[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"Boon" wrote in message
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On Jan 12, 1:56?am, "Iain Churches" wrote:
"Boon" wrote in message

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On Jan 11, 5:20?am, "Iain Churches" wrote:

"Boon" wrote in message

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The finer things in life have always been enjoyed by the discerning
few.

It's the poor mastering on so many CDs, that lead people to
the eronious conclusion that vinyl is a superior medium.
I would agree. ?To make it more confusing, we have quite a few new LP
releases that were pressed from digital masters and even CDs. That's
definitely hurting the whole LP revival.

Are you saying you think that LP masters should be cut
from analogue tapes?

Ah, in a perfect world.

Well it could easily be done, if the demand was there.
It's a simple job to make an analogue tape from a
digital original, and the analogue would still be first
generation by definition.

Almost without exception, ?masters are digital these days.

The White Stripes have been able to get it done with analog AFAIK.

That's a Detroit band isn't it? Maybe your pal Arny did
the mastering:-) LOL.


I don't mind the digital masters as much, but some LPs have apparently
been mastered from CDs, not masters.

Hmm. Interesting point. Personally, if the CD used is a precise
unblemished clone of the studio master, then I can see nothing
wrong with that. After all, one can make 100 generations of
digital copies (clones) and the 100th will be indistinguishable
from the first. But if the CD has been given the "smiley treatment"
in mastering, then it is useless.

But it is interesting to compare an original LP with the
various versions of the same material issued, then
remastered several times over the interval of a
few years. ?The CDs get louder and louder,
brighter and brighter, with less and less dynamic
range. ?This is said to meet the developing public taste:-)

Ah yes, the Loudness Wars.

It's probably even more virulent in the US than over here.
In fact, several radio stations in the Stockholm area that play
jazz, proudly announce, "no broadcast compression"

I've always liked the customer service of Elusive Disc.

Yes. I am very happy to buy from them.

Indeed it is. ?There are also albums and 12inch 45s that are
pressed in considerable numbers for radio and DJ use. ?These
are courtesy copies, and probably do not figure in sales statistics.

Not according to Arny, who believes that LP sales are being
artificially inflated by the "turntablists."

I take little notice of anything Arny says for two reasons.
1. He knows very little indeed which is of interest to me
2. The little he does know is subject to the most hideous bias.

The former EMI factory in Hayes, Midd'x, UK is now in private
hands, and producing 1million LPs per year.

Excellent! I'm not sure what the RTI figures are, but I've visited on
a number of occasions and they had warehouses stacked with product and
were pressing like mad.

I haven't seen the latest BPI figts for the UK, but I understand that
the former EMI factory has all presses running. Hopefully, they
will not get orders beyond capacity as that is when quality starts
to suffer. The first place a pressing plant tries to save time is in
the pressing/cooling cycle. When I used to go to theDecca
factory, I could aways make my way straight to the presses
tha were making the full price classical LPs, they were running
much slower than the others:-)

Vinyl outlets (snip)
I haven't seen too much of that here in the US...it's always a mix.

I chuckle whe I go to fairs, and see hundreds of people
milling around the vinyl sales areas. Few people are looking
at the CD, even though they cost as little as 2 Euros!

Nice to chat with you on a sensible audio thread, Boon.

Best regards
Iain