Bernie Grundman
From an early age, Bernie Grundman was passionate about music and the heightened experience high quality recordings could add. He was a typical audiophile, spending most of his money on records and equipment and hanging out at the local audio shop on Saturdays.
After starting in professional audio at a studio in Phoenix, Arizona, he was fortunate enough to move to Hollywood and become chief engineer at Contemporary Records. He had always admired their sound as the cleanest most natural recordings, so this was a dream come true. After two years he had gained a big reputation in mastering, and was hired to head A&M's mastering department. He was there for 15 years throughout their most successful period. During this time he mastered most of the recordings of: Herb Alpert, Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, Sergio Mendes, Carol King, Joe Cocker, Joni Mitchell . . . and the list goes on. In 1984 he opened his own studio, and to this day has maintained a prominent position in the music industry mastering hundreds of gold and platinum albums. Some of his major artists include: Michael Jackson, Prince, Mary J. Blige, Outcast, Jack Johnson . . . and other greats. He has also mastered almost all, or roughly 400 albums for the audiophile company Classic Records. For ten years he has also had a studio in Tokyo that masters many of the top artists in Asia. Bernie is a Grammy winner and has 13 Tec awards to his credit.
Bernie feels that a lot of his success comes from his technical staff. They have been able to improve existing equipment and build many proprietary components designed for exceptional quality. In 2005 he and partner Stewart Levine launched a new audiophile label called Straight Ahead Records aimed at optimized music and audio. He has come full circle from his beginnings as a listener and appreciator of audiophile recordings to pursuing and producing audiophile recordings.
