Steve, final word on the Zeppelin CDs yet???

Krab,
the clamp is not like most clamps - it it solid and pressing on it doesn't appear to do anything (compared with all other clamp types I have seen)

 

Hey Krabby, you forgot to add "in my opinion" to your "you forgot to add 'in my opinion' ".

 

No I didn't--I meant what I said. So many original vinyl releases are just crap on CD. The existence ofr this forum tends to bear that out.

 

But that does not mean that CD is bad, just the mastering. It ain't the medium, it's how it is used. Steve has proven that time and time again. You can have a preference, but that's all it is, a preference.

 

grant brings up a couple good points.
yes, the problem is not with cd medium - it's with the mastering.
and yes, we're sharing our preferences - not preaching.
btw, if you like the zep remasters then you're an idiot.

 

Why would you need to EQ it to make it sound good on vinyl?

 

Of course, I'm addressing the issues that you just stated above aren't I? Aren't we all in search of the better remasters?

When I said vinyl is the answer, I was refering to the lack of consensus on the Led Zepplin CD catalog.

 

Though to me a good vinyl pressing always beats a good cd remastering. I do think the medium is a problem. Good remastering can only minimize the inherent problems with the medium.

 

I'll never forget the day my (original pressing) Led Zepp CD's arrived through the letterbox. I was off work with food poisoning feeling very groggy and very sensitive in a darkened room. I tried to listen to Going To California, but gave it up as a bad job.

 

Because of the physical limitations fo the medium, *and* the limitations imposed by the need to allow placback on an average system, there were compromises inherent in making a production master, and a cutting master, back in the days when it wasn't just 'audiophiles' who played records. Compression, bass summing, treble roll-off, were all things that could and were applied *after* the master tape had been recorded, and which are unneccessary for CD -- though that doesn't stop them from being used even now.

 

Except, it's not my opinion that he didn't add 'in my opinion'. It's a fact.

 

Your *opinion* is that 'vinyl must be the answer', but alas there's no 'consensus' that the vinyl sounds better either (nor is there consensus on which vinyl release is best, whcih drops us into another 'snakepit').

In my opinion, those who say it's all in the mastering, are all correct.

 

I recall a similar catharsis in 1972 when I first heard Led Zeppelin IV, at my cousins in Nova Scotia, on his Mom's old floor hi-fi console job. I was overpowered, this was rock and it affected me. I went out and bought my own copy and was obsessed with the label. This was the first Atlantic LP for me with the green/orange/white stripe label (following the red label). Everytime I saw the word "Atlantic", as in an atlas in Atlantic Ocean, all I could do was have Jimmy Page pop into my head. Still to this day I cannot rid myself of this connection. Thought I'd acquired the Holy Grail at a record convention with a George Peckham PORKY PRIME CUT of LZ IV but it turned out to be off centre and chewed up. Daim. So the Classic 180gm is where I roost today.

 

I have it. It's harsh-sounding, without the sweet and rounded quality of the LP, and the acoustic guitars sounding cramped dynamically.