Music Matters Definitive Blue Note 45 RPM and 33 & 1/3 RPM vinyl series

Well, if you have a million invested in your system, or more, than sure maybe you'll hear the difference. If not, I'm guessing that the 45 will be just fine.

 

Welcome to the music industry . Its the nature of the beast. I dont think, in this case anyway, that the series started off by anyone saying "Lets fool them into thinking these 45s are the end all be all in sonics and then we will launch the REALLY improved 33.3's. And then mwahahahaha come the 78s!!! Bwaaahhahahahah!!"

Technology improves. And maybe these 33.3s do sound the awesomely awesomest of all time. Dont know. Doesnt mean the 45s are all the sudden not realistic and lifelike. They still are some of the absolute best pressings in sq and packaging ever.

With technological improvements there will always be better. Do we want no improvements? I wouldnt think so. If they are better then they are better. Doesnt mean we cant be happy with the 45s.

What I would like to see is instead of saying "Well boys, we have an obvious improvement in mastering abilities. Lets get to repressing that DSOTM and _______ (enter title that has been remastered umpteenth times)".

Lets have titles that havent been done.

Arent there some blue notes of high desirability that are still left that could be done on this new and improved mastering facility? Or are there none left that havent been done?

If so, move on to another jazz label that hasnt been done or at least overdone and blow us away with some awesomely awesome masterings of titles that havent been done to death. If there are some great bluenote titles that havent been done then do them with this new technology on 33.3.

Having said that, if the 33.3s can be done much better than the 45s now booooy it sure is tempting to want the whole series done again. I have some of the 45s but Id trade them for a better sounding 33.3 lp in a heartbeat. IF they do indeed sound that much better or even as good. I conceded the trade off of having to run to the turntable every ten minutes due to how great these sound. But name me one person here that wouldnt rather have the 33.3's if they sound better and they dont have to deal with the turning of the album so often.

 

Interesting, I'll have to put on my old original and give it a listen.

 

It might be time to remove the DEFINITIVE from the thread title.

 

I would love to hear The Sermon get the MM treatment.

Wouldn't mind hearing them do some classical titles too...

 

I agree. I do the 45's because they sound so good. I was not a subscriber, coming late to the table, but have been buying a few here and there. For me, if they sound *as good* as the 45's that would be good enough reason there to buy in. Granted, I was not a subscriber as some here were who have the entire run of them. Personally, in addition to those albums whose tracks exceeded the length that could be done on 45's, I'm looking forward to some of the titles done by AP, but with fantastic packaging along with great sound. I had been holding off on Kenny Burrel's Midnight Blue and am *really* looking forward to receiving this one. As far as other labels go, if MM feels as though they've gone deeply enough through the Blue Note catalog, I would be thrilled to see them try other labels. A 33.3 of Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section with MM's packaging and new mastering system would be killer. For those of us that missed out on AP's Fantasy series, copies of this album go for crazy prices.

 

New and improved is frequently a ploy by a company to boost sales though I will say that I don't feel that it fits this situation as they (Music Matters) are the gold standard by which all other vinyl companies are measured against, at least from my perspective. I've never doubted MMs drive for making the best reissues that they can so if they can produce similar results at 33.3 now that rivals their 45 albums then I say hooray. I won't have to get up as often to hear an entire album. As much as a love those 45s, I'd prefer that they were 33.3 tbh.

There are quite a few BN albums I'd love to see them do and I've requested them but they need to sell enough titles to make it worth their effort so in that regard, I'll take what I can get. I'm sure tape quality and availability are necessary for them to produce anything no matter what label we speak of.

 

I know what you mean. Trust me, I have felt the sting of "these are THE ones folks! Grab them while you can!" on cds, vinyl, whatever. Only to see some SHM-HIJKLMNOP-SACD be considered the ultimate ultra awesome mastering.

But, technically, arent these still the definitive 45s?

 

There is no such thing as DEFINITIVE anything IMHO, the problem is when one buys thinking that's what they're getting. If on the other hand one simply looks for great sound then there's no disappointment.

I mean really - how can any company at any single point in time GUARANTEE that NO OTHER subsequent version of a title will EVER sound any better to someone out there? They can't.

But honestly I don't blame the companies. Nobody is putting guns to people's heads "making" them keep buying the same titles. It has to do with the fact that many (most?) audiophiles just are never happy with what they have. It could be amazing sounding but they always want better. And that is how the industry stays afloat.

 

I think classical really fits SACD better...

 

Very true.

 

Everything sounds better on vinyl....

 

I like both formats, but the dynamic range if your typical classical recording really works very well in the SACD format...

 

As far as I can tell from the e-mail I got from Music Matters ( 1 week ago) they never said anything about these new 33rpm's being 'definitive', other than in the 33rpm realm.

Fremer and his friend added the hyperbole, as far as I can tell.

The Classic Records Blue Notes 33rpm's were ok until they screwed the pooch and went to 200g mono fold downs.

 

Hi gang,

Long time … partly due to health issues and mostly due to just being insanely busy.

For the longest time I was having password problems getting logged on here, and once I started traveling internationally (for both Music Matters and AudioQuest) like a mad man, my visits here became rare as hens teeth.

So, regarding the recently announced 33RPM issue of 12 Blue Note titles let me explain:

When Ron and I first started mastering these titles with Steve and Kevin, we used the Acoustech mastering facility (located within the RTI pressing plant) as is. Very quickly I realized that we should replace all of the interconnect cables in the facility. (Hey, I’m a wire guy after all and I knew what replacing these funky cables would do.)

I’ve forgotten how many BN titles we did before we made these wiring change … maybe the first 15 titles or so? However, when we made the change, the improvement was apparent to everyone involved. https://www.musicmattersjazz.com/category_s/45.htm

Keep in mind that during this entire time of the 45RPM releases, one or both of us was ALWAYS present at the mastering sessions. And we have a very specific idea of how these things should sound. It’s not like we both sat there passively while SH and KG did their work. Ron and I are very active participants in the process. If we felt that the overall presentation needed livening up … you can be assured that we spoke up!

I remember at the time listening to some of the 45RPM BN releases that we didn’t get rights to and thinking “oh man, I’d love to have a crack at that!” More on this shortly …

As time went on, we all became intimately familiar with what needed to be done to RVG’s tapes in the mid 50s, late 50s, early 60s, mid 60s and so on. Rudy was very consistent in what he did, thankfully.

At a certain point … I forget the exact session, it became clear that we really only needed Kevin to handle the session duties. That’s when you start to see only his scribe in the dead wax. This is NOT a cut on Steve. It’s simply a matter of having done so many BN sessions at that point that we all had a great understanding of what was needed for a given RVG master.

When Kevin moved his mastering facility out of RTI and into his own COHEARENT room, several improvements were made, resulting in a clear and audible lowering of the noise floor.

Ron and I kept pumping out BN titles at 45rpm that interested us … titles that we knew had merit and were worthy of reissue. However, last summer we began to realize that we were having a harder time finding truly worthy titles for reissue on $50 45RPM LPs. (There will always be someone who lives and dies for the re-release of something like Don Wilkerson’s Preach Brother … that’s the nature of the reissue business.)

We made the decision to end the 45RPM reissue series with two of the greatest live BN recordings of all time: Vol 1 and Vol 2 of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messenger’s Live At The Café Bohemia from 1955. These are mono session but for those of you who have already played them you know … these are incredible in every way, music and sound. They represent to us, a most fitting way to end the 45RPM reissue program. In their own way, they represent the essence of BN soul and sound.

Now, on to the announcement of the 12 33RPM BNs. 2014 is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Blue Note label by Francis Wolff and Alfred Lion. For this occasion, we decided to present 12 of the most notable BN albums of all time in 33RPM but using our heralded double gatefold jackets with rare session photos included. This also gave us an opportunity to go back to notable BN titles (like Cannonball Adderley/Miles Davis’ Somethin’ Else and Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue) that we missed the first time around and give them the double gatefold jacket treatment as well as have a fresh look at re-mastering. We did the same for some of the very early titles in our own reissue series … it was wonderful to have another look at Hank Mobley’s classic Soul Station for instance.

In 2013, Kevin Gray improved his mastering chain in numerous ways including an upgrading of all cable connections to AQ WEL Signature or AQ WILD interconnects and AC cable.

You can hear the results of these improvements on both the new series of 12 BN 33’s and also many of the final BN 45’s from this year. You can also hear the improvement in every single release coming out of Cohearant Mastering!

Reissuing select Blue Note titles in either 45 or 33 RPM in the absolute finest form available these past years has been a project of immense satisfaction for the entire Music Matters team. I can’t begin to tell you how proud, how emotional I become when looking at our “children”.

Ron and I can say with full assurance that we’ve given it our absolute best. It has been a sincere pleasure serving fellow Blue Note lovers.

What’s next for us? Stay tuned!

Joe, Ron, Kevin, Michael and Chris

 

I am looking forward to the 33s Joe!

 

Hi Joe,

Great to see you back! In terms of what's next, any chance of issuing Blue Notes on XRCD such as Kenny Burrell's Freedom (never published on CD) or Grant Green's Matador (the 1990 CD needs an upgrade)?

 

Great news Joe and thanks for taking the time to give us the skinny on what's going on with the 33.3 pressings. So am I right in understanding that you won't be releasing any more titles at 45 rpm? Maybe never is the wrong word to use but personally I'm not sad, as good as they sound. There are titles that have songs that wouldn't work without splitting the song like a certain label did to Coltrane's Ole'.

Anyway, I hope you'll continue the journey with some of the lesser known and outside titles from Blue Note. I hope the Moncur, Hill, Dolphy albums have sold in enough numbers to keep their ilk in the pressing line. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to your Midnight Blue pressing!

 

me too!

 

i love that philosophy that consists in doing the best product, not doing the maximum of money ...
i just hope that they are doing money as well . they deserve it

 

Good to hear from you Joe! I hope all is well with you.

 

haaha, I was too late for that Art Pepper but 3 years ago I bought the album from a guy who sold secondhand 45rpm's for 25€, togheter with Sonny plus 4 a few Miles Davis and 5 Musicmatters albums this was my start to go for the entire MM series which is now complete. The Saxophone Colossus is the only 45rpm I really like to have but unable to find these days (for a reasonable price that is) I even want to change it with my Kind of Blue 4LP version.... I really want to have it that hard..

 

I just saw an incoming mail from elusivedisc.
They have the 33rpm on pre-order and allready have a sequence of release date; thats every 2 month! a release of 2 albums....

 

Kevin Gray mastered the new Analogue Productions 45 rpm reissue of Soular Energy by The Ray Brown Trio at Cohearent Audio and it is on of the best sounding 45 rpm records that I own and I own quite a few from Music Matters, AP, and ORG. It's a great album and the sound quality is amazing. I highly recommend it.

 

Very much appreciate getting input from Mr. Harley on this issue, though clarifying whether they are done with 45 rpms or not would also be helpful.