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Mobile Fidelity, ‘One Step’ etc

Tony L said:

Here’s the In Groove interview. It reads to me that they regularly copy a ‘master’ tape to hi-res digital and cut from that. I certainly no longer view MoFi as being a full analogue chain. There is enough here to sink that marketing and they still have a lot of explaining to do and as a result now need to detail the mastering process for every single release in their catalogue to clear the air IMHO.



Here’s a comeback from Michael 45rpm and Michael Fremer. Fremer really doesn’t cover himself in glory here IMO, much comes over as butt-hurt. He is clearly furious that an “amateur” like Mike got to go rather than a “professional interviewer” such as himself. Lots of digs such as “Mike is just a record dealer, what does he know?” and conveniently ignoring the fact (inadvertently admitted here) that Fremer himself actually knew much of this story but had sat on it. We are only here because of Mike being honest enough to stand up for record buyers, his own principles, and not giving a crap what he knocked down in the process. Sure, there are some questions I wish he’d asked, but we got enough to know that there has been some dishonesty in the way MoFi have described their product. Some are clearly digitally sourced. The end.

PS Michael Fremer’s claim he can always hear digital looks to be coming unstuck too and some of this video came across as post-rationalisation there. There is little doubt MoFi hung Fremer out to dry and I definitely feel sorry for him here, but this was not the best way to handle that situation. Michael 45rpm always comes across as the knowledgeable vinyl consumer I’m sure he’d describe himself as. He’s a good bloke. The butt hurt here is in one place only.
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Early on in the MoFi interview it was said that whenever it isn't possible to receive the master tape at the MoFi studio they ship a Studer rig and technician to wherever the master tape is being held and do a flat transfer on site. At first I thought they meant they were using the Studer to make a tape copy simultaneously with a 4xDSD version, but Kreig later said he wasn't a fan of making tape copies of the master tape, so the Studer rig must be used to play back the master tape and the only copy made is a 4xDSD version?

It would be interesting to know, for the master tapes that they are still able to bring to the MoFi studio, whether they do actually still make an all-analogue cut when possible, or if conversion to 4xDSD is always done. Cutting a lacquer direct from the master tape may be easy if all you're doing is a flat transfer, but if each track needs different EQ adjustments etc, then doing this on the fly is very difficult unless the console is automated.

I'd love to know what their workflow was before they started transferring to 4xDSD. Presumably they weren't actually playing the master tape over and over again when they were deciding what EQ adjustments etc to make? It would make sense to me that they digitised to 24/192, used this to experiment with EQ etc, then once they had their settings perfected they would apply these during the final playback of the master tape as it was being cut to lacquer?
 
I think 'One Step' is to take a stamper direct from the lacquer rather than the mother/father/stampers standard process. So avoiding two mechanical duplications at the expense of needing to produce many more lacquers. This should be a big win for the final product regardless of how they get there. IIRC DMM achieved something similar by cutting directly into a material that multiple stampers could be produced from.

Obviously you cannot cut from a master tape tens or hundreds of times. But you could make a cutting master to use. Which was often how it was done in the past. But if this cutting master is digital I'd rather have the file. I guess record companies are happy to licence for expensive vinyl but not to let more immediate transfers out.

Spending vast amounts of money on a vinyl rendition of a hoary old record doesn't appeal to me at all, so I don't care
 
I have 2 of the expensive box sets (SRV Texas Flood and S&G Bridge over troubled water) They both sound amazing and are increadibly quiet pressings. Worth the cost? Probably not but I suspect I will not have lost too much if I eventually sell on.
 
So Fremer stuck up for MOFI and tore Esposito a new one for spreading rumors. Then when Esposito turned out to be right, Fremer tore him a new one for letting the MOFIa execs walk all over him. I think I see a pattern here.
 
Yank said:
So Fremer stuck up for MOFI and tore Esposito a new one for spreading rumors. Then when Esposito turned out to be right, Fremer tore him a new one for letting the MOFIa execs walk all over him. I think I see a pattern here.
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Then in private they are all high-fiving each other.....it's like American Wrestling.
 
There definitely is some sort of process going on even when from digital to analogue. Analysing a pure sine wave transfered to analogue from digital will smooth out any edginess from the digital signal when looked on a scope, presumably distortion, I can only assume that is what we like about even a digitally sourced record?

I've been recording to tape for years and many times enjoyed the cassette more!

Probably half of my collection is digital or maybe more and many but not all sound better than the digital equivalent. Sometimes however I prefer the bog standard 16bit 44k cd, especially over hires digital.

It's a funny old world.

I'd hate to see the end of mofi but prices need to come down and a full list of titles need to be released of the processes involved on past and future releases. The biggest issue on price is, even if its reduced to AP prices then there's still an issue as they are all analogue so there obviously is a still a problem.

It's all about transparency.
 
DSD seems like an odd choice, it's better sounding than PCM but can't be edited like a PCM file. If it can't be edited then what is the reason for it?
 
gavreid said:
DSD seems like an odd choice, it's better sounding than PCM but can't be edited like a PCM file. If it can't be edited then what is the reason for it?
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For Mo-Fi etc the fact it can’t be edited is no issue. They just want the cleanest copy of the master tape to cut from repeatedly. They have been dishonest IMHO in not stating their vinyl has a digital process in the signal chain, but technically I see no issue.

PS In Groove Mike has done a great job here; just perfect timing, tone and approach IMO. The same can not be said of Michael Fremer.
 
Tony L said:
For Mo-Fi etc the fact it can’t be edited is no issue. They just want the cleanest copy of the master tape to cut from repeatedly. They have been dishonest IMHO in not stating their vinyl has a digital process in the signal chain, but technically I see no issue.

PS In Groove Mike has done a great job here; just perfect timing, tone and approach IMO. The same can not be said of Michael Fremer.
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I got the impression that they were fixing problems i.e. that they would choose to use the analogue master in the ideal scenario but it sounds like transfer to DSD is the first step, routinely.
 
The MFSL One Step albums were never on my radar, as I couldn't see myself paying £150+ for a re-released record. I've paid similar amounts for a rare first pressing (a couple of Neil Ardley albums come to mind), and I enjoy playing - and owning - them. They also won't lose their value.

However, the recent craze for uber-expensive one-off pressings (digitally processed or not) does not appeal to me. I'd rather hunt out a mint first pressing.

I also understand that this is not is the issue here, and I agree that MoFi have been disingenuous at best - and would have carried on with the ruse had they not been sussed. It will be interesting to see if it affects the 2nd hand value of the already-released One Steps, or the market for new releases.
 
Somewhat disappointing; but maybe the assumption was all ours - that the whole chain was analogue..?

On the other hand, if the master tapes are not available, or the owner won't release them, then they're doing their best with the available material.
 
This was the video I was thinking of yesterday - about 22 mins in. He cuts vinyl for Sony and controls the lathe directly from Pro-Tools. I've been watching it again in view of what we know now and listening carefully to Fremer...

 
ToTo Man said:
In his latest MoFi rant Fremer references "Plangent processing", something I knew nothing of until I googled it a few minutes ago... every day is a school day!...

https://audiophilereview.com/analog/plangent-a-better-way-to-transfer-analog-tape/
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In that article the LP12 was mentioned.
But viscous bearing damped?

Linn used to market the “tunefulness ” of their heavy viscous bearing-damped turntables – which compared to a Technics SL direct drive sounded warmer, and more detailed..
 
gavreid said:
DSD seems like an odd choice, it's better sounding than PCM but can't be edited like a PCM file. If it can't be edited then what is the reason for it?
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I was wondering that too. I don't own any MoFi vinyl, but of the numerous UDCD and UDSACD releases I own they are sufficiently different sonically to the original non-MoFi CD releases that I'm almost certain they have been processed/EQd in some shape or form and are not simply "flat transfers". In the case of cutting lacquers, perhaps the EQ is applied in the analogue domain as the lacquer is being cut, but this wouldn't make sense for their SACD releases. For these the DSD file needs to be converted to PCM for editing and then back to DSD. That's my understanding of it anyway...
 
"So the official portrait from MoFi Tuesday just came back. It will be hung in the Phoenix AZ In-Groove Store. Original Dutch Master Recording."

HtZz76-S6UETY3rNAP6WQ5UWxPANWUZ_ikMFXA63ZVwuUKtKOVGnGNWF-di0sgaHGNJQvsFgdlUP=s640-nd-v1


https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkxy7VMdS3r6tiYaFQNYNJxBjqPzqrNuiDx
 
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