New York branch of Philadelphia-based mastering studios, opened 1973, closed April 2008.
Also appears as:
- Frankford Wayne
- Frankford Wayne Labs
- Frankford/Wayne Studios
- Frankford Wayne N.Y.C.
- Frankfurt/Wayne, New York
- Frankford/Wayne Mastering Studios, NYC
- Frankford Wayne Mastering Lab
- Frankford Wayne Mastering Labs
- Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs, Inc.
- Frankford Wayne Mastering Lab, NYC
- Frankford Wayne, N.Y., N.Y.
History
Tom Steele started Frankford/Wayne's mastering operations in 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, initially in his parents' basement in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, with partner Wayne Wilfong. Then in 1968, sharing a space with Sigma Sound Studios in the Center City downtown area of Philadelphia, and then later setting up his own facility nearby, Frankford/Wayne Recording Labs in Philadelphia. In 1973, they opened a New York branch. Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs, Inc., was incorporated on May 13, 1974, and became the company's primary location. After Steele retired from the business in 1990, his daughter, Tracy Lynn Steele, took over operations. CD and vinyl mastering continued until the facility closed in April 2008.
Engineers
Some of the mastering engineers who have worked at Frankford/Wayne include:
Al Brown (5), (signature: ab or ⍺ʙ)
Carlton Batts [1984-1993] (signature: CSB or C.B.)
Chris Gehringer (signature: C.G., cg, cg☮)
Dominick Romeo (signature: DR)
Don Grossinger (signature: D.G., DG, G, G.D.)
Duncan Stanbury (signature: DS)
Greg Vaughn, chief technical engineer (signature: GV, G.S.V.)
Herb Powers Jr. (signature: :^), HP and many other variations)
Jeff Ader (signature: JA)
Joe Gastwirt (signature: JG)
John Nagy
José Rodriguez (signature: JR)
Michael Sarsfield, senior engineer (signature: JMS, M.J.S., MJS, MS or MSJ)
Nimitr Sarikananda (signature: NS)
Rick Essig (signature: RCE, R.C.E., RE)
Stuart J. Romaine (signature: SJR, Stu)
Tom Coyne (signature: ¢, C, CT, TC)
Tom Steele (signature: TSS)
Vinyl identification
Vinyl records mastered at Frankford/Wayne in New York, if not printed on the labels or sleeve, can be recognized by a mastering stamp in the runout grooves. The mastering stamp usually takes the form of MASTERING BY FRANKFORD/WAYNE NEW YORK, or the initials F/W followed by an apple symbol (FW/NYC Ѽ or F/W Ѽ). This apple was sometimes loosely etched and can look like "C5" or other characters. Later releases only have F/W; most are often followed by the engineer's signature or initials.
LCCN entry
Unless "Frankford Recording" is printed on the release, when found in runouts for releases 1973 and later:
– "FW/NY," "FW/NYC," "F/W Ѽ," "fw": Lacquer Cut At – Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs
– "FW" and one of the engineer's scribes above: Lacquer Cut At – Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs (and Lacquer Cut By – Artist + ANV)
– "MASTERING BY FRANKFORD WAYNE NEW YORK": Mastered At – Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs
Also see:
– Frankford/Wayne Recording Labs (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
– Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs of Miami (Miami, Florida)
