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The darker side of the "Vinyl Revival"

Just to update this, I took the Stone Roses LP back to Sainsburys.

They had only one remaining copy of that LP so we opened that one to check the condition which was near identical.

The same scratches were in the same places on both sides and both sides had fingerprints.

So this suggests to me that they're actually damaged by the manufacturing process itself and perhaps they're being put into the sleeves manually by people who haven't been trained not to pick records up in that way.

£14 refunded.
 
Wylton, you missed the antiques emporium (in an old church) just a few metres from the Soundclash. There is a large selection od very good vinyl (7 boxes) and another stall with a cheaper and smaller stock.

It's not just a nice city, it's a FINE city (as it says on most approaches).

I remember there was an idea to change it to 'A Norman City'—which was quietly dropped. :rolleyes:

There are a few shops down Magdalen Street that also sell vinyl (note: the plural of vinyl is vinyl, grammar sheeps.;))

It's not expensive either—I can come out of there with 7 albums for £20.

Stephen
 
I can't understand the vinyl revival. LPs are a high-maintenance medium, fraught with pressing, handling and storage issues and really require a reasonable turntable (= not cheap) to get decent sound.

At a gig last year, I asked a someone what turntable he was going to use to play the album he was asking me to sign. He said he didn't have a turntable but he bought the vinyl for the cover and just listened to the digital download.

Turns out that several people there already had the latter—illegally, of course—but then bought the record anyhow for the artwork.

I've never liked the CD format though the sound quality can be very good.

Perhaps the future is to offer the artwork alongside a free download?

Stephen
 
The same scratches were in the same places on both sides and both sides had fingerprints.

.

Quite a few on the new records I've bought are shipped in card sleeves. On opening, they are often covered with white paper crap and have hairlines on them.

However, a quick run through the Moth and a new plastic inner sleeve has always rendered them perfect so far.

It's annoying that so many people sell records with card sleeves—including the record companies I'm with.:mad:

Stephen
 
Just to update this, I took the Stone Roses LP back to Sainsburys.

They had only one remaining copy of that LP so we opened that one to check the condition which was near identical.

The same scratches were in the same places on both sides and both sides had fingerprints.

So this suggests to me that they're actually damaged by the manufacturing process itself and perhaps they're being put into the sleeves manually by people who haven't been trained not to pick records up in that way.

£14 refunded.

This is interesting and more than a bit worrying.

Lets face that we are actually coming back out of a cd clean room process to the production and packaging of vinyl.

There are people barely on MW, bored out of their trees, stamping and shoving these things into sleeves. I dont think vinyl production was ever as good as some people like to think.

I cant remember the last time I had a problem with a new cd. Indeed any marks were probably the shop messing around and opening them. I was a bit easy going in the early days and I now demand sealed cds at new prices

I would reject that vinyl at 50p in the charity shop. Im not paying £12 upwards for production and handling damage

Of course the elephant in the room is that info can be retrieved off marked cds if the damage isnt too heavy. Try doing that with vinyl without hearing every flaw
 
At a gig last year, I asked a someone what turntable he was going to use to play the album he was asking me to sign. He said he didn't have a turntable but he bought the vinyl for the cover and just listened to the digital download.

Turns out that several people there already had the latter—illegally, of course—but then bought the record anyhow for the artwork.

I've never liked the CD format though the sound quality can be very good.

Perhaps the future is to offer the artwork alongside a free download?

Stephen

Yes and anyone using a crossley cruiser or similar turntable should be banned from the forum :) I will leave that to Tony :D

There should be a security question about Garrard and the Ariston Linn bearing controversy :D
 
It's very much a caveat emptor situation. Has anyone noticed how many Mobile Fidelity records no longer say Original Master Recording in calculator letters across the top of the album?

The absence of Original Master Recording doesn't mean that the record is crap, but it does mean the original tapes weren't used, so you're paying a premium for mastering from a copy. At least Mobile Fidelity is upfront about it.

Joe
 
Abby,

I'm not looking to score points, just to point out that some Mobile Fidelity releases are not mastered from the original tapes. Knowledge is generally a useful thing to possess.

Joe
 
It's very much a caveat emptor situation. Has anyone noticed how many Mobile Fidelity records no longer say Original Master Recording in calculator letters across the top of the album?

The absence of Original Master Recording doesn't mean that the record is crap, but it does mean the original tapes weren't used, so you're paying a premium for mastering from a copy. At least Mobile Fidelity is upfront about it.

Joe

It should be a requirement to state on the label whether the original master is analog or digital and if digital, at what bit and sampling rate.

I played quite a bit last night delving further back into the library, and frankly the older records sound absolutely incredible.

The two that stood out the most were Michael Jackson's "Thriller" from the LP, and (I'll ignore the groans, I was 12 years old and I still like this), the 45RPM 12" single of Five Star's "The Slightest Touch".

The soundstage is clear and absolutely massive, it's all beautifully vibrant, the trickery of the effects on the Jackson one (that door) is, well, thrilling.

About the only thing I'd criticise with the Jackson one is the mic-ing of Jackson's vocal which is just a touch blurry around the edges compared with Price's, and also compared with the Five Star one; while I have quite a decent source, a better amp and speakers might bring that out nicely as might a 45RPM copy (versus 33).

Then you go forward to most pop music from today and it sounds, well, appalling; squashed, compressed, no attention paid to stereo imagery so mastered completely flat with everything overlapping, truncated, artificial-sounding, no sense of fluidity and so on.

If someone just popped down to the pressing plant with the CD (instead of a higher quality master) and got them to run off a few thousand vinyl copies, I'd like to be able to know about that before buying so as not to waste the money.

At least sites like HD Tracks do seem to make some attempt to verify the provenance of the master they're provided with and clearly state what you're getting with your downloads though of course just because something is at 24/192 doesn't mean it will sound brilliant especially if it's a re-mastering of an old tape that didn't sound great to begin with and that has been sat in a cupboard slowly losing magnetism for the last 50 years.
 
This is a good illustrative example of recent SACD releases from Mobile Fidelity. (The same applied to vinyl.) If the text says Original Master Recording, the title is mastered from the original tapes. If it says Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab it comes from a copy.

am8ahi.png


Not false advertising, as Mobile Fidelity says this plainly on front of the album, but it is something to be aware of.

Joe
 
At a gig last year, I asked a someone what turntable he was going to use to play the album he was asking me to sign. He said he didn't have a turntable but he bought the vinyl for the cover and just listened to the digital download.

Turns out that several people there already had the latter—illegally, of course—but then bought the record anyhow for the artwork.

I've never liked the CD format though the sound quality can be very good.

Perhaps the future is to offer the artwork alongside a free download?

Stephen

I think that. It is a trick being missed the artwork could be really exploited in very creative ways. Blowing a quality image download to A2 to photograph standard is about £15.00. The artwork possibilities far exceed the possibilities of a LP sleeve.
 
This is a good illustrative example of recent SACD releases from Mobile Fidelity. (The same applied to vinyl.) If the text says Original Master Recording, the title is mastered from the original tapes. If it says Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab it comes from a copy.
Joe

I think the problem that I have as many might have concluded from the snippet about Five Star is that I don't seem to like an awful lot of the more audiophile reference music.

An exception in that graphic would be Santana. For every Pink Floyd LP on the shelves there are maybe ten or more, er, pop/dance music ones that would be about as well received by many as the application of a cheese grater to the ears.

The honesty in the presentation is interesting though, as you say, it does give you a good indication of what you're getting (as long as you know what it means, which you've taken the time to explain).
 
This is a good illustrative example of recent SACD releases from Mobile Fidelity. (The same applied to vinyl.) If the text says Original Master Recording, the title is mastered from the original tapes. If it says Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab it comes from a copy.

...

Not false advertising, as Mobile Fidelity says this plainly on front of the album, but it is something to be aware of.

Good information, I didn't realise MoFi released anything not from the original masters.
 
Mark,

Sometimes the sticker on the album gives a metric tonne of useful info.

blood-sweat-tears-2lp-45rpm-180gr-original-recordings-group-rti-pressing-usa-numbered-limited-edition.jpg


Joe
 
Tony,

Good information, I didn't realise MoFi released anything not from the original masters.
Neither did I until recently.

It's a bit maddening because some Mo-Fi releases -- Bob Dylan titles, for example -- were available earlier as original master recordings sourced from the original tapes, but are now being released by Mo-Fi from copies.

dylan_times_mfsl1.JPG


MFSL2-421-2.jpg


Joe
 
Mark,

Sometimes the sticker on the album gives a metric tonne of useful info.

blood-sweat-tears-2lp-45rpm-180gr-original-recordings-group-rti-pressing-usa-numbered-limited-edition.jpg


Joe

Well, that's set me off investigating. I never knew such things existed. Thanks :)

I quite fancy "Holst - The Planets - Zubin Mehta : Los Angeles Philharmonic - 45rpm 180g 2LP".

I do have a recording of this on CD but the SQ is dreadful.

Mind you it is £54.99. I suppose this puts the "I'd pay more if it were better" assertion to the test..
 
Mark,

I've had good luck with audiophile vinyl pressings and SACDs, but the cost is getting prohibitive, made all the worse recently by a declining Canadian dollar.

For the most part I've switched to buying used CDs, early issues if I can find them. I still buy vinyl (new and used) but I probably pick up 15 to 20 CDs for every slab of wax.

If past me could see present me I think past me would have a heart attack.

Joe
 


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