May 20, 2005

Kevorkian Mastering Opens at Avatar Studios
Fred Kevorkian, Mastering Engineer, Joins Avatar's Creative Community

New York-AVATAR Studios, New York's premier tracking and mixing facility, is proud to announce the grand opening of its Kevorkian Mastering facility. Mastering engineer Fred Kevorkian joins Avatar's Creative Community of audio professionals with the completion of this new room.

Located on the 3rd floor at Avatar Studios, Kevorkian Mastering now provides clients the option to also master their projects at Avatar. Avatar's President, Kirk Imamura commented, "We can now offer our signature, high-quality service from tracking to mixing to mastering, all under one-roof. Package deals are now possible."

The mastering room is approximately 300 square feet. The room was constructed from a design originally conceived by Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics and was further enhanced and refined by Roy Hendrickson, Avatar's Chief Engineer, who also designed Avatar's Studio G. Membrane absorbers were incorporated into the walls of the room and Skyline diffusors made by RPG are used on the rear and side walls of the room. Randy Merrill, from Avatar's technical staff, worked with Fred to fine-tune the room acoustically and helped put the finishing touches to the installation of his equipment. The room features state of the art analog and digital equipment such as the Muth transfer console, Sontec equalizer, Weiss and Z Systems processing units.

Fred began his career in France, where he worked for Sonofrance, a well-established sound company in Paris. His background in electronics and passion for music led him naturally into the field of audio consulting and studio design. After several years, Fred decided to specialize in engineering. He became a freelance broadcast engineer working for major television networks as well as a staff engineer at Parisign Records.

In 1989, Fred came to New York where he spent a total of nine years at Sear Sound. He was the chief recording engineer there, and also collaborated with Walter Sear in building and customizing unique pieces of vintage gear during the first four years. He then turned his focus to mastering, which really suited his talent and interests. Walter Sears decided to build Studio B where Fred spent the remaining five years there, mastering albums for independent and major label artists.

In 1999, Fred joined Absolute Audio where he was on staff for five years before founding Kevorkian Mastering, Inc. in 2004. At Absolute, Fred sharpened his mastering skills and built up quite an impressive list of clients. Now, in 2005, Kevorkian Mastering joins forces with Avatar Studios. "I am very excited about being a part of this legendary studio team," said Fred. "I hope my experience can help clients think about how best to record and mix from the mastering perspective."

Fred's recent credits include albums by Ryan Adams, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Iggy Pop, The Walkmen and Jesse Malin as well as Cassandra Wilson, Dave Holland, Clark Terry, Danilo Perez and many others.

Kevorkian Mastering is available right now for bookings. For more information, please contact Fred Kevorkian at Tel: 917-406-9147 or Studio Manager Tino Passante at Tel: 212.765.7500, Fax: 212.765.7450, or E-mail: tino@avatarstudios.net. Website: www.Avatarstudios.net.

AVATAR Studios is a 33,000-square-foot multi-room facility on Manhattan's west side dedicated to providing a complete, top-quality audio recording services solution to the music industry. The studio houses four premier recording rooms containing a Neve 8068, SSL-9000J, Neve VRP and a SSL-4000G+. AVATAR's Pro Tools Editing Suite is designed to accommodate client needs outside of a traditional control room setting. Also, with the addition of mastering services, AVATAR can handle every phase of your project, from pre-production, tracking and overdubbing to editing, mixing and final Mastering, all within your budget.

Recent projects recorded at AVATAR Studios include works by Eric Clapton, Norah Jones, Jimmy Eat World, Backstreet Boys, Maroon 5, Franz Ferdinand, Donald Fagen, Muse, Joss Stone, Trey Anastasio / Phish, Polyphonic Spree, Los Lonely Boys, The Mars Volta, Story of the Year, Yellowcard, Ryan Cabrera, John Scofield, Simple Plan, Vanessa Carlton, Paul Westerberg, Lonestar and many others.