I contacted him too and it's my opinion, based on when Keith reached out to him, that he was well aware of the issue at that point. I asked him for a replacement disc and he effectively said no. He advised me to return it to the point of purchase. Of course he must have known that would lead to further frustration. Why the smoke screen? I'm about done with the shenanigans and until I see that every member of this forum/ thread are made whole, I won't be buying anything else from this label. Period.
That was the message I received. He is well aware of the scratched discs but he has no intention of making things right for the consumer. I feel that this is the wrong way to build up a happy customer base.
I agree. I won't be buying any SACDs from Intervention due to the lack of support of an obviously flawed product.
That's good news about the Super Jewel cases. Hopefully he'll do that with the next pressing of Stealers Wheel, if there is a next pressing. It's a shame because I know from another thread (either here or at Quadraphonic Quad) that he was excited about these fancy "tip-on" sleeves though I would think they're more expensive to produce than a nice booklet and basic tray card. Sounded like a good idea for vinyl, but not an SACD IMO. And I've read Analog Spark is doing something similar I hate to rain on his parade because I'm sure this is a labor of love. Really hope this doesn't discourage him and he sticks with it.
Especially Mobile Fidelity. Their packaging looks nice but needs to be handled with kid gloves to avoid corners getting damaged and edges splitting. And they're big enough that I'm having a hell of a time finding clear protective sleeves that will fit them. The ones I bought from Elusive Disc, that are supposed to fit Mini LPs, are way too small.
Why bother producing a SACD from PCM when the original analog tapes were right at their fingertips to create a DSD file
What the hell, since he said he was taking suggestions I suggested Still Life's debut album on Vertigo. I have always wanted a good sounding LP/CD/SACD for that The original LP is incredibly rare and I haven't heard a digital version that impressed me. Someone else ( @Bill Hart) might know more about Vertigo's current state of affairs. RCA Neon also did a bunch of folk rock type of albums that might be up IR's alley.
Or, if they're going to digitize the master to hi-res PCM, why not release as a Blu-ray Audio disc, or a DVD-A, or a hi-res download? If CD compatibility is desired, one could always package a CD with the Blu-ray or DVD-A disc.
I have the Analog Spark SACD of Meat Loaf/Bat Out Of Hell. They use the same cloth inner sleeve that MFSL uses. No scratch worries there.
For sure, the culprit is the POS inner sleeve that was used for the Stealers Wheel. The Ella, Meatloaf etc. should arrive without issues.
Universal has some of the tapes. I don't know about Still Life. I did find an original release Canadian Vertigo of Still Life for very reasonable money, and it sounds great. I didn't want to pay the tariff for a UK, assuming I could find one in a high state of play (which is the other issue- I finally replaced my UK Cressida s/t with a really clean playing copy. Now to buy a UK Cressida Asylum for less than a king's ransom in top condition). I did manage to find Indian Summer UK RCA (Neon) for reasonable money and broke down and finally bought Spring as well, though I went for a German copy of that- the price of these things is just ugly. I have yet to hear a re-do that competes with the early copies, but it would be wonderful if this music could get re-released on vinyl as full analog copies. Ken Golden, who got me onto the whole Neon thing, did re-do Spring some years ago through his Laser's Edge company. Since I don't really do much with CDs, I can't tell you how it compares, but Ken told me that he worked with tape-- it was quite a while ago, though.
Esoteric re-released Spring in June of last year. You have to look around to find a decent price though.
Because Hi-Res releases are targeted Audiophiles, who will buy them. Because the better SACD playback capability than the other Hi-Res formats that most Audiophiles have in their systems. Just compare how many real High-End DVD-A and Blu-ray Audio players (not Oppo) industry offers against SACD ones and you will understand Why.
How this extra CD should fit into Stealers Wheel (for instance) Mini LP cover or into Super Jewel case? So, beside elevating cost extra disc, you need non-standard packaging. It could work well with new releases, but for the old greats everything supposed to be simplified and unified. It supposed to be SERIES. And Series it already is: IR (Lost) '90s Series IR (Re)Discover Series You bought couple albums in nice Mini LP covers and you like them a lot; they sound good and it's a pleasure to hold them in hands. You don't know yet, you don't feel this way, but you're becoming a Slave of the Series. You don't like next release much (musically), but you are buying it anyway.. for Series sake. Your friends are coming to you, you're playing music for them, they pay attention to these beautiful little pieces, named Mini LP CD... They "have no idea", they are very impressed. Conversation is going smoothly and everybody's having a good time... I'm telling you all of that because I am Mini LP Collector from 1999, who is deeply sick with Audiophilia and Collecting and I am a Slave of my Series. I know how it works better than anybody else. And I can tell for sure: I like second Stealers Wheel album less than first one, but I was going to buy it anyway because they are siblings in beautiful covers, made by one Artist, but... If second Stealers Wheel album will come in Jewel case, I will never buy it, because I care.
I use a brand called Nagaoka, you can find them on eBay. They come in packs of 20 and have a purple coloured pack.
I have several Super Jewel Cases that can easily hold 2 discs on the hub (and came packaged with two discs on the hub). Also, the price for the Stealers Wheel SACD is higher than DVD-A/CD two discs sets released by, for example, King Crimson ($30 vs. approx. $20). So I don't really buy the extra cost or non-standard packaging arguments (at least if a Super Jewel Case is being considered for the Ferguslie Park release). Also, from some of the comments in this thread, the current Stealers Wheel SACD packaging is causing problems with damaged discs. As an audiophile, I would be most interested in the best possible sound quality. That would *not* be taking a 24/192 PCM master and re-digitizing it as DSD. Also, for those of us who like to put our music on a server to stream to a music player, SACD is the most difficult to deal with.
I received another email from Shane last night and this email made me want to support his endeavor. I will try to post it here but if it doesn't work properly I will make another post and give the gist of his message. ************************************************************************************************* They were all packed and shrink wrapped before being sent to me, so I don't have any discs. I'd recommend an exchange through your retailer. I have OCD about things too, but oddly not physical music. I buy and play LPs almost exclusively and there are many that aren't visually perfect. If they play fine I keep em. I understand mileage varies. Let me know if your retailer doesn't take care of this to your satisfaction and I'll see that you get whole. Thanks! -Shane On Dec 27, 2016, at 11:59, David Bennett <> wrote: Shane, Thank you for your reply and you are right, these are really exquisite little replica covers, but I still have a very badly scratched disc. I appreciate that you are just trying to create a beautiful product and I was trying to do my part by supporting a new audiophile company, but I am still not happy with my disc. Do you have any unscratched discs that you can exchange for my scratched disc? You are right, the disc plays, but a lot of us “audiophiles” are OCD and we like a perfect product. Thanks again for the personal reply and I wish you good luck with your endeavor. David Bennett From: Shane Buettner [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 10:46 AM To: Subject: Re: Intervention Records Contact Us Message I’ve heard people on this. Any future CD/SACD releases I do will be in the super jewel cases. FWIW, those cardboard jackets are NOT cheap. They’re 5” old-style “tip-ons” by Stoughton with film lamination, literally a scaled down version of the jackets on my LPs, which have been praised to the heavens by every consumers and reviewer who has touched them. I really thought that replicating the LP experience was the best way to go or I wouldn’t have produced the product this way. and in fact I haven’t gotten a single report of the disc not playing back perfectly. Stoughton is a best -in-class vendor and I believe they delivered a best-in-class product. I just asked them fro the wrong product apparently. But lesson learned. Super jewel cases from now on. Thank you for all the advice. -Shane
Returning an item through the point of purchase is standard operating procedure. Why would that "lead to further frustration"?
To all due respect, guys, I wonder what are you doing... You bought the "lemon" car, you want your money back. Would you bring it to 'Chevy' or to your local dealership,where you bought it? The same thing here. Amazon is grabbing a lot for selling through their site. They supposed to handle all these issues. That's it. Of course, if you want personally to talk to the Man...
