as a young college grad, Tom was hired at New York's Frankford-Wayne in 1978. He quickly rose through the engineering ranks at Frankford-Wayne and began to earn a reputation around town for knowing how to get the most - and best - sound onto the record's grooves.

Tom moved to the Hit Factory's mastering in 1989. It was here that he established himself as a hip-hop and R&B specialist at a time when those genres were enjoying explosive sales.

In 1994, a spot opened up on Sterling's roster and Tom was hired to fill the void. No one at Sterling mastered R&B/Hip-Hop/Urban Music until he arrived. Now Sterling has a huge presence in those genres of music.

In early 1998, Tom and his colleagues Ted Jensen and Greg Calbi along with Murat Aktar bought Sterling Sound. Tom has been at Sterling for 8 years, and has cemented his reputation as one of the foremost hip-hop and R&B mastering engineers. A few of his credits include Busta Rhymes, The Roots, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Sade, Tribe Called Quest, Joe, Destiny's Child and Maxwell.

A great quote:

TOM: Phil, you're going to find out that I'm not as smart as people think I am. Add anything... add that I use a 17k resistor! Make me sound like Ted (Jensen, Sterling's Chief Mastering Engineer)!

Phil: How did you get started in all this?

TOM: It started from the time I was in high school and really loved music. All through college I knew I was going to get a job related to music. I constantly had to listen to music. Even though I got a degree in commercial design I always knew music was going to be at the end of the road. Six months before I graduated college I just came to New York and knocked on 85 doors-85 studios. The 85 th one opened up. It was a small studio sweeping floors and answering the phones but in the back room they had a cutting lathe and it just fascinated me. It was something mechanical and sound was involved. I just thought it was the coolest thing! Of course I wasn't allowed to touch the lathe but everyday I used to watch the guy cut records so at night when he left I'd go in there and just start cutting my own records. Slowly but surely I'd figure it out how to do it and said to myself that this is the greatest thing in the world. I hadn't known about mastering up until that point. After 6 months I left there and went to Frankford Wayne. There were four places you could really go to: there was Frankford Wayne, Masterdisk, Sterling and Sony.   There was RCA but I know more about them now than I did then. Of course everyone said no - initially. In the meantime I was drifting around doing odd jobs while I was waiting and calling back. And then Finally Frankford Wayne had an opening - again - at the bottom making coffee, sweeping floors, running errands. And here I had a college degree and I took the job in a second. In fact, it paid below minimum wage at the time. Everyone thought I was crazy.

Phil: This was the in the 70's?

TOM: This was the late seventies. Now its 1978 and I'm sweeping floors. Then there was movement 6 months after I went there. Mastering was pretty well stable-everyone stayed where they were. Them boom! Jose Rodriguez and Jack Skinner left F/W and came over to Sterling, which left a big hole at F/W. So was immediately promoted to assistant Engineer. I was an assistant under a great man named Dominic Romeo. Dom used to cut the 45's back in the 60's. Cut all the hits. The Stones, the Four Seasons, Frankie Vallee, Dione Warwick. I learned well from him because it was strictly a feel thing... turn the knobs 'til it feels good. Eight months after I started, Herbie (Herb Powers Jr.) started (he worked for Amtrak, the railroad company and he used to DJ on the weekends). For the next ten years it was the Tom and Herb show over at F/W. We did a lot of stuff out of Philly, lot of dance. Sterling was doing the lily-white rock'n'roll (laughs). So after a total of eleven years at F/W, Herbie and I jumped ship and went over to Hit Factory, which was starting mastering, and we spent another 5 years there. Now during this 16 years I was killing myself to get a job at Sterling and couldn't. I did have an offer once though. I got a really nice letter from Lee Hulko (the previous owner of Sterling) saying he understands that I left FW and would I be interested in coming to Sterling etc, etc. It was funny because I got the letter after I had already   - on a handshake - said to Eddie Germano (the late Hit Factory owner) that I would work for him. I didn't feel right saying to Eddie that "No, I going to Sterling" I honored my word and stayed at The Hit Factory. But then after a year or so being there I was feeling it again. Sterling or myself were not at the right place at the right time. It's ironic in the end being one of the co-owners of Sterling.

I have been mastering since 1978...25 years!

Phil: How many years into it did you say I'm starting to get it?

TOM: I got to tell ya, everyday I learn something new that I wish I used on the last ten thousand records I did!

Phil: How do you go about buying a studio like Sterling?

TOM: During the whole time when Herbie and me were at The Hit Factory there was also meetings between myself and Greg (Calbi) and Ted (Jensen) and even George (Marino) was involved at some point. Everyone had a great idea and everyone wanted to do something and own their own place. But you could never get on the same page at the same time. Everyone's deal was the best. One of the guys deal would fall through and then he'd have another deal he'd be working on. Until Murat Aktar at Absolute Audio came along. Greg and Ted still had a deal. Greg backed out of the deal. Ted said do you want to come in with me on the deal and I said OKAY, and a month later Greg who was working at Masterdisk at that point said, "Listen, I've got this guy Murat. I want you guys to meet him maybe we can get something going here. Before you knew it Murat got everybody on the same page at the same time, which was a feat in itself. We were like the keystone cops until Murat came along.

Phil: Now that you're a few years into ownership at Sterling what's it like being the boss? Future plans?

TOM: As an owner, I'm glad to be a major part of the decisions made with the direction the company is taking. In the upcoming months we are going to separate ourselves even more from the competition. We've invested a lot of time and money in the future as far as the delivery of the medium to the public, the label and the plant. You either meet further requirements or you will only be able to go so far on the mastering end with it and the files will then have to go to a place like Sterling for final preparation and transmission. A lot of the smaller places will find it price prohibitive.

Everything down the road will be verified DDP 2.0. Some of the things we're doing right now is (at least) a year ahead of what (everyone else) is doing. We've always wanted to be at the forefront of technology and how things are done. We're willing to make the commitment to separate ourselves from the rest. We'll let the engineers speak for themselves as far as the talent is concerned. We're proud of it. I feel like an owner now. Haha!

Phil: I am aware that Sterling has the "E-Mastering" service in place?

TOM: To date I've probably done 250 songs out of France alone. They're my biggest "E-Mastering" clients right now. Starting to get a lot of songs from Belgium and Germany. Stuff out of Switzerland. Starting to get stuff from Japan coming through. But France is my biggest client.

Phil: Is there a difference in "the sound" between New York, LA, Nashville, UK?

TOM:   It was more noticeable on both the recording and the mastering in the earlier days when the project was done at an entire studio in one place in the same country. Now an album is done in ten different states in four different countries. Four songs from LA, four from New York, one in Canada, two in England...etc. But as far as the mastering aspect I still think NY is a little "meatier", we give a little "earthier" sound to the record.

Phil: I'm seeing you doing a lot of Hip Hop. Did the F/W connection take you in that direction inadvertently?

TOM: You know it did and I fought it for years and then I said "you know what I'm making a great living I'm having fun why am I fighting this? I finally said I'm going to enjoy it more than I am now. I forgot about the so-called "rock'n'roll" and accepted what came my way.

Tom Coyne working in his room at Sterling Sound

Phil: Any general insights into the music industry by way of the kinds records that come through Sterling?

TOM: The labels are having a tough time now because the old model doesn't work anymore with the new technology. They're going to have to find a new way. They have to reorganize - the way they think, the way they will deliver music to the public. I think everyone is waiting to see what everyone else does. What you will probably see is an independent come out and find the right way to do it and then everyone will all follow suit. Aside from the recession, the labels would still be in trouble because the way things have been done for the last 30, 40, 50 years just won't work nowadays... and everybody knows it. They just don't know what to do?

In America, you have to be a success immediately. On or off! Hit or you're done! There's no nurturing of artists. There's no artist that sells two hundred thousand records consistently who's going to be on a major label. Budgets have gotten way out of hand and so you immediately have to go platinum or there's a problem. Whereas in the old days you could have five bands on the roster that sold a quarter of a million records but they didn't spend that much money on the record but it was still good quality - they didn't go over budget. You know, they had their loyal fan base and put out a record every year and sell two hundred and fifty thousand. There was more nurturing of artists than there is now. God if they don't get it on the first one you don't see them again. There is no sophomore album. It's scary!

Phil: Mastering is a mystery to a lot of people. Infamously called a "black art" stemming from the lacquering days. Is this a real or imaginary thing? Do you think you have a sound? Are there proprietary techniques going on to achieve your sound?

TOM: I can't say. Some of the equipment is proprietary and all of it had been modified to some extent or another. Chris Muth (Technical director at Sterling) will go in and tweak things here and there. I turn the knobs and keep on rewinding and turn the knobs and rewind etc. Then when I think I'm close I take a breath for a second and then I press play and It's gotta be exciting and hit me. If it gives me that feeling inside that I'm looking for then I say, "that's it! That's where it's supposed to be"

Phil: So you're not up to any special mastering secrets that no one else has?

TOM: No, in fact, I let my clients sit behind the desk and let them listen and push buttons.   I say, "Listen to it this way and then listen to it this way. Tell me which one feels better to you?" I love input from the clients

Phil: Unlike the other engineers at Sterling you don't have an equipment page listed on the website? Why is that? All it says is "two of everything on Ted's Jensen's list plus mine are bigger and shinier"

TOM: I'm not trying to sound aloof but we're here to have a good time! Sound and Recording magazine from Japan did a really great five or six page layout on us. The interviewer asked me very technical questions because it's a very technical magazine for engineers. I really couldn't answer him. He'd ask me "why do you use this millisecond delay?" or "why is your compressor doing this?"   I'd say "well, it feels good!" But it wasn't good enough for them because there is a reason for doing everything and they wanted to know what the reason was from a technical standpoint. I couldn't answer them! Haha! Relating to that Ted, Greg, Murat and I were in England to meet with Graham Boswell at Prism Sound. I remember telling them how I did this one thing with a High-pass filter and then kicked on a shelf twenty-eight hertz below it and other stuff and I could see Ted and Graham looking at me and saying, "no, that's not how you're supposed to do it". I could see them doing the arithmetic in their heads and saying, "naw, uh uh, that isn't right". I said, "Hey, I don't care if it's right or wrong it sounded good and that's why I did it" That's the approach I take to things. If you say that there's a Tom Coyne sound then I'd like people to think "geez, it just sounded good" or "it had excitement to it" If it didn't then I missed the mark.

Phil: Give me an idea on how a Tom Coyne session will run?

TOM: I say give me the tapes and then I throw them out of the room! "Go use the Playstation II and come back in five hours!"

Phil: There's a similar legend I heard about Denny Purcell and a bell...

TOM: They come in with tapes in hand a we just get to know each other for a couple of minutes. The first song, I spend a lot of time on and get a lot of feedback from the client as to what direction we should be going in. Once we define the parameters - what sound we're looking for and level and so forth... after that the other songs go relatively easy IF they're from the same group of songs. Sometimes you'll get "I did these four here, these seven here, these three here" Each time we switch studios or engineers or producers you're pretty much starting from scratch. Once you get a bulk of songs from a particular producer in the same studio the EQ on the others songs are a lot easier.

Phil: How long does it take to do a song?

TOM: We usually say twenty minutes to a half an hour per song.

Phil: I know that you don't like to talk gear! But you've spent time refining your sound. You told me recently "Mr. Neve went to the Hospital"

Tom: Yes! That came out of my old board.

Phil: They have an amazing sound.

Tom: Yes, when I use that I'll put it in and then I'll try the same setting on four other equalizers to get that same sound and I can't. I don't know what it is but it has that something to it. The dirt or the grime but it's going to stay in there.

And now I have an API, which I love. It wasn't something that I had to like or had to learn to like. I plugged it in turned it on and said   "Oh God" I did something that I wanted it to do. It immediately grabbed. "There! Now you can hear what I'm doing! So, it took all of five minutes for me to say I love it, I want it!

Tom Coyne and Phil at Sterling Sound in NYC

Phil: Tom, you're a maverick. Mastering is so elitist and an API is unusual for mastering given the state of mastering gear.

TOM: You turn the knobs 'til it feels good. When we start to get too sterile then we're going to have a problem here. Keep the emotion in the music!

Phil: Well, do you have a favorite EQ or compressor?

Tom: I have a favorite EQ and compressor of sometime the day or the week or the month. I swear I'll love one aspect of a compressor or equalizer and I'll use it for the next month on everything. Unless it'sreally a detriment, I honestly feel that's it's the best I've ever found. After a month it's like "ah, you know. I don't know...maybe something else" I'll get tired of it and find something else.

Phil: Are there proprietary mods done to the equipment? Maybe we're getting into an area that you don't want to talk about this?

TOM: No, we're getting into an area that I don't know about! Haha! I trust Chris Muth implicitly. I'm sure Chris has brought it up to whatever standard is necessary. We use his input stage and monitor stage. Between Chris and Ted Jensen putting their heads together if something trickles down my way it's pretty well be tested and everyone's happy with it.

Phil: You have the Focusrite Blue stuff?

TOM: You know, sometimes I'll put it in even if there's no EQ on it - just for the colorization. I'll like the sound coming out even if in bypass.

Phil: There are two schools of thought for processing. Those who seek transparent and clean and the guys who are about the tone, the color and the vibe.

TOM: Oh, that's me! My sticky fingers all over it.

Phil: How do you approach gain staging?

TOM: Most of it, believe it or not, is through equalization.

I do far less compressing and limiting than people think! They'll go "Oh yeah, I hear the compression on it, it feels good!" "Ah no, I don't have any on it?"No, you gotta have some on it" "No, I swear I don't!" Haha! So I think my sound, so to speak, is more through equalization than it is compression and limiting. But in the last month I've found these two settings that I'm using now and I'm doing more compression. So I'm in my compression stage right now. I'm in my third week of compression so this will last another week and then I'll be onto something else! Haha.

Phil: Do you ever use more than one compressor?

TOM: Yes, I'm in that mode right now. Again, the amount of compression I use is near what is probably normal. Even though I've got these two compressors - an analog and a digital one - It's still not that much. It feels good to me now.

Phil: So you achieve the sensation of dynamics through EQ'ing?

TOM: Yes! In fact there are times when I'll have my compressor in and a client will say, "I see your compressor is in!" I'll say "Yes, but do you see my needles moving?" Now they're moving a little. A lot for me. Maybe not a lot for the next guy.

Phil: Where is compression in the chain?

TOM: Pretty much all of my equalization is after the compressor on both ends, analog and digital.

Phil: Do you process mostly analog or digital?

TOM: The foundation of my work is done analog, I would say.

Phil: Will you process between domains?

TOM: In second! In a heartbeat, yes! Unless the project is digital and comes in pristine and is the type of project that will stay all digital That's the client who is looking at my equipment page - which isn't there - so he doesn't really belong with me. An equipment-basedclient might be more suited to work with someone else.

I don't mean that in a bad way. I'll get a project in and the first thing I do - it comes out of the DAT or out of CD it goes to a D to A and then into my board analog. Then I set up the foundation for the song. I'll go over to digital and then do any touch ups, certain sounds that I can only get from a digital equalizer or compressor. Things go in that route as that is my chain

.Phil: How do you feel about the DAW revolution and quality of plugins? How does it affect business?

TOM: It doesn't affect us adversely as we do a lot more high profile and big budget work. I'm impressed, though, with some of the cool things I see in ProTools.   Anything that needs to be done with plugins the engineer in the session with you will change it at his end. We have several full blown ProTools rigs to deal with all the files we're gettingPhil: So the client isn't bringing in just two track files but full-blown mixes?

TOM: You should see some of the rigs that have been carted into Sterling Sound. Massive two refrigerator boxes full of equipment.

Phil: Stem Mixes?

TOM: There's a lot more of that. They have it mixed but we can do whatever we want with it. The producer/engineer are heavily involvedhere at mastering. Some of the decisions are based on what I'm capable of doing. If they're looking for something not capable in mastering then they'll go back and fix it in their mix.

Phil: This really extends the mastering process?

TOM: Some will go two, three days. Ted or George will sometimes go a week on a project.

Phil Demetro and Tom Coyne

Phil: I noticed that you got mixing credits on the new "Roots" album.

TOM: You know the Roots thing was probably an inside joke. They were just goofing. I might say bring the vocal up here or there but certainly not any extensive mixing. I think that was more of an inside joke that was put on for the label.

Phil: Do you see a blurring of the lines between the mix engineer and the mastering engineer? Are you interested in doing that?

TOM: It has become more of that at times. Certain engineers or producers won't make a commitment until the very last second. So, they will come in here with Pro Tools sessions and actually tweak their final mixes in here. If they ask me my opinion on which sounds better I'll give it. But I can't say I'm a mixer. It's expensive at this stage to still be mixing your record. We accommodate the client to any degree that they want. But with tight budgets nowadays things like this are prohibitive.

Phil: It still sounds expensive!

TOM: Yes, haha! It's a luxury but in mastering you have so much to do. You may have multiple projects in one day. Maybe an album and a 12-inch. But when they book five days in a row sometimes from a practical business standpoint it can be detrimental because you can't satisfy all the clients you want.

Phil: How do you know when to call it a day?

TOM: When I look at the speakers and can't relate anymore! In my younger days, haha, I could go a lot longer, now there are little tricks that you know to do to speed the process along so you can leave the tedious stuff for the end. When all you're doing is looking at the meters then and all the sounds and EQ are done.

Phil: Do you still get revisions at this point in your career?

TOM: No, not batting a thousand. But, I welcome any and all little tweaks that the client calls up with.   I welcome it because that means they're listening to it. There are times you finish the session and the client get the tapes and the refs and before you know it one of the production guys is doing the parts on it. I think maybe "geez, if we had listened one more time on the second day..." Now, they were happy but there's always a little something in you that says maybe we could have done this a little better or that a little better. So if the client comes back with revisions I love it because we can make a better record.

Phil: So, you're not feeling a blow to the ego?

TOM: No, no. My kids and wife bring me to earth very quickly.

We have different production guys assigned to the different engineers. I'll come in and EQ the entire album and then my assistant will come in and do four hours of editing and sequencing, running refs, etc, etc.

Phil: Is there a healthy competition between engineers?

TOM: Everyone has their own clients. If one of my clients can't work with me then I would love for them to work with on of the Chris' (Chris Athens and Chris Gehringer). They may not know the Chris's so they might go somewhere else and to the detriment of the company we might lose the job. If it's not me then they may have another favorite engineer. When I think that one of the Chris's here could do just as good if not better a job than the guy that they had picked. I'd say any competition is definitely healthy. There's no animosity. But I have to say; by the time the client gets master here in New York they've already missed two release dates. They pretty much need to get it done.

What we did do once for NARAS was a workshop one evening. There were about eighty people who didn't know what mastering was. All of the engineers had the same song to EQ. We all went to the front to play the songs and answer questions. It was interesting to see how each engineer approached the song differently. But there was one amongst us who goosed the intro up by, like, 3 dB. His came on so loud and everyone was like "oh, Wow! Cool!" By the time he had got into the song he had backed it down. We got caught with our pants down on that one. Learned a lesson from that one. It was like the old days cutting records. The trick was to make it loud. Louder than you knew that you could cut the record. But you just made it loud and then slowly brought the level down as you went into the album. So if the client got one from you and happened to get one from someone elsethey would listen to the first track and say, "listen to how loud that is, we gotta go with this one!" We've yet to let the other engineer live it down for what he did to us!

Phil: So how do you feel about the whole "loudness wars" issue?

TOM: I'll say this - every time I back down, and say "you know what I'll keep this clean", I get burnt! And the first call I get is "can you make this louder". I've done stuff and it scares me now. I've done some jazz stuff and things like that and I get comments back "sounds cool, Tom, can it be louder!" I'm like "Oh My God!" Even the jazz guys! There's nothing sacred anymore. The level is client driven.

Phil: How do you feel about putting reverb on the entire mix?

TOM: I've only done that on two projects in my entire life. The guy said "Yeah! I love it" I said "Are you sure?" In fact, the one guy I made him go home and listen to the whole thing before I commit to it because it was going right across the board. Usually it's for fades or a little expression at the end. The reverb is strictly for a fix.

Phil: What's your feeling about using multiple sets of monitors?

TOM: I do 99.9 percent of my equalization on my one set of monitors, which Ted Jensen built, for me. Ted's using the "Nautilus" but I'm not. Ted used to make these smaller monitors for himself and engineer friends of his. I said, "Why don't you make me a bigger set?" The components in it are readily available but the design of the box, the bass box and the design of the crossover works well! Then I have a little set of Genelecs in here. I'm relying on them more for how things sit in the track. I use them more than I ever thought I would for balance relationships and trying to see how the consumer will hear it. These are the little baby 1030's. Sometimes when a client calls me up and wants to change something, if I put them on my big ones it masks what they're trying to tell me because everything comes out loud. When I listen on the Genelecs I'll listen and say, "oh I hear what he's saying". In making the eq adjustments I'll still listen to my main monitors to be sure of what I'm doing. Then I'll bring it back down to the small ones again to see how it relates.

Phil: Your website bio says you were known for getting the most and best sound onto vinyl. Do have to think about how the song will work on vinyl or even the radio?

TOM: To make it sound a great as possible. I don't eq for a format. If something goes to vinyl, and I know from my years of experience that it won't transfer properly then I might have to make a change strictly for vinyl because the lacquer won't handle it. Anything I hear that would cause a problem on vinyl is just a problem to begin with. An "Ess" problem whether it's on CD or vinyl, it's annoying and needs to taken care of. I don't think in terms of vinyl when I master. I think in terms of best possible sound.

Phil: What is an alternate EQ for you?

TOM: When I give an alternate EQ it's like I hear something that I really like but may have gone a little past what the artist or client wants. I went "Oh, this is so cool" But I've also painted myself into a corner because If they don't love it then they're going to hate it! Sometimes an alternate EQ is when I back away a bit. A good strong EQ but not hells bells!

A lot of the time it's just for clients who aren't here. It's time consuming for them to send it over, get a CD ref back, listen, make changes...especially if it's a single. It just saves a lot of time!

Phil: How does an engineer get into a large reputable studio in New York or L.A.?

TOM: The first thing I'd say is persistence. Which is how I got into Frankford Wayne. Even though they didn't have any openings, I called every two weeks. They went "no, no, no" When there was an opening I was the first one to get the call. There are two levels at Sterling. The production guys and the mastering engineers. This has become the same way Sterling was under Lee (Lee Hulko, former owner of Sterling). But when I started out in mastering and was looking for a job, Lee really didn't want to know me because I was a nobody. He'd say, "We don't train mastering engineers, we rob them!" So if there was a guy who came to us and he billed a million dollars a year we'd find a room for him. If he only billed two hundred thousand then it wouldn't be economically feasible for us to do.

Phil: Any memorable session stories you've had over the years?

TOM: There is but I'd have to tell them all off the record. I will say this, on more than one occasion there have been songs where, for one reason or another, something's got botched up in the recording, the mixing, even in mastering in trying to those fix things. You look back on the project or the individual song and say "Oh my god, the thing was a mess" and the songs turns out to be a gigantic hit. Everyone felt that there was something special there in the song but how we got to the end result was laughable at times. Music is supposed to be an emotional thing and sometimes we get a little too analytical over it.

Phil: Sterling recently built a surround room for George Marino recently. When do you get one?

TOM: When I get enough clients asking. The demand on my end is just not there yet. I hear every once in a while a rep says we're mixing it stereo AND 5.1. But I have not even had one session where they said we've got a 5.1 mix and I've had to give it to someone else. It just hasn't happened yet.

Phil: Could you create a demand by simply building a surround console? "Hey Tom Coyne has a 5.1 console now..."

TOM: No I could not create a demand. That's an expense on their end that they couldn't justify. Everyone listening to MP3's now! Haha!