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Dennis Drake

Real Name:
Dennis M. Drake
Profile:
Owner/chief engineer of Dennis Drake's Music Lab.

After studying at Cornell University, taking classes in electronic music from Robert Moog, Dennis Drake started on the road doing Sound Reinforcement with the Beach Boys, James Taylor, The Yes Group and others. He then worked at A & R Recording Studios in NYC, assisting engineers and producers like Phil Ramone and Elliot Scheiner on albums for Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and others.

Drake then moved to Los Angeles as a staff recording engineer at United-Western Studios, working on albums and TV show soundtracks with Mike Post, Ringo Starr, Steve Binder and Jimmy Webb.

In 1982, he moved to Polygram Records and started his career in mastering. As head of studio and technical operations, Dennis was responsible for creating the Polygram Tape Facility in Edison, New Jersey, consolidating the label's masters from many locations into a single facility. He also supervised the design and construction of three mastering studios.

In the 1980s, as the CD format took off, Polygram had a huge catalogue to mine, having been one of the developers of the format, along with SONY. Drake remastered for artists like Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers, and the Verve records catalogue, including recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and others.

In the late 1980's Drake gained critical acclaim for developing a custom analog-to-digital transfer process and mastered the first 26 CD reissues from the Mercury Living Presence classical recordings, working with the original producer, Wilma Cozart Fine.

Dennis' company The Music Lab was founded in 1991, specializing in audio mastering, restoration, and archiving of music catalogues.
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Variations:
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Discography

Remixes:
Crossroads (Comp) (3 versions) Sleeping In The Ground... Polydor ... 1988
Mix:
Tales From The Brothers Gibb - A History In Song 1967-1990 (Comp) (2 versions)   Polydor 1990
Make It Funky...The Big Payback: 1971-1975 (2xCD, Comp)   Polygram Records 1996
Appears On:
Very Tall (2 versions)   Verve Records 1962
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (2xLP, Album, RE)   RSO Records, Inc. 1977
Rhapsody In Blue (2 versions)   Private Stock 1977
The Choirboys - Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (LP, Album)   MCA Records 1977
No Way (Album) (4 versions)   Amo Records ... 1980
The Audience With Betty Carter (Album) (2 versions)   Bet-Car Records ... 1980
Jungle Dreams (LP)   CBS 1981
Strange Brew - The Very Best Of Cream (CD, Comp)   Polydor, BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. 1983
The Cole Porter Songbook, Vol. 2 (CD, Album)   Verve Records 1984
The Girl From Ipanema - The Bossa Nova Years (5xLP)   Verve Records 1984
The James Brown Story - Ain't That A Groove 1966-1969 (LP, Comp)   Polydor, Polygram Records 1984
The James Brown Story - Doing It To Death 1970-73 (LP, Comp)   Polydor, Polygram Records 1984
The Silver Collection (CD, Comp)   Verve Records 1984
The Velvet Underground (Album) (4 versions)   Verve Records ... 1984
CD Of JB (Sex Machine And Other Soul Classics) (Comp) (3 versions)   Polydor ... 1985
From Here To Eternity ... And Back (CD)   Casablanca Records 1985
The Cole Porter Songbook (Comp) (2 versions)   Verve Records 1985
The Jerome Kern Songbook (CD)   Verve Records 1985
The Rodgers And Hart Songbook Volume 2 (CD, Comp)   Verve Records 1985
VU (Comp) (2 versions)   Verve Records 1985
At The Opera House (CD)   Verve Records 1986
Bird And Diz (CD)   Verve Records 1986
In The Jungle Groove (Comp) (7 versions)   Polydor ... 1986
Compact Jazz: Jimmy Smith (CD, Comp)   Verve Records 1987
In My Life (Greatest Hits) (CD)   Casablanca Records 1987
Live At The Apollo (CD, Album)   Polydor 1987
Rising (CD, Album, RM)   Polydor 1987
Greatest Hits (Comp) (2 versions)   Polydor ... 1988
James Brown's Funky People (Part 2) (Comp) (4 versions)   Polydor ... 1988
Mambo Moves (CD)   Mercury 1988
Spanky's Greatest Hit(s) (CD, Comp, RM)   Mercury 1988
Too Much Too Soon (CD, Album)   Mercury 1988
New York Dolls (CD, Album)   Mercury 1989
The Best Of The Velvet Underground (Words And Music Of Lou Reed) (CD, Comp)   Verve Records 1989
At The Montreux Jazz Festival (Album) (2 versions)   Verve Records 1990
Drummer Man (CD, Album, RE, RM)   Verve Records 1990
Highlights (2xCD)   Verve Records 1990
Jazz 'Round Midnight - Chet Baker (CD, Comp)   Verve Records 1990
Jazz 'Round Midnight - Piano (CD)   Verve Records 1990
Tales From The Brothers Gibb - A History In Song 1967-1990 (Comp) (2 versions)   Polydor 1990
The Jack Kerouac Collection (3xCD, Comp, RM, Box)   Rhino Entertainment Company 1990
Concerto For Orchestra, Dance Suite, Two Portraits Op.5, Two Excerpts From "Mikrokosmos" (CD, Comp)   Mercury 1991
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (CD, Album, RE)   Polydor 1991
The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals 1966-1968 (CD, Comp)   Polydor 1992
Modern Rock: 1980-1981 (2xCD, Comp)   Time Life Music, Warner Special Products 1999
Modern Rock: Dance (2xCD)   Sony Music Special Products, Time Life Music, Sony Music Special Products 1999
The Best Of The Artistics (CD, RM)   Brunswick 1999
The Swing Era - 1930-1936 (2xCD, Comp)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2000
The Swing Era - 1936-1937 (2xCD, Comp)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2000
The Swing Era - 1938-1939 (2xCD)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
The Swing Era - 1939-1940 (2xCD, Comp)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
The Swing Era - 1940-1941 (2xCD)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
The Swing Era - 1941-1942 (2xCD)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
The Swing Era - 1942-1945 (2xCD)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
The Swing Era - The Postwar Years (2xCD)   Time Life Music, EMI-Capitol Special Markets 2001
Collections (CD, Comp)   Sony BMG Music Entertainment 2003
Platinum & Gold Collection (CD)   RCA, BMG Heritage 2003
The Goldberg Variations - 1955 Recording (CD, RE)   Sony Classical, Sony Classical 2004
Liszt & Enesco Rhapsodies (SACD)   Mercury 2005
The Original Mellow-Soul Selection (2xCD, Comp) Inner City Blues (Make... Original Selection Records 2005
Meet The Smithereens! (CD, Album)   Koch Records, BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. 2007
Narrow-Caster (CD, Eco)   Not On Label (3RDegree Self-released) 2008
A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra (CD)   Verve Records  
Eat A Peach (Album) (2 versions)   Polydor  
Inner City Blues (CD)   Brunswick  
Jazz Samba Encore! (CD, Album, RE)   Verve Records  
My Spanish Heart (CD, Album, RM)   Polydor  
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