Thank you, this is very informative. I'd love to hear those just to see how much Kevin was able to tame the clipping/distortion. If this is true, I don't know why Blue Note didn't decide to put a disclaimer on the back cover like they did with another recent title (Bass on Top?). It would probably avoid returns.
I've recorded "Plantation Bag" and uploaded it, a few observations, not only does this record sound great from the get go, but the more you listen the better it gets, everyone is great, but Ron Carter is outstanding on this LP, I think I'm going to pick up a spare copy. Strangely it doesn't sound anywhere near as good on headphones or at least just via my computer, using my DAC headphone amp should improve things, but the difference between listening to the record via speakers and a downsampled 5.6 MHz DSD recording via headphones was a real surprise. Finally I really should have cleaned it first, via headphones I can hear the odd issue that sounds like something in the grooves rather than an issue with mastering or the pressing. Andrew Hill - Plantation Bag.wav
The thing that most annoys me about the reissue business, you have a great idea, put loads of work in on it and then somebody decides they'll do it themselves, been caught out too many times like that.
I have to say this has probably jumped up to my favourite TP release musically, its phenomenal. PoD holds a special place in my heart so it hasn't took the Hill crown for me, but it sure was close! Did I hear that Dance with Death was getting the TP treatment in 2022?
Thank you for the recording. I can hear the same overload/clipping/distortion that I hear on mine, but your sample sounds a lot less bright than mine and that's what makes it less prominent imo. I guess that given what @Dean R said and @Dubmart 's sample in comparison with mine, it is safe to say that all copies share the same characteristic, but some systems reveal it more than others. No need to go through exchanging copies, it will probably sound exactly the same.
@dastinger, I haven't listened to the samples, but from looking at the waveforms, it looks to me like the signal is overloading either you phono pre or pre-amp. (And if you're recording directly off the phono stage, that rules out anything after.) I've run into this when I had a cartridge where the output was a little high for the pre-amp, and loud passages would saturate or overload and produce a buzz. (Tube pre-amps might be more graceful in this respect. Not sure.) That would explain why some people are having issues and others don't hear anything wrong. It may come down to gain matching. It sounds like there is agreement that this record is cut fairly hot, with some very dynamic passages, so it's not surprising that some phono chains might be pushed just over their limits. If possible, I would try another phono pre or cartridge first, or a friend's or dealer's system. If you're getting actual clipping (as it appears), and not tracking distortion, I think it's pretty unlikely that the results will be any different with a different copy, unfortunately. P.S. I see that your rPhono has adjustable gain, so you may want to try dropping that down for a start. It could still be overloading on input, but since you're not seeing flat tops except where the output is clipped, there's a chance that might be where the issue is.
Just to add that my recording was done using a £150 AT VM95ML on a Roksan Artemiz II/Xerxes 10 into a Vetere Phono 1 into a Korg MR-1000 via a Marantz amp.
Happy Birthday! That's a good way to celebrate buddy! You don't by chance have the 45 RPM of OOTC to compare do you? I held off of the 33 RPM for now as I really enjoy the 45 RPM but may eventually double dip since the price is tempting.
I've never experienced this with any other record though and I do a lot of needledrops. My gain settings are also set up according to what's advisable for my cartridge. I understand what you're saying, but the sample dubmart posted has the same characteristics. As soon as the sax starts soloing. At the end of the short phares mainly. From 0:58 to 1:02 there are a couple of hints of overload. Throughout the song there are a bit more on the piano and sax too, but listening to those 4 seconds is enough to identify the clipping/overloading.
No and as much as I love 45's, I prefer this as a 33. Curious as mentioned earlier how a 15 minute plus song is cut on one 45 side sounds. This is the best sounding record I have heard from this great series so far. If the 45 indeed sounds better than this, it would be one of the best sounding records in my collection, I believe someone said upstream said the Fremer preferred the 33 for what its worth. Thanks by the way!
I just listened to the DSD file at that point and the sax isn't distorting it's clean, so either your gear isn't able to reproduce it which does seem unlikely or we have a very different idea of what constitutes distortion. Any sax players or pro recording engineers care to comment?
(I fixed your typo on the label name) Well, that sucks for Wallen Bink Records. I wonder if Blue Note reimbursed them for the cost of the work they did? Thanks for this too... I'd never heard of Wallen Bink before this and I see that they've released an LP of previously unissued Duke Pearson. You should see if they can get their hands on the Tyrone Washington "Train Wreck Session" or the unissued Wayne Shorter.
I’ve seen comments like this and don’t understand it. Don’t the reissue labels get a license before they start working on these projects?
They're credited on the new reissue I think, so I guess so (very kind but not a typo - my mind is like cheese at the moment so it was a full up mistake!)
No, you approach the rights holder and basically pitch your idea or at the very least ask them to licence the music to you, they can then turn you down straight away or string you along and turn you down when you are much more invested in the project, I've done my best to forget those experiences, but I'm pretty sure I compiled something which we eventually got turned down on and then they basically copied my comp and released it themselves. I learned that you don't go after material where the artist/label are active or may be active and never ever share full track listings, people will steal your ideas without hesitation, without any guilt and not even acknowledge you played a part. There is also a pecking order, so with BN as an example, Joe Harley will be at the top, Chad probably second if he was interested, then maybe Heavenly Sweetness or Jazzman followed by Wallen Bink then anyone else who wanted to licence something. The people higher up the pecking order can and do gazump the people lower down, better connections and more business carries weight.
There's a long thread by the guy who started a reissue label, the name of which escapes me, but if you read that from the beginning you will learn how the majors treat the small guys and how labels like Cherry Red use their connections to licence music from underneath a smaller label.
Thanks for your responses. I will search out that thread. For all the joy music brings, it’s such a shame that the business side seems filled With absolutely terrible people...
Took some searching, but I think it's Scott's thread here: Starting my reissue label, it seems to finally be happening
Searching through past posts on here but don’t see it. One Flight Up dead wax has “KG&JH@CA” who is a JH? new understudy?
I don't rule that out as a possibility, but I doubt my gear can't reproduce it. And since I'm not the only one mentioning this, it's probably not me either. @Dean R just mentioned how the unmastered files have distortion on the sax. I'm not looking to prolong this any further really. All I wanted to know and that has been my objective since the beginning was if exchanging my copy would help. Given further developments, I don't think it would so I'm happy with that.
Thank you for sharing. It has the same distortion on the saxophone solo. Listen around the 1 minute mark. The first person that mentioned the issue to me is a saxophone player, by the way.
