Thing Fish
21-02-2013, 22:17
I am sure that like many on this forum that as we learn from each other and our systems improve they become more revealing and we start to expect and search for quality pressings to reep the full benefits of our upgrades. I am one such person.
For a while now I have been seeking the best pressing/remix call it what you will of certain reissues (or even new albums come to that). Sometimes I get lucky sometimes I fall woefully short.
There was the debarcle over last years Fleetwood mac's 45rpm reissue of Rumours for example. There turned out to be two releases, one from the USA and one from the EU. Information was filtering through but at first was sketchy. It's a long story but the upshot of it was that if you have the USA version mastered by Kevin Grey you have the better pressing.
Then there was the Tom Waits Rhino reissues. It turns out that although they stated that the analogue masters had been used not all was rosy in the garden and the high freq's were drastically compressed. The long and short of it was that they had to be redone. The reissue of the reissue was mastered by Chris Bellman and pressed at Bernie Grundman mastering. You will have the initials 'CB' in the dead wax if you have the latest/best ones. If not Rhino were exchanging them?
Nick Drakes reissue of Pink Moon has 3 versions! The best it seems being the Box set.
The moral is don't believe all you read on the jacket!
When we are spending big bucks on a record I at least want to make sure I am buying what is stated on the cover. Therefore at least some research is needed.
Below are a few sites that I find a really informative source of quality pressings.
Good sources of information -
http://www.analogplanet.com/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/
Lable Quality -
MOFI - most are good but there were/are a few duffers.
Speakers Corner - Pretty high.
ORG - Pretty high.
Pure Pleasure - Pretty high.
Simply vinyl - Low although a few good ones are out there.
Vinyl lovers - Low (mostly cut from CD)
Sony Legacy - Recently a lot better.
Rhino - Pretty high.
My hope is that others will add new quality pressing information to this thread so we can all benefit.
The above facts are based on my own research and findings. I am sure some of you will disagree...:)
For a while now I have been seeking the best pressing/remix call it what you will of certain reissues (or even new albums come to that). Sometimes I get lucky sometimes I fall woefully short.
There was the debarcle over last years Fleetwood mac's 45rpm reissue of Rumours for example. There turned out to be two releases, one from the USA and one from the EU. Information was filtering through but at first was sketchy. It's a long story but the upshot of it was that if you have the USA version mastered by Kevin Grey you have the better pressing.
Then there was the Tom Waits Rhino reissues. It turns out that although they stated that the analogue masters had been used not all was rosy in the garden and the high freq's were drastically compressed. The long and short of it was that they had to be redone. The reissue of the reissue was mastered by Chris Bellman and pressed at Bernie Grundman mastering. You will have the initials 'CB' in the dead wax if you have the latest/best ones. If not Rhino were exchanging them?
Nick Drakes reissue of Pink Moon has 3 versions! The best it seems being the Box set.
The moral is don't believe all you read on the jacket!
When we are spending big bucks on a record I at least want to make sure I am buying what is stated on the cover. Therefore at least some research is needed.
Below are a few sites that I find a really informative source of quality pressings.
Good sources of information -
http://www.analogplanet.com/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/
Lable Quality -
MOFI - most are good but there were/are a few duffers.
Speakers Corner - Pretty high.
ORG - Pretty high.
Pure Pleasure - Pretty high.
Simply vinyl - Low although a few good ones are out there.
Vinyl lovers - Low (mostly cut from CD)
Sony Legacy - Recently a lot better.
Rhino - Pretty high.
My hope is that others will add new quality pressing information to this thread so we can all benefit.
The above facts are based on my own research and findings. I am sure some of you will disagree...:)