Steely Dan CD Question

Rudy,

Someone that I consider to be rather knowledgable about music on another forum once claimed that poor masters were used to make the MFSL gold CD of Aja. As a result, I never tried to track down this disc. In any event, I have always been pleased with the sound of the '99 remaster.


Steve,

Thanks for your input regarding the MFSL CD of Aja. It seems that word about poor masters being used has gotten around.

 

Keith,

I have many back copies of ICE magazine which explains the situation with MFSL using wrong master tapes.

I'll mail you copies soon.

Overall, the problem was that when Roger Nichols and Becker and Fagen noticed that the original album masters were deteriorating, they converted them to a new format, oversized Scotch digital reels. They worked on all of their albums carefully and painstakingly to get the sound just right.

When it was time to release Dan on CD, the first run of AJA and Katy Lied were mastered by Steve Hoffman, 4000 copies of each. Then, Roger Nichols mastered those two albums and the rest of the catalog using the oversized digital reels. These were in print from 1984-1986, and Made in Japan.

Then in 1986, MCA used stock masters for the Steely Dan catalog, and this remained until they were remastered in 1992 by "a team selected by the band". Unfortunately, when MFSL produced their gold discs they indeed used the wrong masters. They used the stock MCA masters, not the ones which were from the digital reels that Nichols, Becker, and Fagen put together.

I repurchased all the albums in 1992 when remastered.

I have all the originals, the AJA and Katy Lied Steve Hoffman masterings, and the Nichols/Becker/Fagen masterings from the early 1980's. The originals win hands down over the 1992 remasterings.

I do not have the Citizen box or the late 1990's remasters, because I love the sound of the early issues.

Paul

 

I A/B'd them.

 

I think you should give the new remasters a try. You may be in for a pleasent surprise. But, some people like them, some don't. I just like whatever comes closest to the original LPs.

There was some more news on "Katy Lied", I think it is, where there was a problem with a tape being non-Dolby or something. I don't recall. Steve mastered one of them, I think. Does anyone remember that thread, or what that was about, exactly?

 

Ah, here it is! Paul, it was YOUR post!

Here is an excerpt from it:

Later in the thread, Steve says it dounded fine to him...

 

The main issue with the MFSL gold discs, according to Roger Nichols, is that he felt they should have used the digital reels he and the band prepared , not the other masters.
He was very upset about it at the time.

That is what I meant about the "wrong masters" being used, being that Roger Nichols felt that the incorrect masters were used.

I hope this clarifies things!
Paul

 

How'd it dound?

 

Drom whad I underdand,

It dounded dood!

Bud, id dould had dounded bedder if the right masder had been uded!

Paul

 

UGH !!!!!

I found the DD/DTS surround mixes on this DVD to indeed be" Two Against Nature" .




Quite the abomination when the sounds you hear do not match what you are seeing onscreen.

I much preferred the sound quality and the presentation of the 2 channel stereo track to the juiced up surround tracks.

The sooner producers/ engineers get over this fad of bouncing vocals and instruments all over the place the sooner surround music will be taken seriously.


cheerio

 

Hmmm...multichannel sound on DVD-A. Bouncing around just like quadrophonic sound. And we all know what happened to THAT! IMHO, this surround-sound shtuff is a gimmick to sell more product. Selling the sizzle, not the steak. 90% of the listening public doesn't care--surround doesn't translate to the boom box, Walkman or $29.99 Delco radios that get slapped in the new GM vehicles. I personally have no time anymore to sit in one rigid position and just "listen" to sounds bouncing every which way--my music's on all day, more often than not as background, and "kicked up" whenever I need to hear something louder. I do like surround effects in film, but that's a different experience...and notice the word "effects".

Straying slightly--did Fagen's "Nightfly" ever get remastered? I have the original CD I bought way back kn, I think, 1983. The average volume on this one is WAY down. So low, in fact, that I could turn the volume all the way up in the car and not ever have it get really loud.

Finally, for the story on Katy Lied, be sure to check out that link I posted above. The short version is that it was mixed down to 2-track using dbx. Due to the problem with the dbx unit, they did a different mixdown to 2-track using Dolby, which is the album we know today. The real frustration came when they realized that what they recorded on tape could not be transfered to vinyl. They tried LP mastering at a couple of places, and finally Denny stepped in to give it a shot...then Walter came in and produced the finished version. Katy had gremlins.

 

Paul and Steve,

Thanks for the information on the MFSL CD of Aja. This is very interesting. I may still have to track down this disc and compare it to my other versions.


Paul,

Thanks for offering to send me a copy of that article on Aja. That will certainly make for an interesting read.


All,

I bought a used copy of Aja on CD the other day that I assume is a "bad" version, though it sounds great to me. Please give me your thoughts on this disc. First off, it is not the '99 remaster, which I already own. The used disc I just bought is MCA catalog number MCAD 37214. The spine says "MCAD 37214 DIDY 55". It is from Columbia House, as the back insert and CD say "CRC". The disc itself looks pretty boring, as it has black text over the silver CD. The matrix code on the inner ring is "DIDX-000055 3". The catalog numbers on the CD are MCAD-37214 and then DIDY 000055. The disc was produced by Gary Katz and was made in the US. The disc does say "(P) 1977 ABC Records, Inc."

Much to my surprise, the back insert has no barcode. That I find odd. So, this disc is obviously not one done by Mr. Hoffman, as it was not made in Japan. Is it a "bad" version? Thanks in advance.

 

Can there be a bad version of "Aja"? None of the ones I have heard sound bad...

 

I have a copy which is pretty much as you describe except that the inner ring has MCAD-37214-1 1C then "11" physically stamped after the 1C. Then followed by "MFD BY JVC". The screening on the disc say "Manufactured in the USA for MCA. Didn't think that JVC had a CD plant in the U.S. in 1984. Thought all mid-80's JVC product was pressed in Japan.

 

Grant, Joseph, or anyone else, is the used disc I just described an older pressing? I was thinking that it might be since the back insert has no barcode.

 

I thought that the first CD plant in America did not open until the late 80s. Does anyone know when and where the first CD plant opened for production in the USA?

 

Evan, check the thread I started here about the early days of CD. You will see that I quoted a 1984 magazine article that made mention of CBS/Sony planning the opening of the first US CD pressing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. I assume this plant was the first in the US.

 

Nightfly

Rudy,

My copy of Nightfly was purchased from a used record shop in 1991. Made in USA.
In the credits it states "Original Mastering: Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, NYC.
However it does not indicate who the CD mastering engineer was.

Aha! Just pulled out a copy of my original vinyl from 1982, and it also says original mastering by Bob Ludwig.....The groove trail-off is stamped Masterdisk with the initials RL written in.

So, the best I can say is that my cd was made sometime prior to 1991. A friend of mine asked for a copy on CDR because he had purchased his copy new in 2000 and did not think it sounded right. He told me that my copy sounded much cleaner than his but that the volume level was much lower on mine. I did a direct digital copy, so what I sent him exactly matched my CD copy.

Judging from what my friend noted on the comparison, it appears to have been remastered.

Paul

 

Steely Dan

Before this thread disappears into message board oblivion... How about "...Decade..." being a candidate for a SH reamster to SACD? Perhaps I'll post this in the appropriate "wish list" section, but I felt the need to mention it here as well.

 

The first US pressing plant was opened 1984 in Terre Haute, Indiana by Digital Audio Disc Corporation (Sony/CBS). It was a converted record manufacturing plant.

 

Introduction of the CD

Intersting article on the introduction of the cee dee.

The article mentions Terre Haute, Indiana as the first pressing plant in America.