The Pacifica Tribune highlights our GRAMMY nominations:
Often referenced as “the best seat in the house,” Reference Recordings (RR) is an independent classical, blues and jazz audiophile record label located in Pacifica’s Crespi Business Center. On January 28, 2018, members of the RR team will join other Grammy nominees at the 60th Grammy Awards airing live from New York City.
RR is the recipient of four Grammy nominations – two records, two nominations each. “RR-139 Schoenberg: American Symphony; Finding Rothko; Picture Studies” performed by the Kansas City Symphony, conducted by Michael Stern. The album was recorded by Keith Johnson and Sean Martin, nominees for “Best Engineering, Classical.” Adam Schoenberg – composer “Picture Studios” – is nominee for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.”
“FR-724 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio for Strings” performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck. The album was recorded by Mark Donohue from Soundmirror, Boston, and Mark is nominee for “Best Engineering, Classical.” The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Honeck are nominees for “Best Orchestral Performance.” Five total U.S. Grammy nominations this year for “Best Engineering, Classical.” RR garnered two.
Members of the RR team include: founder/producer J. Tamblyn (“Tam”) Henderson, Jr.; founding partner, technical director, recording and mastering engineer “Prof” Keith O. Johnson; executive and managing director Marcia Martin; and recording engineer Sean Martin.
Husband and wife, longtime Pacificans Keith Johnson and Marcia Martin raised their children here.
Sean Martin attended Cabrillo Elementary, Linda Mar Middle School, and Terra Nova and Oceana high schools. His college focus was physics and economics, but he has always been involved in music, performing and recording.“I am always open to new ways to record/capture music and performances,” Sean said. “The goal is making music sound good on multiple playback systems and to multiple people. Digital is currently a great medium for recording music, but I am open to all recording mediums and am a big fan of analog as well.”
The RR catalog is vast and there are numerous awards and nominations, including Grammy wins in 2016, 2010 and 2004, and multiple Grammy nominations in between. The first Grammy gold for the 41-year-old company was in 1986.…”