Levi Seitz's guest appearances

Levi Seitz

Vinyl Emergency

Solving Sounds

Made for Music

Emily McVicker

Jason Isbell

Amanda Shires

Antoine Martel

Aaron Draplin

Rosanne Cash

Stephen Colbert

Ben Carter

Chris Ballew

John Oates

Frank Turner

Justin Perkins

Chuck Berry

Billy Bragg

Ben Gibbard

OwlTail

Levi was born and raised in Tacoma, WA – and has been a part of some HUGE records – including those of August Burns Red, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone He also mastered the Sleepover EP from former podcast guests DATENITE. He’s a genius mastering engineer that primarily works on analog equipment that has been either custom built or modified. He’s an absolute delight to work with, and sure to bring out the best in your recordings.   So, without further ado, please welcome, the owner of Black Belt Mastering – the first junior Olympian on the podcast – and a true black belt, Levi Seitz.  Closing song: "Return of the Frog Queen" by Jeremy Enigk.

Levi was born and raised in Tacoma, WA – and has been a part of some HUGE records – including those of August Burns Red, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone He also mastered the Sleepover EP from former podcast guests DATENITE. He’s a genius mastering engineer that primarily works on analog equipment that has been either custom built or modified. He’s an absolute delight to work with, and sure to bring out the best in your recordings. So, without further ado, please welcome, the owner of Black Belt Mastering – the first junior Olympian on the podcast – and a true black belt, Levi Seitz. Closing song: "Return of the Frog Queen" by Jeremy Enigk.

S2 Ep41: Levi Seitz

In today's episode, Levi Seitz walks us through the long road he took to starting his mastering company, Black Belt.  We talk about the mentors who open the doors of opportunity, working with your heroes, and quitting school to follow a girl.

In today's episode, Levi Seitz walks us through the long road he took to starting his mastering company, Black Belt.  We talk about the mentors who open the doors of opportunity, working with your heroes, and quitting school to follow a girl.

EP2 - Levi Seitz (Black Belt Mastering)

Previous guest Levi Seitz of Seattle's Black Belt Mastering has an impressive résumé, including work with Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, Macklemore collaborator Wanz and doing vinyl cutting for last year's Pearl Jam Vault Series release and Mother Love Bone reissues. This past December, another previous guest Rocky Votolato recorded three nights of performances at Levi's home, which has now been spun into "Live At Black Belt," Rocky's first live album, cut to vinyl by Levi and limited to 500 vinyl copies on pink/white swirl. This week, Levi returns to discuss how this new project came to be and how it was recorded, the distinct difference between "vinyl mastering" and "mastering for vinyl," working recently with Halo composer Marty O'Donnell, true sound differences between 1LP or 2LP releases cut at 33RPM vs. 45, how you can tell if records in your own collection have had to be re-cut, the importance of matrix numbers within the deadwax, the myth of the "hot stamper" and a fun Paul McCartney story.

Episode 52: Levi Seitz of Black Belt Mastering RETURNS

If you heard my recent chat with Rocky Votolato, you may remember us discussing a new 7" he appears on as part of the Live On Lacquer series, where artists cover each other's work and do so without any overdubs or tweaking -- all sounds are directly recorded onto acetate as a lathe machine cuts the record's information in real time, before it's sent off for duplication. Today, Levi Seitz from Live On Lacquer as well as Black Belt Mastering joins me to discuss the 7" series, his iconic Scully Lathe, the art of mastering for both digital and vinyl releases, whether there's truth to some of vinyl's biggest buzz words and much more! Levi's résumé includes work with Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, Macklemore collaborator Wanz and even vinyl cutting for upcoming reissues of Mother Love Bone's first two releases as well as a forthcoming live Pearl Jam 3LP set, so this is a great chat for anyone interested in how sound is cut directly to vinyl. Visit  blackbeltmastering.com to learn more about Levi's work, and make sure to enter our contest this week where you and a friend could both win the Rocky Votolato / Noah Gundersen Live On Lacquer 7", graciously provided by Levi for our listeners!    SPONSORS: Pinwheel Records, 1722 W. 18th St. in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood; KeepersRecordClub.com, where you can save 10% on all subscriptions with promo code VINYLEMERGENCY at check out.   If you like the show, leave us an iTunes review or donate to keep us up and running and you'll be entered into the Mint Condition Coalition, giving you entry into a gigantic giveaway at the end of 2016 for records and swag from Vinyl Me Please, Warner Bros., Topshelf, Wax Mage, Hey Mercedes and much more. Visit vinylemergency.com and click 'donate' for more info! Follow @VinylEmergency on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Show questions and feedback are welcomed at vinylemergency@gmail.com.

If you heard my recent chat with Rocky Votolato, you may remember us discussing a new 7" he appears on as part of the Live On Lacquer series, where artists cover each other's work and do so without any overdubs or tweaking -- all sounds are directly recorded onto acetate as a lathe machine cuts the record's information in real time, before it's sent off for duplication. Today, Levi Seitz from Live On Lacquer as well as Black Belt Mastering joins me to discuss the 7" series, his iconic Scully Lathe, the art of mastering for both digital and vinyl releases, whether there's truth to some of vinyl's biggest buzz words and much more! Levi's résumé includes work with Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, Macklemore collaborator Wanz and even vinyl cutting for upcoming reissues of Mother Love Bone's first two releases as well as a forthcoming live Pearl Jam 3LP set, so this is a great chat for anyone interested in how sound is cut directly to vinyl. Visit <a href="http://blackbeltmastering.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> blackbeltmastering.com</a> to learn more about Levi's work, and make sure to enter our contest this week where you and a friend could both win the Rocky Votolato / Noah Gundersen Live On Lacquer 7", graciously provided by Levi for our listeners!   SPONSORS: Pinwheel Records, 1722 W. 18th St. in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood; <a href="http://KeepersRecordClub.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KeepersRecordClub.com</a>, where you can save 10% on all subscriptions with promo code VINYLEMERGENCY at check out.   If you like the show, leave us an iTunes review or donate to keep us up and running and you'll be entered into the Mint Condition Coalition, giving you entry into a gigantic giveaway at the end of 2016 for records and swag from Vinyl Me Please, Warner Bros., Topshelf, Wax Mage, Hey Mercedes and much more. Visit <a href="http://vinylemergency.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vinylemergency.com</a> and click 'donate' for more info! Follow @VinylEmergency on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Show questions and feedback are welcomed at <a>vinylemergency@gmail.com</a>.