Mike Wells Mastering in San Francisco has taken delivery of an ATR-102 recorder equipped with David Hill-designed Aria Reference Series electronics. The vintage analog deck is the first of its kind to be installed on the west coast.
The Aria has all-discrete, class-A electronics and is equipped for record and playback in either 2-inch or 1-inch formats. ATR Services of York, PA, supplied the re-manufactured machine.
It is housed at Wells' new mastering facility in the Hyde Street Studios, the downtown San Francisco recording complex that started out as Wally Heider Studios — where the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Jefferson Airplane recorded much of their work.
Wells uses the ATR for mastering, playback and audio processing. It is also available to recording rooms in the complex for use as a primary mixdown deck, as well as renting the machine for high-resolution transfers when re-archiving analog masters into high resolution digital formats.
