Peter Doell is an American recording and mastering engineer known for his work with Miles Davis, Toto, Céline Dion and The Beach Boys.[1] Doell has been a staff engineer at Capitol Studios, Sunset Sound Recorders[2][3] and Universal Mastering Studios West.[4][5][6] His film and TV work includes Road To Perdition, Black Hawk Down and Monsters, Inc., American Idol, The Voice and Empire.[7][8][9]

Peter Doell
BornRochester, New York
Occupation(s)Recording Engineer, Mixing Engineer, Mastering Engineer

Doell is a member of the executive committee of the Audio Engineering Society Los Angeles Section, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Producers and Engineers Wing and past member of the AES Mastering Panel.[10]

Early life and education

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Doell grew up in Rochester, New York. His interest in music was sparked by the summer concert series "The Arrangers Holiday" at the Eastman School of Music, where Phil Ramone was the recording engineer. During high school, Doell played the electric bass on bands he put together.[11][2]

Doell started college enrolled in a biology program to later pursue a career in medicine. He changed from biology to music after seeing the multi-track tape recorders at his college's music department.[11] Doell graduated from University at Albany with a B.A. in Electronic Music Composition.[10]

Career

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Recording engineer

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Doell began his career as a recording engineer at Dimension Sound in Boston in 1974. In 1980, he relocated to Los Angeles as a recording engineer at Wally Heider Studios.[11] He was assistant engineer on Eddie Money's album “No Control” produced by Tom Dowd[12][2]

After a year at Wally Heider, Doell moved to Sunset Sound Factory, where he was a technician for 18 months. In 1983 Doell moved to Capitol Studios,[13][14][15] where he worked for 15 years.[2] Peter Doell was the recording engineer for the albums “While the City Sleeps...” by George Benson and “Tutu” by Miles Davis, produced by Tommy LiPuma. He was recommended to LiPuma by James Newton Howard.[11] Davis won the Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist" for his performance on "Tutu".[16]

Throughout the late 80s and 90s, Doell was recording engineer on albums including “Festival” by Lee Ritenour (1988), “Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance” by Wynton Marsalis (1990), “The Sun Don't Lie” by Marcus Miller (1993), “Duets” and “Duets II” by Frank Sinatra (1993 and 1994), “Falling into You” by Céline Dion (1996) and the original motion picture soundtrack for “Tarzan” by Phil Collins and Mark Mancina (1999).[12]

Mastering engineer

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In the early 2000s, Doell took on a role as mastering engineer.[17] He worked as senior mastering engineer at Universal Mastering Studios West's Studio A.[2][18] This room was known for its unusually large dimensions for a mastering studio (32’x21’x11’).[4] Doell mastered records from labels affiliated to Capitol Music Group, owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), as well as from independent clients.[5][19] At Universal, Doell mastered the album "Toto XIV", which won a TEC Award in 2016 in the "Record Production/Album" category.[20]

In February 2016, Doell joined AfterMaster Audio Labs[6] as senior mastering engineer as the company expanded its mastering services.[21][22][23]

In September 2022, Doell founded the mastering studio 21st Century Audio. Albums mastered by Doell at 21st Century Audio include "Fifty" by The Manhattan Transfer ,[24] "Live in Italy" by the Peter Erskine Trio and "Vulnerable" by Nikkole.[25]

Audio Lunch

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Doell organizes a weekly lunchtime gathering in Burbank, California. Producers and engineers meet on the outdoor patio of a Mexican restaurant. Attendance has reached 150.[26][27]

Accolades

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Grammy Awards

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Doell is credited as mastering engineer on the following Grammy-nominated albums at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards:[28]

RIAA

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Doell is credited as engineer in the following RIAA certified records:[29][30]

Goldmine Magazine

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Doell is credited as mastering engineer on Nikkole's 2021 album "Vulnerable", chosen #1 on Goldmine Magazine's 2022 Top 10 Soul and R&B albums of the year.[31]

Selected discography

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Year Album Artist Role
1970 Asante McCoy Tyner Remixing
1972 The Last Session Lee Morgan Remixing
1975 Teaser Tommy Bolin Mastering
1977 Street Survivors Lynyrd Skynyrd Remixing
1986 While the City Sleeps... George Benson Engineer
1986 Tutu Miles Davis Engineer
1986 Rock Therapy Stray Cats Engineer
1986 Abstract Emotions Randy Crawford Mixing
1988 Recently Joan Baez Engineer
1988 Born 2 B Blue Steve Miller Engineer
1989 Repeat Offender Richard Marx Engineer
1990 Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance Wynton Marsalis Engineer
1990 If There Was a Way Dwight Yoakam Engineer
1991 Back from Rio Roger McGuinn Engineer
1992 La Croix d’Amour Dwight Yoakam Engineer
1993 This Time Dwight Yoakam Engineer
1993 The Sun Don't Lie Marcus Miller Engineer
1994 Healing Hands of Time Willie Nelson Engineer
1995 Absolutely! Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra Engineer
1996 What the Hell Happened to Me? Adam Sandler Engineer
1996 Static Prevails Jimmy Eat World Engineer
1996 Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1 The Beach Boys Engineer
1999 Tarzan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Phil Collins, Mark Mancina Engineer
1999 At First Sight (Score/Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Mark Isham Mixing
2000 The Road to El Dorado (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Elton John Engineer
2000 Complete Blue Note Elvin Jones Sessions Elvin Jones Remixing
2002 An American Journey: Winter Olympics 2002 John Williams Scoring Crew
2002 A New Day Has Come Céline Dion Engineer
2002 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane t.A.T.u. Mastering
2004 Trios Wynton Marsalis Engineer
2006 To Go: Stick It in Your Ear The Jackson 5 Mastering
2006 To Go: Stick It in Your Ear Commodores Mastering
2006 To Go: Stick It in Your Ear James Brown Mastering
2007 Hits and Rarities Sheryl Crow Mastering
2009 You Never Can Tell: The Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966 Chuck Berry Remixing
2009 The High End of Low Marilyn Manson Mastering
2009 Let's Talk About Love/A New Day Has Come Céline Dion Engineer
2010 Rarities Edition: Street Survivors Lynyrd Skynyrd Remixing
2010 Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings (1969-1974) Chuck Berry Mixing
2011 Re: (Disc)overed Puddle of Mudd Mastering
2011 Beg for Mercy Adam Lambert Mastering
2013 Transition Steve Lukather Mastering
2013 Made in California The Beach Boys Engineer
2013 Icon Tom Jones Mastering
2013 Icon The Beach Boys Mastering
2014 Genius Loves Company (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) Ray Charles Mastering
2015 Toto XIV Toto Mastering
2016 Dr. Um Peter Erskine Mastering
2017 Second Opinion Peter Esrkine Mastering
2021 Dimmi di più Elemento 38 Mastering
2021 Vulnerable Nikkole Mastering
2022 Live in Italy Peter Erskine Trio Mastering
2022 Fifty The Manhattan Transfer ft. WDR Funkhausorchester Mastering

[12]

References

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  1. ^ Billboard Magazine - Audio Track. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1986-03-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e "AudioProDB". www.adp.orangestandardscrubs.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  3. ^ Soosay, Alphonso (2016). My Passion "Audio Awareness". Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-5245-1874-5.
  4. ^ a b "On the Cover: Universal Mastering Studios West". Mixonline. 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  5. ^ a b "Close Up: Universal Mastering Studios". Music Connection Magazine. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  6. ^ a b "Aftermaster Studios sets up shop in former Hollywood home of Crosby, Stills & Nash". Pasadena Star News. 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  7. ^ "Contributors". Tec Foundation.
  8. ^ "Peter Doell". NAMM.org. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  9. ^ "The Producers: From Melodies to Masters". www.fast-and-wide.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  10. ^ a b Wollrich, Richard. "About Us". Audio Engineering Society - Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  11. ^ a b c d "Interview: Peter Doell: Tutu Studio Engineer". The Last Miles. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  12. ^ a b c "Peter Doell | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  13. ^ Billboard Magazine - Studio Track. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1983-01-08.
  14. ^ Billboard Magazine - Audio Track. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1986-10-04.
  15. ^ Billboard Magazine - Audio Track. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1986-07-26.
  16. ^ "29th Annual GRAMMY Awards". GRAMMY.com. 2017-11-28. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  17. ^ Wilson, Jonathan (2011-11-09). "Audio mastering: inside the engineer's sonic laboratory". eandt.theiet.org. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  18. ^ "Mastering with the Masters. 7 Questions with Famed Mastering Engineers Emily Lazar, Peter Doell, and Bob Katz | Universal Audio". www.uaudio.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  19. ^ "studioexpresso - studio spotlight Universal Mastering". www.studioexpresso.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  20. ^ "Toto XIV, Toto | TEC Awards". www.tecawards.org. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  21. ^ "Industry Profile: AfterMaster Audio Labs". Music Connection Magazine. 2015-08-31. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  22. ^ "Peter Doell Joins AfterMaster As Senior Mastering Engineer". Mixonline. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  23. ^ Music Connection Magazine. October 2019. p. 41.
  24. ^ Fifty - The Manhattan Transfer | Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-01-07
  25. ^ Vulnerable - Nikkole | Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-01-07
  26. ^ "Pete Doell's Effing Birthday Bash!!!". Music Connection Magazine. 2019-09-06. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  27. ^ "Mix Magazine Features Peter Doell Lunch Gathering Birthday For Al Shmitt". Aftermaster. 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  28. ^ "2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List". www.grammy.com. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  29. ^ "Apply". RIAA. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  30. ^ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  31. ^ Scott, TONE (27 December 2022). "2022's Top 10 Soul and R&B albums of the year". Goldmine Magazine: Record Collector & Music Memorabilia. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
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