This is a remembrance I have submitted for an obituary:
https://www.hochfuneralhome.com/obituaries/john-lemay-2
I have quite a few records that Capitol reissued into the early 80s. As I listened to them, I noticed that some had a consistently distinctive and appealing sound quality. It was full and smooth and, to my preference, not overly bright. In the run-out grooves, those records were all signed “Jay Lemay,” “J. Lemay,” or simply “Jay,” as seen in the photo. I always wanted to tell Lemay how much I appreciated his eminently listenable work as a mastering engineer.
WOW! This is fantastic. A Discogs slam-dunk! Thanks again, Jared.
More info at https://www.discogs.com/label/265641-Capitol-Mastering
Engineers known to have worked at Capitol Mastering:
Dave McEowen as “DAVE” or “DCM” etched in the runout
David Cole (4) as “DCole” in the runout
Ed Sanders (2) as “Ed” etched cursively in runout
Eddy Schreyer as “E” or “ES” etched in the runout, or a scribble similar to “?____” or “C____” (see image on his profile)
Gene Thompson as “Gene” or “?RT” etched in the runout (from 1975 onward)
Ian Sefchick – what looks like H with an S inside etched (??) in the runout but must be IS
Jay Maynard usually credited “Jay Luck” around 1976, later on simply “Jay” etched
John Stachowiak – “Jc” or “Jc S” etch; the “Jc” is a distinctive conjoined styling
John Lemay as “J. LEMAY” or “JPL” etched in the runout
Ken Perry as “KP” etched in the runout
Kevin Bartley as “KB” etched in the runout
Kevin Reeves as “KEV” etched in the runout
Maurice Long (2) as “ML” etched in the runout
Ron McMaster as “McM” or “RM” etched in the runout
Wally Traugott as “Wally” or “Wly” etched in the runout
Wayne Dailey as “Wayne”, “Wayne.”, “Wayne D” or “WD” etched cursively in the runout
William Tennis as “WT” etched in the runout
This is exactly the information I have been looking for since I first saw those markings 45 years ago. Thank you!
Jay Maynard’s dead wax signatures are usually written out as “Jay” “JAM”, whereas John Lemay’s is almost always “J. Melay”.
Wally Traugott is another highly coveted name to seek out in the Capitol deadwax (“W” or “Wally”).
Thanks very much! Jay Maynard is a new name for me. The inscriptions sure do appear to have been made by the same guy. I’ll check them again. Steve Hoffman once said that every Capitol record from that time had excellent mastering.
You are mixing up two engineers. John Lemay and Jay Maynard. Both worked at Capitol and both did great work on their cuts in the mid to late ’70s and 1980s. John Lemay went on to work for George Lucas’s Skywalker Sound in the 1980s.
That is super nice, Doug.