Definitive Audiophile pressings

My SADE - This Far finally arrived. I've spun Diamond Life and thought it sounded great.

Unfortunately 5 of the 6 covers were split in shipment. I find this seems to happen for all the big box sets I order. And I don't even fault the way it was packed in the shipping box because it was a box within a box with ample loose cardboard to pad.

I think they should remove the vinyl from the outer covers and keep them sealed in shrink - letting the buyer remove them and place them into the covers upon arrival.

But, nobody from MusicToday called to ask for my advice 🤔.
 
Joe Mac said:
I have that KG @ ATM on side A and SH @ ATM on side B, got it right back around 2013/2014 when I first started collecting. It’s a magnificent sounding record. As are my Rhino copies of Astral Weeks and His Band and the Street Choir.
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Astral Weeks is on my list of next to buy. My copy of His Band sounds incredible as well. Somehow I'm always shocked when I listen to a VanMo album yet nearly every single pressing I have (whether old or new) sounds great so they must have some great original recordings. I have a pretty flimsy copy of It's Too Late To Stop Now and it sounds awesome too.
 
MikeH said:
Astral Weeks is on my list of next to buy. My copy of His Band sounds incredible as well. Somehow I'm always shocked when I listen to a VanMo album yet nearly every single pressing I have (whether old or new) sounds great so they must have some great original recordings. I have a pretty flimsy copy of It's Too Late To Stop Now and it sounds awesome too.
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Yeah same. Those three, the MOV of his debut and the VMP are the only 5 new I have. The rest are OG or 80s represses. The VMP, is by far the worst and even it is by no means a bad pressing!
 
Here’s a weird one. I ordered Blood Sweat and Tears MoFi One Step from Music Direct. It’s been pulled from their site. It’s still available for preorder from other outlets, including MoFi. Is there a reason to be concerned?
 
HiFi Guy said:
Here’s a weird one. I ordered Blood Sweat and Tears MoFi One Step from Music Direct. It’s been pulled from their site. It’s still available for preorder from other outlets, including MoFi. Is there a reason to be concerned?
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Don't think so. You can always call and ask but sometimes they just pull it from the site when the preorders "sell out".
 
RHANDMJ said:
True, that if the brickwalling was done in mastering AND that is the only master available, you must go back to the digital multitracks.

BUT - for over a decade, it has been standard practice to snd the uncompressed or lightly compressed final mix to the mastering studio to produce TWO masters - one will be the CD master and the other a separate vinyl master.

I know. I have some high res digital files that came straight from the studio marked vinly master (split into two tracks with a gap between, one for each side) and they follow that practice - uncompressed.
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What’s confusing is that the term “mastering,” when there’s a vinyl release, and it’s being cut from digital, (which happens more often than is typically advertised!) there are actually two times you may see the term pop up.

First is your mastering session, in which those two versions of the master you’re referring to, for the digital and vinyl releases are made. The digital will typically be parsed out into individual files for each song, and the vinyl will be a file for each side of vinyl, like you mentioned. That’s likely what you have. There is still compression on that vinyl master, but it’s sometimes not as aggressive as the digital, and it really depends on the style of music. Sometimes virtually the only difference between the digital and vinyl masters are the removal of the brickwall limiter - some stuff is so aggressively limited that a lot of that sound you’re hearing is only that limiter!

Then, the second round of “vinyl mastering” is the lacquer cut, which is being cut from those Side A & B files that you have marked as “vinyl master.” That’s where you see those fun initials in the deadwax.

After that, there’s plating, and then finally pressing. It’s a heck of a process, and takes a lot of hands on deck to make it happen!
 
MikeH said:
Seems that the Craft One Step microsite got rid of the mention of only 1,000 copies, so will be interesting to see if they upped the number or not.
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Interesting, yeah I mean that just seemed really low for what they're advertising.
 
Academy said:
Anyone have any ideas for what to do when the center hole cut is too small? I just received that 2013 “In a Silent Way” and had to take the whole spindle and platter off in order to release that thing.

To be fair, I knew I was in deep shit when I forced it on in the first place - instant regret.

Are Pro-Ject tables known to have this issue more frequently? Or are all spindles the same exact dimensions
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I just use a pointy kitchen knife. Place it in the center of the hole and turn it one rotation until it fits smoothly.
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
What’s confusing is that the term “mastering,” when there’s a vinyl release, and it’s being cut from digital, (which happens more often than is typically advertised!) there are actually two times you may see the term pop up.

First is your mastering session, in which those two versions of the master you’re referring to, for the digital and vinyl releases are made. The digital will typically be parsed out into individual files for each song, and the vinyl will be a file for each side of vinyl, like you mentioned. That’s likely what you have. There is still compression on that vinyl master, but it’s sometimes not as aggressive as the digital, and it really depends on the style of music. Sometimes virtually the only difference between the digital and vinyl masters are the removal of the brickwall limiter - some stuff is so aggressively limited that a lot of that sound you’re hearing is only that limiter!

Then, the second round of “vinyl mastering” is the lacquer cut, which is being cut from those Side A & B files that you have marked as “vinyl master.” That’s where you see those fun initials in the deadwax.

After that, there’s plating, and then finally pressing. It’s a heck of a process, and takes a lot of hands on deck to make it happen!
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All true.

As to compression - IMO this is widely misunderstood. Agree it varies widely by style of music. But is not the enemy it is so often made out to be. Before digital, it was really tough to master a lot of classical music that has very wide dynamic range, so the needle doesn't fly off. RVG added compression to BN mastering for the same reason. It isnt evil. Just a tool that can be used wisely or poorly.
But brickwalling is another thing entirely. I can almost excuse flattening the dynamic range curve as an artistic decision, but not brickwalling aggressively and overloading the peak.
Those aggressively brickwalled digital masters simply cant be cut to vinyl. The record would ruin Crossley players worldwide. Hence the need for a gentler vinyl master - another advantage of vinyl in a digital age.
I would not call cutting the lacquer as mastering, but that is just a word play. KG in the deadwax is too often assumed to be all analog, but a fair bit of it (Sundazed for example) comes to him in a digital file. I don't consider that mastering. But when he gets an analog tape, he is mastering that, prior to and during lacquer cutting. To me, that is true mastering!
And very often that digital vinyl master file has no lacquer cut - DMM, which I understand is the only method at the MOV plant and most of GZ, in which case, no initials in the deadwax!
As you say - quite complicated.
 
RHANDMJ said:
All true.

As to compression - IMO this is widely misunderstood. Agree it varies widely by style of music. But is not the enemy it is so often made out to be. Before digital, it was really tough to master a lot of classical music that has very wide dynamic range, so the needle doesn't fly off. RVG added compression to BN mastering for the same reason. It isnt evil. Just a tool that can be used wisely or poorly.
But brickwalling is another thing entirely. I can almost excuse flattening the dynamic range curve as an artistic decision, but not brickwalling aggressively and overloading the peak.
Those aggressively brickwalled digital masters simply cant be cut to vinyl. The record would ruin Crossley players worldwide. Hence the need for a gentler vinyl master - another advantage of vinyl in a digital age.
I would not call cutting the lacquer as mastering, but that is just a word play. KG in the deadwax is too often assumed to be all analog, but a fair bit of it (Sundazed for example) comes to him in a digital file. I don't consider that mastering. But when he gets an analog tape, he is mastering that, prior to and during lacquer cutting. To me, that is true mastering!
And very often that digital vinyl master file has no lacquer cut - DMM, which I understand is the only method at the MOV plant and most of GZ, in which case, no initials in the deadwax!
As you say - quite complicated.
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I'm not sure I understand why you see a difference between the production process of lacquer cutting, plating etc. for digital & tape.

I may have over simplified the process, but the way I see it is the digital 'master' file that you have would be the equivalent of the master tape. What is the difference in making a record from a master tape or from a digital master?
 
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