Early pressings

[mikecole]

I am sitting here listening to a Doris Day LP from the '50s. The original copy I had was from my Dad's collection and I thought that it was pretty astounding. It is mono, but has the greatest sense of presence and weight. LPs from today all sound anemic in comparison. My copy had a lot clicks and pops, so I bought one on the net that promised to be very quiet. I am guessing this must be an early pressing because the recording was miles ahead of the one I had. I had no idea just how much better an early pressing could be, but the copy I had sounded like caricature of this new one. There was just so much more emotion and detail. I have a CD of this and the CD is a joke. Thank god for LPs. BTW, I was very surprised when I heard Doris Day's voice. She just does not look like she could sing like (as my Dad would say) a f**king angel.

Mike

[DSJR]

if you like US artists on LP, then the US LP is the one to get i found, or at least LP's made from US metalwork - this was a known thing in the 80's at any rate.

You may find the CD of the old Doris Day material had the original (slightly distorted?) masters "sanitised," for modern consumption (without knowing what was done).

I have two Nat King Cole compilations on CD. The popular one sounds awful, sickly and squidged up. The other (can't remember the name and it's packed away right now) sounded amazing (like the Ella & Louis CD's) with that intimate quality that the 50's recordings captured so well..

The CD's CAN do it, but it depends on the mastering engineer and the "toys" at his disposal IMO...

[mikecole]

DSJR, I am sure no work was put into making the CD. It was just one of those put-it-on-CD-and-sell-it-cheap things.

Mike

[hifi_dave]

Some of those old mono LP's are stunning. Are you using a mono cartridge ?

[mikecole]

Some of those old mono LP's are stunning. Are you using a mono cartridge ?

Nope, just a Dyna 10x5 on an LP12.

Mike

[Beechwoods]

Great post, Mike. And a great story of hunting down a great copy of an old recording. I got into early bluegrass a while back, and it's intrigued me how the old 78's would sound played through the right stylus, and with the right EQ. While bluegrass 78's aren't plentiful over here I'm sure they turn up regularly in the US and the cost would make it a fun hobby, tracking down old stuff.

You're right that all too often the old stuff just gets cursory mastering to CD. It loses all the beauty of the original analogue (sometimes single mic, sometimes straight to lathe) recording...

The old Jazz engineers really knew how to mic a room too.