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Name and shame crap new vinyl pressings

kowalski99

pfm Member
Hi,
I know lots of people flag up great vinyl pressings, but how about a post for re releases or new releases that sound rubbish on vinyl. Lets name and shame!
I have 2 to start with;
Systems of Romance- Ultravox- white vinyl reissue- muffled top end
The Desired Effect- Brandon Flowers- new release- muffled top end
 
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err.. everything I've bought in the last five, maybe ten years. I 'invested' in the Nitin Sawhney direct to disc recording, but after five attempts to get a quiet copy, I gave up, and had a refund. Even copies that the record company had personally tested (on what?) were as crackly as a packet of crisps.
I will soon have a lovely 70s vinyl only system (valves and Quad ESLs) in its own dedicated space, where I will play my my LPs, but mainly older stuff and I doubt I'll buy any new LPs. I've found I've become less tolerant of speed instability (I have an amazing TTPSU but off centre records are still unstable), and the clicks and pops bug me a lot more now.

Sadly the LP is now a fashion accessory and the player of choice isn't a state of the art TT, but a portable USB vinyl player (sic), so the few remaining pressing plants serve that market.
 
So many variables at play to produce a good sounding record. It's disheartening to spend 20 odd quid on a pressing to play on a not inexpensive set-up only to end up disappointed. Sure, I like vinyl. But I like music first and considerably much more.

I know some labels and plants are reliable in respect of good product, however my listening is varied and I've taken too many punts only to end up less than satisfied. Perhaps I expect too much, but then I'm parting with coin. In short, great when it's good, disappointing when it's less than, which is too often these days.

Back on point, a poor pressing I picked up lately was Father John Misty's Pure Comedy. Simply inferior to the stream, akin to lower bitrate quality. Exchanged, problem remains.
 
err.. everything I've bought in the last five, maybe ten years. I 'invested' in the Nitin Sawhney direct to disc recording, but after five attempts to get a quiet copy, I gave up, and had a refund. Even copies that the record company had personally tested (on what?) were as crackly as a packet of crisps.
I will soon have a lovely 70s vinyl only system (valves and Quad ESLs) in its own dedicated space, where I will play my my LPs, but mainly older stuff and I doubt I'll buy any new LPs. I've found I've become less tolerant of speed instability (I have an amazing TTPSU but off centre records are still unstable), and the clicks and pops bug me a lot more now.

Sadly the LP is now a fashion accessory and the player of choice isn't a state of the art TT, but a portable USB vinyl player (sic), so the few remaining pressing plants serve that market.
It seems so, yes I'd agree!
 
err.. everything I've bought in the last five, maybe ten years. I 'invested' in the Nitin Sawhney direct to disc recording, but after five attempts to get a quiet copy, I gave up, and had a refund. Even copies that the record company had personally tested (on what?) were as crackly as a packet of crisps.

I buy very little new vinyl as it is just so much more expensive than CD, plus almost all current stuff is digital anyway, so why bother? By saying that the stuff I have bought over the past couple of years has all been fine (Anderson .Paak, Bowie Santa Monica, Nassau, Lazarus, RSD Welcome To The Blackout, GoGo Penguin, Sons Of Kemet, Can Singles) have all pretty much been fine. I don’t think modern vinyl mastering is anything like as good as it was 30-40 years ago though and I’ve never felt 180g vinyl holds any advantage at all, aguably the exact reverse (stitching, in-fill issues, plus a lot ends up warped or dished for some reason).

From a pressing perspective nothing beats 1970s Japanese vinyl IME; flat, silent, perfectly centred and beautifully presented. For jazz (my main interest these days), original US pressings tend to have the best mastering by quite some margin, but the quality of vinyl isn’t as good as the Japanese, plus they can be crazy expensive. As ever with vinyl the first press from country of artist/label origin is almost always the one to have, though some Japanese and audiophile issues can buck that trend.

I suspect things are a little better now than they were say five or ten years ago. I went through a phase where most new vinyl I bought wouldn’t meet an EX/EX grading, let alone the M/M one would expect for a brand new record, and at that point I pretty much stopped buying. I’ve actually become an equally geeky CD collector now hunting nice early Japanese pressings, ‘targets’ etc! There are still bargains to be had there!
 
Robbie Williams - 'Swing When You're Winning' vinyl album, christmas present for the missus.

We both agreed the pressing was crap, within 5 minutes. I had wet cleaned it prior to playing.

Lots of new records I have purchased over recent years have been good though, Akira OST was amazing, the rereleased Bowie albums, and Led Zep have been great. All the Abbey Road half speed mastered albums have been excellent. Good pressings are there to find, it is hit n miss though. Agree with Tony 180g pressings are frequently dish warped, which I will not accept.
 
New vinyl records are really hit-or-miss and for the most part disappointing. So much of bad remasterings, warps, beading, scuffs, etc. I avoid reissues from all the big labels.

However, I've had some good experience with some small specialist labels that put out rare records or comps e.g. Analog Africa, Soundway or Superfly. They do not seem to suffer from the issues that plague other vinyl labels. Perhaps they care a bit more about their products.

I tend to avoid audiophile labels; normally I don't care about their choice of albums and their mastering preferences. Their records can be of decent quality though and they should be given the prices they ask for!

Truth be told I buy very few new records. I am more of an original pressing (need not be the 1st though) kind of guy. I am not dogmatic about it but with the poor hit rate of new vinyl, why bother?
 
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I am finding a lot of recent vinyl from the past couple of years is warped to the point where it is not easily rectified.

Quite disappointing that the modern plants cant resolve this issue..
 
I am finding a lot of recent vinyl from the past couple of years is warped to the point where it is not easily rectified. Quite disappointing that the modern plants cant resolve this issue..

Think that is more the fault of the shrink wrap and outer sleeves too small for the record.

Other than reggae, always notoriously bad, releases of most new stuff is passable, although some of the vinyl does not look pure black, some parts grey in colour, this does not always affect replay. there are some excellent small labels thjat produce excellent quality.

Bloss
 
On the consumer side, there is this two-part assumption that annoys me
: 1. There are original analog tapes for everything.
2. These holy grail analog tapes are the perfect, pure sound that has been withheld from the public until now.
Both of these assumptions are false. There are not analog tapes for everything, and they do not always sound good. I understand the marketing reason for stickering "From the Original Tapes!" on the LP jacket, but it's getting a bit silly. I have yet to see a "From the Original DATs!" sticker on a LP. I dare someone to do it.

https://tapeop.com/interviews/125/aesthetics-remastering-reissues/
 
On the consumer side, there is this two-part assumption that annoys me
: 1. There are original analog tapes for everything.
2. These holy grail analog tapes are the perfect, pure sound that has been withheld from the public until now.
Both of these assumptions are false. There are not analog tapes for everything, and they do not always sound good. I understand the marketing reason for stickering "From the Original Tapes!" on the LP jacket, but it's getting a bit silly. I have yet to see a "From the Original DATs!" sticker on a LP. I dare someone to do it.

https://tapeop.com/interviews/125/aesthetics-remastering-reissues/

they wont as they probably used minidisc ;)
 
Think that is more the fault of the shrink wrap and outer sleeves too small for the record.

Nope its nothing to do with shrink wrap that causes warping/dishing in the records. Its to do with the pressing itself. One pressing plant based in europe is notorious for it and they get a lot of returns, particularly on more niche pressings where they wont be using a main press lines.
 
Nope its nothing to do with shrink wrap that causes warping/dishing in the records. Its to do with the pressing itself. One pressing plant based in europe is notorious for it and they get a lot of returns, particularly on more niche pressings where they wont be using a main press lines.

I am sure you are correct, I have no idea about the bad pressings other than what I had experienced.

Bloss
 
By the same token you could start a thread - Vinyl pressings that sound better than the Cd.

Just listening to Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman which sounds better than the FLAC ripped CD to me, on my equipment.

Its all in the mastering.

Though my analogue rig cost some 4x the cost of my digital rig.
 
Yes agree, and the nonsense that says, "audiophile pressing on 180 g".

On the consumer side, there is this two-part assumption that annoys me
: 1. There are original analog tapes for everything.
2. These holy grail analog tapes are the perfect, pure sound that has been withheld from the public until now.
Both of these assumptions are false. There are not analog tapes for everything, and they do not always sound good. I understand the marketing reason for stickering "From the Original Tapes!" on the LP jacket, but it's getting a bit silly. I have yet to see a "From the Original DATs!" sticker on a LP. I dare someone to do it.

https://tapeop.com/interviews/125/aesthetics-remastering-reissues/
 
This is a brand new , straight out of its sealed cellophane , LP that I received recently .

Covered in dust, "bruise" marks and the strange staining you see in the picture.

Incidentally... that picture was take after I had cleaned the damn thing twice with an Okki Nokki. The muck would not shift.

I suspect that being "sealed" means nothing . I suspect that records returned for any reason are re-sealed and re-sold. ( hows that for an old cynic? :p )




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