Bernie Grundman, a Palisades resident since 1976, received a Grammy Award for “Album of the Year” for hip-hop duo OutKast’s “SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below” at the 46th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center Sunday. Grundman has won many awards in his field of audio mastering, but this is his first Grammy. Grammys for mastering are new, and have been awarded only for the past three years to the engineer who masters the “Album of the Year.” Mastering is a critical part of the final shape and the quality of the sound. Grundman attended the gala event with his wife Claire, an artist, and his son Paul, a musician/producer, who is currently an engineer for Jackson Browne. He was also accompanied by artist-on-the-rise Celeste, who grew up in the Palisades and has performed professionally since she was 8 years old. What is mastering anyway? “Well, it really can sonically make or break an album,” said Paul Grundman. “It is the final process. The mastering engineer must, like a microsurgeon of sound, listen with his best ears to decide what to do, or what not to do, using a mastering console primarily. The mastering console is like the treble and bass knobs (on a stereo system), but imagine about 20 or 30 of them, each dedicated to a particular frequency and each affecting the entire sound.” The Grundman console was custom created by Bernie Grundman and the late Karl Bischof, his partner of 30 years. There are only a few of these consoles in existence-here and in Tokyo, Japan, where Grundman has another studio. “It’s really great that they are recognizing mastering in the awards” Grundman said. “It was really wild to get up there and see all of the people from the stage.” “My father recently gave Andre of OutKast some of his favorite jazz albums by Sonny Rollins because he was becoming interested in John Coltrane,” Paul said. “If you tell Bernie you’re into jazz, you’re speaking his language. He’ll just find something you’ve never heard and it’ll blow you away.” Grundman mastered while at A&M records for 15 years, and in 1983 opened his own studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering. With his associates Brian Gardner and Chris Bellman, he has built a client list that includes Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, Eminem, Enrique Iglesias, Dr Dre, Christina Aguilera, Alanis Morissette, Fleetwood Mac, Missy Eliott, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Snoop Dogg, Blink 182, Madonna, Elton John, David Bowie and Beck, to name a few. “We are so happy for him,” said Alexia Csato of the Palisades hair and beauty salon “Le Studio” (formerly Peter & Alexia) on Via De La Paz. “We want to send our warmest congratulations!” Peter added, “He’s been one of our best clients and a great friend for over 20 years now, and we’re so glad that he got a Grammy.” “We were nervous towards the end because it is the last award they give, but I knew he was going to win,” Celeste said. “We jumped out of our seats and screamed when they announced OutKast.” “My father has always been my hero. I’m a fan too,” said Paul Grundman. “When I saw him on stage, I don’t think I had seen him smile so much like a kid before. It touched my heart and I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”
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