Helios

Just after Steve Marriott died,  I was approached by the Marriott Estates to try and do some work on two cassettes that had been recorded by Steve on two Teac Portastudios,  enough material for a new album.
The Quality was not bad,  but certainly not very good, worse still Steve  had recorded a cheap Drum Machine #1, an organ #2, his guitar #3 and a friend playing bass on track # 4,.

Steve had then played this cassette through a mixer down to two tracks using a second Portastudio, 
on the second cassette he sent a Stereo Backing Track to 1 & 2, his Vocals on track #3 and. Harmony's
on track #4.

Now here comes the upper-cut,  
Whatever I decided to do to obtain a record company's interest, the Estate wanted me to use Steve's vocals and his guitar, !! ?
"From two different cassettes running at slightly different speeds"!! ?.

I ran the lot into my SADIE Mastering Suite and managed with a tuner to get both cassette copies running at the same speed, I then called in the studio drummer who laid down a human Click-Track

Now here comes my point
Even though the material is NOW  in a Spec of 20Hz to 20kHz, W&F doesn't exist, S/N of 92db the audio is still from a cassette and that's all I have to work with, but depending on what is done or overdubbed  afterwards is what might make it a master.

I now have two record companies who weren't interested before,  now at loggerheads over who owns what,  the only thing that is stoping this album from reaching the fans is the attorneys involved trying
to squeeze as much money as possible.

I'll check my rights as the legal owner of the 16 track/24 Track X 2 " Analogue Masters. to see if I can post part of a track here.

So in answer to your Question.  "It all depends on what work is carried out thereafter".

Kind Regards,

Tony.
"Arnys Shack"

&
Helios Electronics Ltd