10th GRAMMY nomination for Michael Graves

Super happy and honored to report that Michael Graves was nominated for a GRAMMY this morning for Dust-to-Digital's, "Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris." Congratulations to fellow nominees, William Ferris and Lance & April Ledbetter. The category is Best Historical Album and this is Graves’ 10th GRAMMY nomination.

The 61st GRAMMY Awards telecast will begin at 5:00 PM, PT February 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA. and will be broadcast live on CBS. The Premier Ceremony, where Best Historical and about 90 other categories will be awarded, begins at 12:30 PT and can be streamed live at grammy.com.

The 33rd Annual fRoots Critics Poll 2018 Nominees

We’re very fortunate that we get to work with people doing such extraordinary work. Three of the six nominees for the 2018 fRoots Magazine Critics Poll for best Compilation/Re-issues/Historic Album are projects that were restored and mastered by Michael Graves here at Osiris Studio. Congratulations to everyone at Analog Africa (DUR-DUR BAND : Dur-Dur Of Somalia Volume 1 & 2), Dust-to-Digital (VARIOUS ARTISTS : Listen All Around: 1950s Popular Music From The Congo, Tanganyika, Zanzibar And Kenya) and Ostinato Records (VARIOUS ARTISTS : Two Niles To Sing A Melody: The Violins & Synths Of Sudan).

Winners announced on BBC Radio 3 on December 7.

UPDATE: Analog Africa’s Dur-Dur Of Somalia Volume 1 & 2 is the winner this year, with Dust-to-Digital’s Listen All Around coming in at #2 and Ostinato Records’ Two Niles To Sing A Melody earning a spot at #5 (out of 20). Congrats to all!

How Long-Lost Records Are Found and Restored

I talked with CJ Hurt over at Reverb LP recently about working with “lost records.” Read it here.

Michael Graves Featured in Tape Op Magazine

Looking for pearls of wisdom on audio restoration and remastering? Jessica Thompson talks with Michael Graves, Josh Bonati and Maria Rice about the aesthetics of remastering reissues in the May/June issue of Tape Op Magazine.

Vince Guaraldi: The Complete Warner Bros.–Seven Arts Recordings!

John Wesley Harding and Bruce Springsteen

Backstreets Magazine premiers a previously unseen video of Bruce Springsteen joining John Wesley Harding aka Wesley Stace for Wreck On The Highway in 1994 at McCabe's Guitar Shop! The video was transferred and restored here at Osiris Studio in preparation for Omnivore Recordings' upcoming release of Harding's Greatest Other People's Hits.  A limited edition LP will be released on Record Store Day (April 21, 2018) followed by a full length CD May 18, 2018.

Technicolor Paradise: Rethinking Exotica

Meticulously restored and mastered from stacks of 45's and boxes of master tapes, Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights brings together an unexpected, intoxicating indie version of Exotica.  Numero Group's Ken Shipley:

"I think what people have thought of as exotic and lounge music before was through the lens of all the major labels -- those Capitol Ultra-Lounge series (releases) and stuff like that. I wanted to make something that's the indie version of all that, and it's just as interesting."

LPs and CDs available May 25th on Numero Group. 

Nina Simone - Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles on BMG

4.5 star review on allmusic!

"Sequenced in the order the 45s were released and remastered to make the most of the warm, well-detailed audio, Mood Indigo is the best and most caring presentation of this material to date."

We went back to the original tapes and vinyl sources for the mastering. Most of these versions haven't seen the light of day since their first 7" release back in the late 1950's. Read more about it at Audiophile Review.  Amazing music from beginning to end and so much fun to work on with my pals at Omnivore Creative. Available on LP/CD/Digital (and LIMITED EDITION blue vinyl at Barnes & Noble). 

Yes, it comes in blue!

The Technics SP-10R/SL-1000R

Four Volume Ru-Jac Records retrospective

Omnivore Recordings rolls out two various artists volumes today followed by two more next Friday, collecting for the very first time anywhere the audio history of Ru-Jac Records. Each volume is produced by the GRAMMY Award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski and Kevin Coombe, East Coast soul historian. Coombe provides liner notes detailing the rise and eventual closure of the label, and its close ties to the segregated beaches and performance spaces of the region. Utilizing original tapes, extremely collectible 45s, and acetates, all four volumes underwent extensive restoration and mastering right here at Osiris Studio by Michael Graves.

The Baltimore soul/R&B label Ru-Jac Records was founded in 1963 by local promoter Rufus Mitchell and investor partner Jack Bennett (their names forming the Ru-Jac name). The label primarily released regional soul/R&B singles from 1963 until the mid 1970s, when Mitchell stepped away to focus on another business venture.