SH Spotlight A few angry (but sort of funny) notes people sent me about my mastering work, imagined defects.....

Of course the target market was for the audiophile that previously purchased mfsl lps/ cds. The DCC discs were sold at Tower records and a few other retailers iirc. I bought most of mine from Tower or direct from DCC. You don't think that average non audiophile consumers also bought these from Tower? For gifts or the novelty of having what looks like an exclusive purchase with the fancy packaging. My own Mother bought Frank Sinatra DCC discs, she was no audiophile. But liked to buy nice expensive clothes and fancy retail goods.

 

this one makes me laugh. because (re)mastering the recording somehow exposes the art pepper for the lousy player the listener apparently thinks he is.

 

of course they did...I agree. for their friends and family...but, we both knew that already.

 

People are a trip.

Just heard a recording of a talk show where a caller in complained that 'Deer Crossing' signs are improperly placed on highways, and the government should move them elsewhere so the deer cross somewhere else. Attempts to explain to her the signs only warn drivers of where deer cross was unsuccessful. She insisted deer cross highways where the government puts signs out, so its the governments fault when accidents occur, because they control the crossing.

 

I wonder if these people would ask for refund for a movie at a theater if the movie was bad? What about a live concert if they left early because it was bad?

I've only returned a CD once. And that was for a defect that kept it from playing or ripping without glitching. And I felt guilty about that one because I bought it new from an indie store and the return probably stuck them with the cost.

 

Dare! Dare!

 

Nah...they bought it earlier in the day and listened in the car. The son was nowhere around. I think the reality was the lady was maybe a taco short of the combo platter.

 

Steve, why did you wait this long to tell us these?

 

The complaint about the Pet Sounds being in mono made me laugh the hardest.

Though as hard as I laughed at this and other complaints, this thread made me a bit sad. Steve I really hope you don't spend too much time cataloguing complaints of titles you've mastered. It goes without saying most of these complaints have nothing to do with the mastering, and the others are just imbecile!
FWIW, the only time I ever returned a NEW album (I've respectfully returned used records for excessive surface noise and CDs with legit skips) was a hip-hop remaster LP I bought from FYE. I told the manager that I don't want another copy because I'm certain its not a pressing defect, or anything the store did wrong handling it, but tat this LP was mastered so poorly its unlistenable, and I shouldn't have to be stuck with it. It sounded like someone took the digital master for the CD and turned the bass to 11+ and then made an LP. The midrange was distorted to the point that I could not understand the vocals. I've since forgotten the title. But I hope THAT LP ended up on a mastering engineer's desk, and that he actually took a minute to listen to it!

 

Well this was a recent one, I had a girl come in twice in 2 days the first time she returned a neutral milk hotel album because it "skipped" no biggie we did a return, the next day she comes in and throws a **** fit because the phoenix lp she bought also "skips" we had in the overnight period got a turntable for in store so we tested out the lp and it worked perfectly. She had just bought a turntable and obviously didn't know you need to adjust the weight on the tonearm but it was funny because it was the typical trustfund suburban kid that thinks everything else is everyone else's fault.

The next one probably takes the cake, and yes just like in the movie clueless (which me and my co-workers quoted all day after the incident) a customer returned a billie holiday cd and he tells me "I dunno man, he sounds really feminine on this album" I responded "thats because she's a woman, but I can switch it out for something else if you aren't digging it" he fumbled over words embarrased and decided to hang on to it and give it another shot. But I was dumbfounded that someone went into it thinking billie holiday was a dude

 

Did y'all explain to her how to balance her tonearm? Or keep taking her returned LPs until she was unceremoniously back into an exclusively digital set-up?

 

Most movie theaters will give you a ticket to another film, if you don't like the one you paid for. The ticket price you pay goes directly to the movie company/distributor, theaters make most if not all their profit at the concession stand (ever wonder why a "small" soda costs $4? Now you know.) That said, I've never considered asking for a refund of a movie I didn't like. And Brownsville Station was so awful, I'd have paid again for the privilege of leaving that concert....

Now, I don't know exactly how independent music stores deal with distributors/manufacturers, but I can tell you that in the book business, publishers will give the retailer full credit for defective returns on their future purchases. I suspect that record/CD shops have similar arrangements, so don't feel bad for returning defective merchandise, you're not hurting the store. The manufacturer wants you to be happy with your purchase, if you're stuck with a defective CD, wouldn't you think twice about buying from the same label a second time? If a store gets shafted with the cost of defective merchandise, they're not going to sell products from that company.

 

Anyway, back to the thread topic. DCC like any other record company got it's share of returns. Doubtful the non audiophile labels received much direct correspondence from their customers . The retail record stores dealt with those people directly. Some posted funny first hand experiences in this thread. I certainly do agree the notes Steve shared with us are quite hilarious and worthy of not only saving them all these years but also posting them for us to read. As for me, I sent two back when I was a mail order customer(because I could) and exchanged them for two different titles. You recently mentioned in a previous thread- iirc- that you still had some DCC catalogs or magazine ads? I know a lot of people would love to see those again. Sadly, after extensive searching my copies are nowhere to be found. Can't find an image anywhere on the internet either. If you do indeed have the catalogs/mags, it would be cool to see some scans. I used to love looking thru them.

 

yeah we only accepted the first return, and I gave her advice on how to balance her tonearm. She hasn't complained since and keeps buying LPs

 

what do you think I'm making it up?! I have many put away...I'd have to look in my files...
I'll make a list of what I have and post it...it will take a bit though.

 

But, consider this: many, many people so not know that Pet Sounds wasn't originally mixed to stereo. And, it wasn't mixed to stereo until the 90s.

Many people out there assume everything is stereo.

 

It's all true!

 

Well, in their defense, some people do not want vinyl, and probably never had vinyl, and don't understand why they should have to buy a turntable in 2013 just to hear something. It's about the same as what some people though about CDs in the early 90s.

 

I can only imagine the complaints that Mobile Fidelity has received over the years. The top end on some of those is so piercing (i.e. Coltrane - Ballads) I might as well jam an ice pick in my ear.

 

I've always thought "the customer is always right" is the most laughable policy directive ever--even if retail has to give lip service to it sometimes.

Joe Public is, occasionally, a maroon. And I have been Joe Public a few times...

 

Unless you've heard the DCC Vinyl you haven't heard how great Surrealistic Pillow can sound and I used to own the Gold RCA CD. Completely night & day differences IMO.

Keep them coming Steve if you have some more.

 

I love the idea that a wrong mastering can detune Wes Montgomery's guitar and Joni Mitchell's vocals!

 

I remember in my younger days, pre teens,getting an album and wondering why the song i wanted the album for mainly was longer than the one i heard on the radio.Not knowing then that their were single edits.and being mad cause it was longer and was not like i knew it to be