Yeah if the one step Blood on the Tracks is the only 10 I have the only other one that comes close to a 10, but only just misses out, is the Radiohead In Rainbows diskbox you just had arrive!
Vinyl Me Please Essentials
- Thread starter Captainfog
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Yeah if the one step Blood on the Tracks is the only 10 I have the only other one that comes close to a 10, but only just misses out, is the Radiohead In Rainbows diskbox you just had arrive!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
The In Rainbows diskbox is simultaneously awesome and frustrating. Awesome because it sounds amazing. Frustrating because we know that Radiohead can clearly make great sounding pressings of their albums, but great pressings of their other albums are so few and far between.
Bluecloud777
Well-Known Member
I'm probably ignorant, but what are these One Step records? I've never heard of them. Are they some very audiophile analogue pressings like AP or MoFis etc?
Yeah I don’t think vinyl or audiophile is a focus to be honest beyond doing nice packages of each release. I can imagine such things really boring someone like Thom who I imagine doesn’t look back, just moves forwards...
They seem to be happy to leave the logistics to the label and we all know how poor XL’s reputation is, particularly in America. I think that In Rainbows all fell together in that it was one of their last albums recorded to tape, they didn’t have a label so their management had to organise the pressing and there was some conjecture over whether it would get a traditional physical release outside the diskbox, the XL distribution deal was some months later, it’s the reason I got it because I didn’t have a vinyl system/collection back then.
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Its mofi’s gold standard. Mofi one step Ultradisc they are called. Cost a pretty penny but if the album is an all time favourite they are worth it because the only description of how they sounds that works is, WOW!
NathanRicaud
Well-Known Member
No, I’m not saying the VMP Classics sound advice good as the One-Step MoFi Bon Dylan, definitely not! That, along with the One-Step of Thelonius Monk & Charles Mingus, as well as Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly MoFi 45RPM, and The Doors L.A. Woman 45RPM and Nat King Cole 45RPM are all my best sounding records in my collection in my opinion.
But I still rate a lot of other pressings 10/10 just for how amazing they sound, including the VMP pressing of Al Green’s Call Me! Errol Garner’s Magician is like a 10/10 for me too! That pressing sounded impeccable. If I was to compare to my best sounding records, they would be an 8/10 or maybe even an 8.5/10. Still though, I rate them 10/10.
This is how I see it: Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, Madvillain’s Madvillainy and The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead are all very strong 10/10’s for me! But you also have other 10/10’s, like Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love, A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory and Prince’s Purple Rain. But for me, they are a step below the before-mentioned 10/10’s. You know what I mean?
Like they’re all 10/10’s, but there are just some top-tier, the best of the best, 10/10’s with albums (all subjective I guess, but you know where I’m coming from).
Same case with the pressings, like Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus & Bon Dylan One-Step are like the top-tier 10/10’s! Then the Speakers Corner Carla Thomas’ The Queen Alone pressing is also 10/10, but it just scores a 10/10 for me!
wmeugene
Well-Known Member
I'd say between 6 and 7.Mmmmm so you would rate the pressing like 7/10 or an 8/10 in terms of sound quality?!
I'd say the Mayer is an 8 or 8.5. My gold standards would be the Grateful Dead MoFi and some of the high end jazz AAA reissues I have. I'd like to have the Dylan MoFi One Step, but the regular MoFi will have to do for now for Blood On The Tracks.
Yeah that’s a cop out. We’re talking pressing quality. Take Phoebe Bridgers last one. One of the best of the year so far, we’re looking approx 8.5. Pressing 4 to 5.
gaporter
Well-Known Member
Wait the In Rainbows box isn't a 10??? Only a 9?!?! I'm cancelling my order.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
The One Steps are from Mobile Fidelity. It's a 45RPM box set (2xLPs for each album) of reissues of specific albums. I think they have only done 11 or so right now off the top of my head. The idea is that it removes a lot of steps in the vinyl making process, giving you a much cleaner sound and less degradation. This kind of sums it up:
I agree with @Joe Mac . If they release a title that is truly one of your favorite albums, I would highly recommend springing for one. The original list price is $125 in the US but you can sometimes luck out and get them cheaper as I did. They are all limited too and the pricing after they all sell out is a bit crazy. The Santana one has absolutely insane resale value (I've seen people pay $900 for it) but that one was also the most limited. I think they made 1,500 of those whereas Dylan which is one of the newer ones had 7,500 I think.
Its not an 10 because the one steps are a 10 it’s a 9.9 recurring!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
But it's a 12/10 on the @NathanRicaud scale so you should buy 2!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
The whole point of a rating scale is that you have a gold standard 10/10 and everything is in relation to that though...if the One Steps are 10/10, then something that isn't as high quality cannot also be a 10/10 hah. I have TPAB on vinyl and it's a favorite album of mine. But the pressing is nowhere NEAR as good a pressing as any MoFis I own, VMP Call Me, AP pressings, Classic Records pressings, etc. It's not awful, but there's no way it's a 10/10 if the One Steps are also 10/10. You can love the album itself but it doesn't make the pressing of it super high quality.
NathanRicaud
Well-Known Member
OMG, I can’t handle how strict and ‘no-nonsense’ you vinyl nerds are when it comes to sound quality! You nerds really aren’t playing around!!! 
Like damn, so crazy how high the expectation/bar is!
I feel like you guys would all rate me like a 2/10 in terms of my physical attraction because you have models and super attractive actors who are 10/10, and because there’s no 20/10, they set the bar. Which means I’m literally ugly in comparison and I’m like a 1/10!
That’s what’s literally going through my head!
Like damn, so crazy how high the expectation/bar is!
I feel like you guys would all rate me like a 2/10 in terms of my physical attraction because you have models and super attractive actors who are 10/10, and because there’s no 20/10, they set the bar. Which means I’m literally ugly in comparison and I’m like a 1/10!
That’s what’s literally going through my head!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
hahah. I personally kind of hate rating things, giving top 10 lists or anything like that. I could never give anybody a list of my top 10 favorite albums, for example. I think tiers can be helpful though especially since there are so many different pressing plants, labels, etc and a lot of people always ask "what's the best pressing of this album?". But it is fun to get insight into how people rate things, especially since you seem to be a big fan of rating albums + pressings!OMG, I can’t handle how strict and ‘no-nonsense’ you vinyl nerds are when it comes to sound quality! You nerds really aren’t playing around!!!
Like damn, so crazy how high the expectation/bar is!
I feel like you guys would all rate me like a 2/10 in terms of my physical attraction because you have models and super attractive actors who are 10/10, and because there’s no 20/10, they set the bar. Which means I’m literally ugly in comparison and I’m like a 1/10!
That’s what’s literally going through my head!
NathanRicaud
Well-Known Member
Yes! I definitely love rating albums! And I think Joe was being generous with his Phoebe Bridges pressing ratings! That pressing of Punisher was garbage! It’s like a 3/10 at best! It definitely sounds average and it is not quiet, especially for an album where you need a quiet pressing!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
So disappointed about that one. I was mad that I slept on preordering it but have now just heard that every pressing of it is hot garbage. That's definitely an album that deserves a higher quality pressing! For now, I'll just stream it in high-res but if they repress and address the issues, I'll pick it up for sure. I feel like they almost have to at this point with how well-received the album was...right??
I wouldn’t argue against it being a 3-4 either, I wouldn’t go much lower though because it hasn’t been brickwalled to fuck, beyond the 2 or 3 albums that it suits brickwalling is always going to be thing that causes my lowest ratings...
NathanRicaud
Well-Known Member
I know, so disappointed, just like with the Weyes Blood Titanic Rising, which was my 2nd favourite album of 2019
For that reason; Titanic Rising not getting repressed/sound quality issues being rectified, I don’t think Phoebe Bridges will get repressed anytime soon
gaporter
Well-Known Member
I feel like the whole "loudness war" thing was really misunderstood. It led to people thinking "clipping = automatically bad" when that's just not the case. Production/mixing is a nuanced thing. Some albums were made to be maxed out and distorted as hell, if they were dulled down to have super audiophile dynamic range they wouldn't have the same kick. Bad production was the problem for a lot of albums in the 2000s, it wasn't that they were "loud" necessarily, they were just mixed like shit with no regard to how anything should sound. That's not a problem with brickwalling to me but just knowing how to mix something. I'm not an audiophile necessarily but I'll always vouch for distortion and more lo-fi aesthetics being used as a tool, and I think the thought process that "loudness" is a bad thing isn't necessarily the thing to take away from the trend of CDs that sounded like ass in the 2000s.