Rudy Van Gelder mastering notes for a BLUE NOTE LP from 50 years ago.

Not entirely true, there's definitely some bass guitar in some later Blue Notes.

 

Do you own a copy of this 1960 Blue Note LP or have you heard a first cut of this mastering ?


This is what i hate about this forum; people making claims about stuff they have no clue about.

If you have not heard a record or a unit you have no opinion about it.
Without experience no opinion
just a guess or an assumption

With acoustic instruments a frequency range of 45 to 12 khz catches approximately more than 99% of all music played on those instruments.
Below 45 hertz are only room modes and some feedback maybe.
Over 12 khz the band noise before DOLBY overpowered the few tones in the spectrum, that existed.
Remember the mantra - the magic is in the mid range ?

So there are reasons for the frequency roll off choices.

I don't know enough about compression to comment on that; but usually a little boost does not hurt esp over the radio or in music boxes - the places where the music was lplayed on most of the times, when new..

 

Not sure why you quoted me for your reply? I made no comment about the mastering for this specific title, just a joke how it's not a particularly interesting recording date.

I have heard plenty of original RVG Blue Notes and compared them with the 45 rpm Blue Note remasters.

"None of these are Blue Note mind you, and aren't mastered by SH/KG or KG." I would say I have compared at least 30 original RVG Blue Notes with their 45 rpm remasters. There isn't a single one where the original sounded more transparent, dynamic or detailed.

 

If you're talking non-classical records from the 1960's, down below 40 cycles there isn't much if anything being produced by the players. Even electric bass in those days, probably didn't reach that low. It's not to say that extra octave should just be summarily thrown away, but you're probably not really missing it either.

 

Yep, look for anything with Bob Cranshaw. Love his electric bass.

 

One record paid my rent for 1 1/2 months
When I was out of work and selling my collection online, it was a godsend.

 

Absolutely correct, as I said already by design acoustic instruments do not reach down that low, I doubt the bass on this particular record reaches below 50 hertz, there are some room modes and reflexions that may reach lower and I would not say they should be thrown away in every case, but for those days equipment it was probably better to just get those out.
Another question is if any speaker back then would be able to reproduce anything below 45 hertz ? Those small mono speakers attached to a record player or broadbands definitely not. A Klipsch Horn ? Maybe a Blaupunkt music chamber ?
I doubt it. Even today most speakers are only going down to the 40ies or even 50ies measured at +3db.

Unless you want them for Video HT playback or you are listening to a lot of synthetic bass you won't miss those frequencies.
Anyway
I listened to this record - it is available an a CLASSIC 200 Gram pressing by Bernie Grundman and it sounds great imo.
The bass is nicely accented.

DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR13 -2.26 dB -17.45 dB A1 - Blue Moon.wav
DR13 -2.82 dB -19.44 dB A2 - Smooth Groove.wav
DR14 -0.83 dB -17.97 dB A3 - Jump Up.wav
DR13 -1.40 dB -19.39 dB A4 - Just Friends.wav
DR13 -1.22 dB -18.06 dB B1 - Three Little Words.wav
DR13 -2.51 dB -19.17 dB B2 - Don't Take Your Love from Me.wav
DR13 -2.99 dB -18.23 dB B3 - Confirmation.wav
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 7
Official DR value: DR13

Of course this is probably taken from the master tapes and not the tape Steve found for cutting the 1959 LP.

 

I listen to a lot of my original lps from that era and you can hear that a lot of "compromises" were made. Great mid range at the expense of Bass and Treble. In fact, you should notice that the bass is often minimized (for lack of a better term) unless the bassist was soloing.

 

Again, on records they could not have extreme bass or extreme treble and track on the tonearms and cartridges available then. No can do. Here's a typical example of what a high end setup was then. Turntable would be something like a Garrard 301, tonearm something like a Rek-O-Kut or ESL, and cartridge like an old GE VR II or Pickering. Tracking forces for the most part were 4-6 grams. McIntosh MC 30 and a C-8 preamplifier and EV Georgians for something like a well heeled audiophile would own. And this would have been something like around $1000 new then. Or half the price of a new Ford or Chevy basic sedan.

 

Fascinating info on the original mastering notes. Thanks Steve.

 

I know he was an optometrist by profession but 8:1 compression and severe roll offs with a 5K spike does sound rather draconian.
Perhaps he needed an audiometerist.........

 

Almost everyone played records on single-box players put on a chair in the corner. The autochanger had to track the disc without skipping. (even if they didn't, my Uncle's 301/GE combo couldn't do much better than that either)

The audience has changed since then.

 

I have the original deep groove RVG mastered stereo Night in Tunisia and I also have the Hoffman mastered 45 RPM version and can't tell a difference between them.

Chad