Custom Music Mastering & Audiophile Restoration
for Streaming, Vinyl, and Immersive
Los Angeles, California - Williamsburg, Virginia
Situated in Burbank CA alongside Lurssen and Oasis Mastering, The Lathe Room is Marsh Mastering's dedicated lacquer-cutting facility, housing a classic Scully 601 Disk Mastering lathe enhanced with quartz-locked turntable direct drive and a Neumann-style lift-drop and depth coil.
Pitch18 preview electronics with Remain Time Monitor combined with an Altman Diameter Control allow for long, clean sides and repeatable results. Westrex 3DIIAH Stereo/2B Mono cutterheads - along with extensively modernized and upgraded Westrex cutting electronics - form the cornerstone of a system renowned for its unparalleled sonic fidelity.
The Lathe Room analog mastering configuration incorporates specialized
program EQ, compression, high-frequency limiting, precision filtering, and a custom cutting console.
Sophisticated metering and monitoring systems offer continuous operator feedback, ensuring precise cuts and optimal disc levels for various program types.
The Lathe Room delivers top-tier clocking and conversion capabilities along with exclusive wiring that powers a carefully crafted monitor chain, featuring 3-way Dynaudio mains. We guarantee exceptional system fidelity by employing voltage-regulated and transformer-isolated (balanced) power distribution across all of our facilities.
Our array of equipment includes an RME interfaced Pyramix workstation and a painstakingly refurbished and maintained Studer A80 tape machine. Additionally, we offer a vintage ATR-104 with custom Extended Response heads in various setups for analog playback, along with full support for all digital formats (tape, disc, or files).
Our unique Westrex cutting system electronics - encompassing preamplifiers, cutting head, and feedback amplifiers - have undergone extensive updates and revisions in-house, under the supervision of the esteemed Len Horowitz, known as the Godfather of Scully/Westrex Lathes, from History of Recorded Sound. Mechanical enhancements have been conducted in-house, overseen by Jacob Horowitz, also affiliated with History of Recorded Sound.
We've adopted a meticulous approach to ensure signal flow integrity. Every component involved in audio transmission has been meticulously examined, updated and enhanced. This results in lacquer masters with a fidelity that competes with any cutting system worldwide.
No cutting room is truly complete without a first-rate engineering team, proficient in operating the equipment and possessing the keen listening skills necessary to efficiently dial in a cut with exceptional results. The Lathe Room is proud to have three highly skilled engineers, all of whom are adept at delivering top-notch outcomes.
Cutting Engineer: Stephen Marsh
With a mastering career spanning 4 decades, Stephen is a first-call engineer mastering and cutting engineer in the Los Angeles area and the owner of Marsh Mastering and The Lathe Room.
Among his unique specializations are film, television and game music and his regular client roster features Grammy®, Oscar®, and Golden Globe® winners. He is credited along side a 'who's who' of A-List composers including Blake Neely, Dan Romer, Mychael Danna, John Powell.
In addition, Stephen is well-known as a go-to for audiophile remastering and DSD authoring. Re-issue credits include albums by BB King, James Taylor, Nat King Cole, Crosby Stills and Nash.
Stephen's cutting credits include albums by artist including Finger Eleven, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Linda Ronstadt, Winton Marsalis and LA punk legends The Adolescents.
Cutting Engineer: Margaret Luthar
Margaret 'Maggie' Luthar is a cutting engineer and mastering engineer in Los Angeles. Maggie cuts at The Lathe Room and masters music at a facility she operates with mastering engineer Ian Sefchick called Dark Sky Mastering. She's also a freelance audio engineer for National Public Radio (NPR).
Maggie has a background in classical recording, and has been cutting lacquers since 2017. She learned to cut at Chicago Mastering Service, where she was a mastering engineer. From 2019-2022 she was the head mastering/cutting engineer at Welcome to 1979. Her audio experience includes 5 years in Norway as a freelance mastering/recording engineer as well.
Maggie has cut lacquers for front-line artists in every genre including Weezer, Puscifer, The Lumineers, Townes Van Zandt, Switchfoot, and Grammy® winner Bobby Rush to name a few.
Cutting Engineer: Justin Fleuriel
Since first joining in Marsh Mastering in 2014, Justin spent the last 10 years learning everything he could about mastering and disc cutting. In that time he has gained a following amongst those in the know as a go-to cutting engineer for anything and everything loud!
A Massachusetts native, Justin relates to artists and embraces their unique vision with his thorough understanding of all stages of the creative process. He is both an engineer and a musician and he approaches every project, large or small, as a member of the band. He has the attention to detail and work ethic required to exceed his clients' expectations.