
Be sure to tune into the 57th Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday. We’ll be watching it with great interest here in the Recorded Sound Section at the Library of Congress as two members of our technical staff have been nominated!
Robert Friedrich, Audio Preservation Specialist at the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, has been nominated for Mahler: Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ (Linn Records), Robert Friedrich, recording engineer; Michael Bishop & Robert Friedrich, surround mix engineers; Michael Bishop, surround mastering engineer; Elaine Martone, surround producer (Benjamin Zander & Philharmonia Orchestra). Friedrich shares the nomination in the category of Best Surround Sound Album with his colleagues Michael Bishop and Elaine Martone. Friedrich and Bishop helm Five/Four Productions, a firm that has won 16 Grammy awards in the past. For this recording Friedrich built on-location control rooms on two occasions. He also had to match the sonic ambience of two recorded performances of the Philharmonia Orchestra which were separated by three years and one major renovation of the hall. The results were then seamlessly fused.

Our Division’s second Grammy nominee is Processing Technician, David Sager. Mr. Sager is being nominated in the category of Best Album Notes for his work on the 32-page booklet accompanying the CD set Happy: The 1920 Rainbo Orchestra Sides. Sager’s notes detail the career of the Orchestra’s leader, Isham Jones who was famous for composing “It Had to Be You” among other works. He also headed several bands, but the recordings on this boxed set are restored copies of the very first recordings he made in 1920. Sager’s notes are informed by a thorough grounding in the history of early jazz and enhanced by decades of first-hand experience as a professional hot jazz and swing trombonist. In his own words, he has “played in big bands, local amateur symphony orchestras, Dixieland bands and rock ‘n’ roll-themed wedding bands – complete with ruffled tuxedo shirts!” This is Mr. Sager’s second Grammy nomination.
So be sure to tune in and join us in congratulating two stellar members of our staff!