SH Spotlight NEW! Your questions answered: How to properly master an audiophile vinyl record..

Any pearls to share about cutting Joni’s COURT AND SPARK?

 

...which means by implocat a few are still kicking around your place, huh?

You touched upon the stereo bass thing in other posts, was wondering how likes of jazz and/or electronic wide stereo spectrum stuff would behave in vinyl.

What was Dowd's motivation for mixing bass l or r? And I'm assuming back in day the best mixing engineers who knew vinyl was the inevitable result took that into considwt at every stage before the mastering engineers got ahold...

I for one always wondered just how accurate RIAA eq/de-eq was on average - I'm guessing it's a relatively easy circuit, but given vagaries as subtle as tape bias shift and so on the 1:1 correlation between what gets on lathe to what's then played back always seemed like it was going to vary within tolerances that in other aspects of playback would be seen as inexcusable by pedantic reviewers.

 

Is it correct to assume that DMM cutting has an advantage over lacquer for longer running records (>25 min/side)?

Some DMM cut records from the late 80s develop skips quite easily - probably due to shallower grooves. Inavoidable or manufacturing error?

 

Cool thread.

 

I've wondered if the same holds true for 12" singles? I have some that seem to have the bass summed below 60hz, each side is usually about 6-8 minutes long and cut @ 45 RPM.

 

According to Discogs, it sure was.

Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark

 

And what do you think of ERC realizations that are all tube?
When you and Gray have masterized the Prestige series at 45 RPM 100 AP titles and others ,you have used a tube or solid state record cutting?

 

I’m the proud owner of one of those. I think it is still regarded as the best version of that album.

 

Theoretically, it can go for longer than 25 minutes at the expense of the volume.

As for skipping, it's probably due to loud transients/musical passages in a DMM cut. Typically, DMM has more emphasis in the treble and/or sharper transients while the lacquer is better for bass.

@Steve Hoffman explained his reasons for not liking DMM in this older thread: For Steve Hoffman - DMM Mastering and other cutting/mastering questions | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

 

Steve didn’t say that he doesn’t apply EQ, he just confirmed that he doesn’t reduce the dynamics by it. Somewhere Steve said that the majority of master tapes needs some EQ. Only a minority gets a flat transfer.

 

Just for fun, would love a copy of your Blue DCC should you find one under your bed.

Proud owner of your DCC press, often use it to show the subtle differences on my system between the last two Grundmans, the original US and Canada, and yours. Maybe it's confirmation bias, but I find myself listening to your press more than the others.

 

@Piero Perhaps you might clarify what you meant by this:

 

Hi Steve-
Outside of the famous RVG, 30th Street and Contemporary recordings, what are some of your favorite sounding artists and recording studio sounds? Jazz or other genres...

Cheers!

 

As I said I spoke with an Italian music engineer who claims that an original analog master, the one made live of the musical event, and not a copy of it on which you have already intervened, according to him you can not transfer the musical message of the master to the vinyl if not making a cut to the dynamics.

 

OK, but

Note that you said

 

I report again one of my speeches that expresses the thought of the Italian technician I mentioned,hoping that it will be understood despite the different language.

"Given a certain widespread confusion on the subject I think it is appropriate to make some clarifications, just to know what you are talking about and avoid unnecessary digressions or inconclusive comments that have the only effect of complicating and worsening the understanding of the topic.
I would like to clarify that it is necessary to enter into the merits of the question, so we leave the "opinions" aside for a moment.
The final result of the work in the recording studio is, as is known, the elusive "MASTER", or the recording on two stereo tracks (or in some cases even just mono) of the finished musical work post production (production that could be, depending on the genre, more or less complex and elaborated).
In the analog era, which is what we are interested in given the obsession of AAA, the master was normally recorded on magnetic tape on reel using professional stereo recorders such as Studer, Ampex, Nagra etc. Here it is necessary to make an important clarification: there are ribbons of different types, with various widths and different abilities to accept and manage very intense magnetic fluxes (the unit of measurement of magnetic flux is the nanoweber per meter, or nWB / m).
Let's take as a general rule that the wider the tape, the higher the quality and the faster it flows, the greater the ability to record signals of higher level and dynamics.
Consider that the circuits of professional reel-to-reel recorders are able to operate with maximum linearity and without any distortion with signals up to +18 db ,
(I don't know if I explain ...), so with adequate tapes it is possible to record music with absolutely crazy sound and dynamic energy levels, totally impossible to record and reproduce from traditional media on the market, digital or analog.
I open and close a small parenthesis: those who have never had this type of listening experience cannot, unfortunately, understand what they are talking about, it is very, very difficult to describe it in words.
Let's take an example: a studio mastering tape like the Ampex SM900 (among the best in the world) from 1/4 inch wide that runs at 15 IPS (inch per second, 38 cm / sec.) allows you to record a continuous signal for several seconds at + 9 dB without any overload, and peak signals up to +14 dB, all without the slightest hint of distortion albeit with the VU meter of the recorder constantly in the "red zone".
The same tape, such as 1/2 inch at speeds of 30 IPS (76 cm/sec.) will perform even better.
Well, now imagine that practically all the master tapes of your beloved records (let's call them "first generation masters" to avoid confusion) were recorded with these technical and sonic characteristics, absolutely stunning.
Now, beyond the uniqueness and preciousness of these tapes, even admitting that at the time of the final recording more than one copy was made, if someone thinks that it is possible to use a tape containing a recording with the characteristics described above to connect it to a lathe and cut a vinyl lacquer is not only off track, but it is just unrelated to reality, probably vaunting on another planet.
If you send a signal of this intensity, dynamic, energy, as it is to a lathe, you find the burin engraver in the next room, bleeding, begging for mercy. It is physically impossible to record that signal on a vinyl, and beware, if you duplicate that "first generation master" on an identical tape, maintaining the same characteristics, you will get a
"second generation copy" of the master, with almost identical characteristics but with a little more background noise, probably indistinguishable by ear from the first, but also absolutely impossible to use as it is to drive the lathe.
So how do you finally cut the lacquers of these blessed vinyls?
Elementary: the so-called "production masters" are realized(I would like to emphasize that in alol the pages of threads about AAA and DSD none of the omniscient custodians of the analog verb has, even by mistake, ever mentioned the concept of production master...).
Well, what are these "production masters"? Simple, they are second (or third, or fourth etc.) generation copies normally obtained from the "first generation master" (or from its subsequent copies) in which the signal was "tamed"to make it possible to use it with lathes for cutting lacquers. The energy and dynamic level of the signal was then lowered (otherwise unusable), with the use mainly of compressors, limiters and equalizers so as to create a new tape whose technical and sonic characteristics were compatible with the engraving lathes.
Of course, numerous second-generation copies of the original master were also made, which were sent to various countries of the world, each of which made its own production masters on its territory to feed its own printing works. Let's take an example: first generation masters made in the USA, from it the major made the "domesticated" production masters to be sent to the printers for the American market (in this case they were second generation production masters), then realized second generation masters "full dynamic" to be sent to the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Holland, France, Canada etc.and from them the label in the various studios made the different production masters to be used for prints in each country and so on (in this case they were third-generation production masters).
Obviously the world of production masters is immense, imagine how many editions and how many versions of the same vinyl have been produced at different times in the four corners of the planet, , so imagine how many copies of copies of master copies were generated in the years when tens of millions of vinyls were pressed per year. Were they all AAA in those years? Certainly! Did they all sound wonderful? Imagine, do your tests and reason...
I will not deliberately go into the merits of all the technical issues linked, after the realization of the production master, to the cutting of the lacquers that would be even more complex and articulated, with a monstrous amount of variables.
Finally, let's be very clear, the realization and use of second, third, fourth generation production masters etc. is absolutely not a "rip-off" in the realization of vinyl, but an absolute and inescapable technical necessity .
Having made these appropriate clarifications I wonder who can still believe the various guru barkers and paid newsagents who come to tell you that after 50 or 60 years they cut a vinyl lacquer directly from the first generation master, it was impossible 50 years ago and it is impossible today.
These are people who clearly have to make peace with themselves, then devote themselves to decoupage and stop braying.
Let it be clear, to be intellectually honest, that a fifth-generation production master of half a century ago authorized and made available by the major ,
(because maybe it has no better because everything else has been lost or destroyed) is still an "original master", so a vinyl cut directly from this is undoubtedly AAA, you can incense it endlessly, then how you sound everyone will evaluate it for himself.
Of course, however, it would be appropriate to specify it ..."