“Essential” – The AD122-96 MKIII from Lavry Engineering Helps
Peerless Mastering Get Personal

BOSTON: The city of Boston is one of America’s most academic cities, with 52 colleges or universities packed into this historic area. With intellectual activity abounding in these New England streets, it’s no surprise that Peerless Mastering is taking such a precise approach to its craft.

For Peerless founder Jeff Lipton, his Lavry Engineering AD122-96 MKIII converters represent a studied approach to selecting gear for his suite – all the better to provide his world-class clients (Burning Spear, Spoon, Magnetic Fields, Ladytron, LCD Soundsystem) with an intuitively positive experience.    

“As a mastering engineer my job is to get inside my clients’ heads and help them get the sound they’re looking for,” he says. “I don’t necessarily expect them to be able to articulate exactly what they want, but usually by listening to their music and asking some questions, I’m able to discern the sound they’re looking for and help their mixes sound their best. I want to hear what my clients have to say and I want to make this a personal experience for them -- whether they’re here in the studio or thousands of miles away. The Peerless approach seems to work well given that most of my clients return for their next project.” 

Outfitting his world-class, Bob Alach/Michael Blackmer-designed room requires rigorous testing by Lipton, who makes certain that gear meets his tough standards before it gets installed in the signal path. With its full-frequency response and extreme transparency, his LavryGold AD122-96 MKIII is the perfect complement to his console.

“Great converters are essential,” Lipton notes. “The Lavry Gold really delivers; providing a clear, accurate, and artifact-free representation of the music.  After comparing them to other systems, I’ve found the Lavry Gold to be a smoother- and better-sounding converter for a lot of projects. They are incredible. It’s very well designed and accurate, and it really works beautifully on a lot of material.”

Featuring a -127dB dynamic range, 0.00005% total harmonic distortion + noise, built-in αβC αcoustic βit Correction® noise shaping, and more, the Lavry Engineering AD122-96MKIII provides extreme accuracy and the full frequency response required for true 24-bit digital audio. Additional key features include selectable digital soft-knee limiter, +3 or +6dB gain, precision reference meter bridge, fully programmable digital test tones for system alignment, AES and word clock external synchronization 40-51kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, DC removal, absolute polarity inversion, and multi-converter synchronization.

As Lipton has observed, the technology that powers all Lavry gear is backed up by a company with responsive service to match. “Their support is excellent,” Lipton confirms.  “I’ve called a few times with questions and I’m always connected to someone who can help me right away.”

Peerless Mastering remains on a roll. Recent projects to come through Lipton’s suite and his Lavry Gold AD122-96MKIII includes music from Bon Iver, Superchunk, The Submarines, Wild Flag, Gang Green, Polvo, The Heartless Bastards, Megafaun, City and Colour, The Michael Epstein Memorial Library, The Hush Now, Richard Buckner, David Wax Museum, and The Rosebuds.

“Each artist brings something unique to the table and I have to approach each project differently to best achieve their goals,” Jeff Lipton says. “The biggest perk of my job is that I get to come to work every day and do something I love with a great team.  Every day is also a challenge: Every album requires a completely different approach, and I’m constantly problem-solving, switching the order of my processors, trying new techniques, and learning new things.  The challenges are what keep the job so interesting and enjoyable.”

With his constant stream of repeat business, Jeff Lipton has empirical evidence that the Lavry Engineering AD122-96MKIII is the right A/D converter for Peerless Mastering. “The Lavry Gold is one of the best pieces I own,” he states. “In combination with my other gear and my super-accurate room it enables me get the very best results for my clients.”

###