Incus reissues on Honest Jons

Has anyone compared the Incus reissues on Honest Jon's Records to the original pressings?

I started down an Anthony Braxton rabbit hole and am revisiting other jazz/improv artists on the label—Evan Parker and Derek Bailey, Company, etc., and eager to hear their material on vinyl.

Honest Jon's seem to have issued 16+ Incus titles, many with signals of audiophile craft (2LP 45RPM Abbey Road pressed at Pallas, some mastered at Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin).

Am I right in thinking all Abbey Road material is digital these days (I'm thinking of the Brian Eno reissues on 45RPM etc)? The Incus originals are pricey so this seems like an accessible way to hear on vinyl, but would love to learn from someone whose compared original to remaster.

I see a few posts where folks are happy with the product, but not seeing any comparisons.

 

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I reached out to the label (Honest Jon's Records) via email and they confirmed that the original master tapes were used in every case.
They replied really promptly and politely. So far, very impressed and will be placing an order.

 

AR can get from digital or analog. If it's Miles Showell, 99% chance it was cut from digital at half-speed because that's his bag. The other guys like Sean Magee will cut from analog or digital depending on the release.

D&M mostly cuts from digital.

Honest Jon's probably won't know if anything was cut straight from tape or transferred to a DAW first. The latter is far more common these days. If you are lucky you can get an answer by emailing the mastering engineer. Don't be surprised if they come back with an answers that says the tapes had to be digitally transferred to fix dropouts and other problems.

 

I think this is the problem really, not many people are going to have originals laying around in good shape and if they do the odds on them buying a reissue and posting on this forum maybe aren't that great? It'd be great to hear from them if they're out there though.

For what it's worth, I bought Aida as well as Otoroku's reissues of The Snake Decides and The Topography of the Lungs and have been happy with them all but I can't recall any of them particularly screaming 'analog' at me. The Snake Decides was GZ so it's probably safe to rule it out for that one at least.

 

Thanks. That was my sense. Typically all-analog releases are promoted as such, so if in doubt, its probably digital.
This series adds new material so its not apples-to-apples, but perhaps for Incus albums, the only AAA option are the insanely pricey originals.

I emailed Rashad (the remastering engineer at D&M) to inquire further.

 

Agreed. It was a long shot, but I figure if anywhere, this'd be the place for someone to have both copies.

• The Topography of the Lungs is a needle drop according to Discogs: "Pressing info: LP pressed on 180 gram high quality vinyl, the audio was transcribed from an original pressing from Evan Parker and mastered at Calyx."
• The Snake Decides was remastered yet no details provided on digital, though I follow your logic about GZ.
• Evan Parker's Monoceros reissue is from the original stamper, since it was 'direct cut' that is perhaps the most interesting purely from an audiophile standpoint. Just placed an order for this and will report back

 

Just had a look at Aida, it says the original tapes were transferred at Abbey Road, then cut at D&M.

 

Does 'transferred' suggest transferring to digital?
I reached out to the mastering engineer who has since left D&M and he kindly responded that he wasn't aware of anyone doing all-analog these days apart from a few specialists. Though he only did a subset of the Incus/Honest Jons reissues so we still don't know conclusively.

 

That was my guess, yeah. Digitised at Abbey Road then the files sent to be cut.

 

Listening to the Evan Parker Monoceros vinyl reissue of the 1978 Incus recording on Treader now. Took a while to come from UK.
Not sure how well 42 year old stampers hold up, and I don't have an original to compare to, but it sounds very natural. Which is a good thing as Parker creates extensive piercing high frequency sounds on his sax that might not play well in digital. There is a CD version on PSI that I haven't heard.

The YouTube version is a poor reflection of what you hear on vinyl:

 

Don't have originals, but off the top of my head I have all the Company reissues,Music Improvisation Company, the Braxton/Bailey, Bailey/Muir, Bailey solo. All sound and look great. Couldn't be more pleased.