Best vinyl pressing of A Night at the Opera?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Vin Il D'ciple, Jun 21, 2018.

  1. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Anything half speed mastered by CBS. Except maybe their second go at WYWH.
     
  2. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    Ahhhh... Do you realise those are digital pressings? To make it much worse they are digital from primitive times.
     
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  3. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    Most of mine are MoFi's so I'll state most of those.
     
  4. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    :righton:
     
  5. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Yes Im aware that at least some were.
     
  6. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    With the Mofi is a difficult matter, I am personally very happy with most and it is a company I have little hesitation to buy from but I have some of the Beatles albums and I can see some of their pressings aren't all what would expect. I don't think however the half speed process is to blame for the Mofis that don't sound as good but I would blame in some cases the tapes used and choices made by the people involved at the time of mastering. Yes I know the tapes are supposedly the original but obviously they weren't because some albums were done with the Capitol tapes which obviously are not the originals. It's the same with all the nonsensical claims with many new records.
     
  7. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    That should explain why the high frequencies are limited and the mastersound records in general don't sound quite right.
     
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  8. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    Yes, I understand all of that and again my dislike of the process is that almost all I have heard (not just MoFi) have capped highs, so I question if that is a byproduct of the process.
    And I do like some of them for when I'm in the mood for a different interpretation of an album.
    But, this thread is about the best press of a Queen album, so I shall not continue with the 1/2 speed discussions.
     
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  9. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Yes, its a mastering choice. The tapes were all original that I know of except for Submarine. Fremer used to state that it wasnt original tapes but that seemed wrong by him.

    But in any case the mastering makes a bigger difference than if half speed was used, so you can never truly pin point half speed as the cause for a bad sound. Likewise you cant say its the cause for it sounding good either.
     
  10. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Read the reviews. Basically these pressings have been compared to all past ones and the one steps have, for the most part, come out the clear sonic winners. I don't care the reasons, I only know what my ears tell me.
     
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  11. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    The one steps are not half speed mastered
     
  12. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.

    I have the Santana, hard to say what benefit the one step contributed, the speed at which it was cut at, and the mastering, are what set it apart, very faithful to the 'ol KC press as well.
     
  13. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    What is your source for this info? I have an ABB of Brothers and no 1/2 speed is mentioned, but a call to MoFi and the person just sated that all are regardless of the cover notes.
    Oops, contributing to the off topic am I.
     
  14. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Your ears dont tell you what it is thats improving the sound. But if you dont care to be too critical about it then I recommend Better Records by Tom Port.
     
  15. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Who cares as long as it's improved?? I don't care if they danced over the tapes in purple dresses. It's better! Lol
     
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  16. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    O.K., I finally did it. I asked on the Q & A section for Bridge Over Troubled Water if they still use 1/2 speed mastering. This is the answer:

    "With advances in mastering technology, MFSL utilizes a proprietary technology known as GAIN2 that replaces the former half-speed legacy process that MoFi became synonymous with. Details here: mofi.com/Articles.asp?ID=254

    As to how their One-Step technology is employed, it's best defined this way from MoFI Distribution's Norbert Schmied: "The difference in the UltraDisc 1-Step process (to current plating, and pressing processes used throughout the record industry) is that we still cut directly to a lacquer from the master tape, and then that lacquer gets electroplated, which we pull off and call a convert.

    And that’s what we use to press directly on our vinyl. That becomes our stamper, so we remove three processes/layers from traditional stamper duplication (of creating a father, and then a mother, and then a stamper off the mother). The problem with that stamper is, if it gets damaged (which is a natural effect from pressing LPs) the only way we can press more is if we have another lacquer. Because once you’ve got a lacquer and you’ve created it, and electroplated it, it’s done. That’s it, it’s over."

    That's a long way to say, "No, we don't need to anymore.". But now we know.
     
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  17. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.

    But your link states that it is still used with the Gain 2. Perhaps it's not used on the one step only?

    First and foremost, we only utilize first generation original master recordings as source material for our releases. We then play back master tapes at half speed enabling the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system to fully extract the master's sonic information.
     
  18. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    I care about truth and how things really function.
    Still recommend Better Records.
     
  19. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Sure, it's nice to know how they go about getting such great sound. What's with the recommendation to Better Records???
     
  20. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Well, the One steps DO NOT state anywhere "half speed mastered," so I'm going to assume that those are not. In fact, I'll have to check current verbiage on non one step, as I only recall that it states "Original Master Recording."
     
  21. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Well in case you choose to believe that the 1 step process somehow greatly increases fidelity then Tom Ports business should be extremely valuable to you since he seeks out to find the most early copies of each stamper. Hot pressings as he calls them are cleaned and tested against other copies to find the sonically superior one, thus reasoned to be earlier.
    Here you go:
    Better Records: Hot Stamper LPs -- 100% Guaranteed Great Sound.
     
  22. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    The biggest issue is the opposite of the that...capturing the bottom end when everything is at half the frequency.
     
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  23. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I was under the impression MFSL hasn’t done half-speed mastering for quite some time. I know the one marketing blurb on Gain 2 says it’s part of the process, but I suspect that’s an error.

    Regardless, the current iteration of MFSL has completely different vinyl mastering philosophy than the 80s iteration to my ears. And for the good.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2018
    richbdd01 likes this.
  24. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    He has neither said this nor is it even possible to determine what copies are the earliest from a stamper. He seeks out the best pressings. He doesn’t care about anything else (although that’s not to say certain labels, matrices, etc don’t help him narrow down his search).

    People take the “Hot Stampers” thing too literally.
     
  25. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I think it seems to be dependant on mastering engineer. Shawn Britton seems to cut half speed but i have noticed that Krieg Wunderlich cuts always at normal speed and i would say he cuts a significant share of the current MFSL vinyl output...
     

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