Originally Posted by
GrahamS
There was a console just inside the entrance to one of the cutting rooms where local productions were cut from the final master tape to lacquer. On the console facia there were two black knobs, marked "Highs" and "Lows" respectively. As a newbie, I asked the cutting engineer what the console was for and he told me, after swearing me to secrecy, that it was for producers to "tweak" the final sound. When I expressed my amazement that anyone would be allowed to interfere with the final lacquer, he told me to open the bottom of the console cabinet and handed me a screwdriver to turn the catches. I did so and looked inside - there were no connections to anything in there and it didn't do a thing to the sound. The cutting engineer explained further that local producers felt that it was their right to oversee any part of their own production and that they would come in to the cutting room when he was cutting their production and insist on "More bass" or More tops." The cutting engineer would invite them to tweak for themselves, using the dummy console.
Everything is subjective...