SH Spotlight A few angry (but sort of funny) notes people sent me about my mastering work, imagined defects.....

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Dec 2, 2013.

  1. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    One of my first jobs in high school was in a record store. There was an older guy (always dressed in tweeds and an Alpine hat) who came in every Saturday to buy German marching band records. The following Saturday he would bring the albums back with some lame excuse about them being defective (we knew he was taping them). One day he returned a record "because the Fi isn't high enough". From that day on, he was known as "The Fi Man".
     
  2. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Very funny. This is my absolute favourite so far: "Starts off too quiet and goes too loud."
     
  3. LEONPROFF

    LEONPROFF Forum Resident

    Queen "Live At Wembley".
    It's live and you can hear the crowd.
     
    Martinev2 likes this.
  4. jh901

    jh901 Forum Resident

    Location:
    PARRISH FL USA
    Return: This thread was billed as "sort of funny" when, in fact, it is hilarious.
     
    jriems, warren, Ash76 and 2 others like this.
  5. ralphk

    ralphk Ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

    Location:
    Texas
    A few from my retail days, the first three were generic and applied to more than one album:

    The guitar solos are too long.

    There's too much distortion.

    This record's warped. (It was perfectly flat, just an excuse to tape and return it).

    There's only one good "side" on this record. (This was from a jazz collector who referred to songs as sides as if he were still listening to 78's, don't remember which album it was).

    About Marvin Gaye's "Here, My Dear": I expected to hear songs like his Motown hits.

    About Aja: I don't like Steely Dan since they started playing jazz.

    About the Stones' Love You Live: Why didn't you tell me it was live?

    About Bowie's Low: I expected another Ziggy Stardust.

    About In through the Out Door: Zeppelin's not heavy any more.

    About Never Mind the Bollocks: I can't understand the words.

    About the first Clash album: They sound too British.

    About Tusk: I thought it would be like Rumours.

    About Coltrane's Live at the Village Vanguard: It's just a bunch of noise.

    About Kind of Blue: I don't like records without vocals.
     
  6. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    I returned my Raw Power Iggy remix with the same complaint.:winkgrin:
     
    cc-- likes this.
  7. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    Did anyone else get a copy of Abbey Road where the last songs on both sides are missing the final notes? :realmad:





    :p
     
  8. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    I've gotta use this as a sig. :laugh:
     
    rxcory likes this.
  9. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    The 45 also faded earlier. And, the 45 of "The Joker" was edited.
     
  10. Marc Marlowe

    Marc Marlowe Active Member

    Location:
    Shawnee Ohio
    Now that is funny..:laugh::laugh::agree:
     
  11. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I recall reading an interview with the guy who was on that cover. If I recall correctly, he's ultimately cool with it.
     
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  12. PhoffiFozz

    PhoffiFozz Forum Resident

    This one made me laugh out loud! You mastering engineers are always untuning pre-recorded guitars! (Very magical beasts you are)

    I was a manager for Tower Records in the Chicago area and we got all kinds of stupid reasons for returns, but I can't think of one funnier than that right now...
     
    Ash76 likes this.
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    And don't forget, the DCC Gold CD's were mainly bought by audiophiles. I mean, they were double (or more) the price of the regular version. Not your average consumer..
     
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  14. glenecho

    glenecho Forum Resident

    Doing a comparison with track times I found on discogs and it appears that "Jet Airliner" is a minute longer on the Steve version. "Swingtown" is about 30 seconds longer.
     
    Grant likes this.
  15. Bunkweasal

    Bunkweasal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minneapolis, MN
    I once bought a copy on vinyl of Lou Reed's 'Coney Island Baby' album in the mid-80s. I'd had the original on RCA but had sold it years before. Anyway, this version was a fairly pricey German or Dutch pressing and on the last song (the title track), the very last words (spoken acapella: "Now I swear I'd give the whole thing up for you". Very beautiful part of the key song on the album) was quickly faded out. I was LIVID! I didn't return the record, but called up my local and whined and bitched. The clerk (who knew/of me) was sympathetic; he didn't say 'return it' or anything (I had every right to I reckon), maybe because they were a small indie store who can't afford the losses, plus the album may have been briefly out of print at the time, so I was just lucky to have a copy. But boy was I mad!
     
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  16. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I pretty much agree. But, how do you account for some of those excuses for returns? They sound like they came from people used to "modern" mastering practices.
     
  17. reb

    reb Money Beats Soul

    Location:
    Long Island
    $30.00 retail was a lot of money when these discs came out in the early 90's. - Buyers remorse I suppose sets in with some people. They make up any excuse even if it makes no sense in order to get a refund.
     
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  18. let him run...

    let him run... Senior Member

    Location:
    Colchester, VT USA
    I had a woman and her husband return a Bob Marley CD. I don't remember which one, other than it being one of the Island releases. The woman did all the talking, basically accusing us of recording the disc ourselves from a record. She said she could tell because her son is a recording engineer. We put it on and it sounded exactly as it should. But she kept saying, ''see, see, see!!'' She kept yelling at us, her husband saying nothing. Finally, I just gave her back her money and they left. About 20 minutes later I got a phone call from the husband telling me he was sorry about his wife... seemed to be a nice guy, I wondered how many times a day he had to do that.
     
  19. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    some ppl just don't get it...
     
  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    most ppl knew what they were getting into price wise...I cannot see a blind buy if they aren't in the "know" of the high end Gold CD...
    IMO...
     
  21. reb

    reb Money Beats Soul

    Location:
    Long Island
    There was no being " in the Know" in 1993. - IMO Gold cds were a new offering. No way
    to hear or sample the sound in those pre- internet days.
     
    D.B. likes this.
  22. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    One time I returned an MFSL because I thought it sounded exactly the same as the regular CD, which I already had. I said this to the store employee and he refunded my money.
     
    D.B. and reb like this.
  23. JNK

    JNK Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Wash. DC area
    I'm dying :laugh:
     
  24. onionmaster

    onionmaster Tropical new waver from the future

    Seriously, I've been on other music forums and every time something comes out on vinyl there's always somebody saying "Why is it coming out on vinyl? I don't have a turntable." It's like they cannot conceive that it's possible to buy one.

    eBay sellers are pretty bad for it too, always grading but saying things like 'I don't have a player but it looks good for its age'. It should really be against the law to sell vinyl on eBay without play-grading it.

    I bet the son said "It sounds like they used the vinyl master" and the lady interpreted it as "Copied from vinyl".
     
  25. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    for me it was just an extension of the High end audiophile LP...anyone that was into the MFSL, DCC, etc. knew what the Gold CD was...no surprises. Do you actually think they were geared towards the average listener? they were not.
     

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