Dead Can Dance albums getting vinyl reissues on 4AD

I'll keep that in mind after restoring my two Thorens tables.
If still no go, I'll pm ya.

It's still available online, isn't it?

 

Last time I checked, not at a decent price.

 

Yeah, I just saw on Discogs $50.00 for a new sealed pressing.
Is it really better than the original? I have multiple copies of those.

I just found out that John Dent is JONZ in the deadwax on so many of my records from the 1980's.
And tons of 12"s. But most are not favorites for the sound. Just the music.
You can take a look at his repertoire here:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/147827-John-Dent?limit=100&filter_anv=0&type=Credits&page=6

I'm guessing John was chosen to remaster DCD because of his extensive resumé with those bands.

Where did you learn that he used tubes to remaster Spleen?

He's lately been remastering cds as "John Dent at LOUD Mastering."
And those cds are indeed LOUD - although the Love And Rockets stuff is pretty good.
Remasters from a place called LOUD are a fish in my book.

 

Yeah I know, don't be fooled by the name. Recently he also did the XTC reissues like Skylarking and English Settlement that got rave reviews.

Many 12" from the 80s are from early 44.1kHz digital. Some of them remixes sound good, many do not, in my experience.

I read he used tubes to remaster all DCD reissues in an interview, I think it was on the Vinyl180 site. It sounds like it to my ears, and I master using tubes almost everyday.

 

Interesting! Have you heard the 180 Spleen? Despite the tubes, it just sounded wrong to me. This recording didn't need any warming up.

 

No, I haven't heard it. It's possible he dropped the ball on this one.
Still, I'd be curious to hear it.

 

So I just bought the self-titled and Spleen. Was this pressed at Pirates Press? The stamp looks like Pirate. Also, there is nothing to indicate who cut it. I have a feeling they took high resolution files and gave it to an in house mastering engineer.

I will compare my original self-titled lp with the new one and report back. I have always found the original to be rather muddy, but that it also b/c it is likely the sound they were going for!

 

They had problems with the self-titled mix originally, apparently there were some "mistakes" made, that's why they remixed it for the MoFi reissue, but I much prefer the original mix.

 

Discogs says the US/ UK pressing of Spleen was done at MPO. However, my US copy seems to have been pressed somewhere else and does not have MPO or handwritten etchings in the deadwax.

 

Same as me. I have this. All stamped not etched.

142741E1/A CAD 2623 for side A
142741E2A CAD 2623 for side B

 

It seems this would be an entirely different cut if the deadwax is not the same... right?

 

Your "US" copy? I don't recall it being pressed in the US.

edit: I just noticed on Discogs.com that the reissue is listed as UK/US.
But I'd be surprised if any copies were actually pressed here.

 

There are two different deadwax notations. The US has a stamped number and the UK/ Europe has an etched MPO notification. I can't imagine they pressed 5000 of these. So, I would not be surprised, due to the different deadwax entries, that there are two different pressings from different pressing plants.

Hopefully 4ad will respond to the email I sent them regarding this.

 

4 AD just wrote me back. Here is what they said: "Hi Jim, the USA versions were pressed at IRP & are dupes of the Abbey Road UK versions."

 

What are "dupes" of the UK versions?

 

I take it they are copies of the abbey road cuts. If this is the case wouldn't they have the same deadwax? Or maybe they used the exact same digital files to cut...

 

They probably mean they were the same cut. The pressing plants then possibly stamped their information in the blank deadwax.

 

The only way to tell is to listen to a UK original and one of these reissues.
I'm looking forward to someones report.

 

I gave a not very scientific report on Spleen a page or two back. My system is not such that I can hook up two turntables and do a direct comparison between two LPs, but after listening to the reissue of Spleen and then a few tracks from a UK original, as well as comparing both directly against the original UK CD, I could detect some differences in sound between the two LPs.

The reissue sounds a little bassier with a bit more high frequency detail. The original UK LP sounds a little more midrangey by comparison. The UK CD sounds very midrangey, while - interestingly - the original LP sounds closer to the CD than the reissue does. The original LP seems to have slightly more even tonal balance overall, if that makes sense.

Like I said, not very scientific, but I could nevertheless hear subtle differences between the two. And I was able to detect the added lower frequency of the reissue as soon as I put it on. I'm so familiar with this album that I could tell it sounded slightly different right away.

 

What is 'IRP'? Did they mean QRP, by any chance? I don't think I have ever heard of a pressing facility called 'IRP'.

 

There is Independent Record Pressing in New Jersey.

 

Never hear much about IRP.

 

I don't think I have ever heard anything about them. Are they the same people who press the [dreaded] Scorpio reissues, I wonder?

 

No idea! I just Googled IRP record pressing and that's what came up. Maybe there are others? The NJ one apparently opened up in 2015. More info here.

Whoever pressed the reissue of Spleen that I have did a pretty good job, as I mentioned a page or two back.

 

I am pretty sure it is Independent Record Pressing. My US pressing is very nice.