This section is designed to help you become a better listener.To that end we will be creating exercises, experiments and tests that you can do at home for fun and profit. I think we can all agree that the better our stereos sound, the more enjoyable they become. Learning how to get better sound from the equipment and recordings you own doesn't cost a dime. It simply requires that you improve your critical listening skills. Those skills develop through practice, by challenging yourself to understand what is really on your records; to figure out, to the best of your ability, what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Same with your stereo. You can't fix a problem that you haven't yet recognized as a problem, right?Let's be clear about one thing: This is not a place where we give out all the answers. This is a place where we ask questions that you can learn to answer for yourself. We know what the records we sell sound like. We want you to figure out what the records you own sound like, and why.To that end please make sure you have read our Introduction to Better Records explaining what we do and how we do it, since we feel our approach can and will work for anyone. Also the link How to Become an Expert Listener should be helpful. Then try The Blue Game if you are so inclined. That should get you off to a good start. We have another whole section of commentaries about Audio Issues on the site as well.Happy listening from all of us at Better Records.
The Reissues Are Better, Right?
This superb sounding ORIGINAL Black Label Contemporary pressing of Benny Carter's swingin’ jazz quartet is the very definition of a top jazz stereo recording from the late '50s mastered through an all tube chain. There’s good extension on the top end for an early pressing, with TONS of what you would most expect: Tubey Magic and Richness. If th
Testing Tips You Can Try at Home
Heart's Little Queen has long been a favorite Test Disc. It works especially well as a test for something we here at Better Records like to call Whomp -- the energy found at the low end of the frequency spectrum. Some call it slam, we prefer whomp.
Finding the Rare Columbia with an Extended Top End
When the highs on the record are right, it all comes together. Unfortunately, most copies don't have those highs. There's more to it than that of course: some copies lack bass, some are a bit grainy and gritty sounding -- the normal problems associated with vinyl records are all here.
But when you have good highs you are about 80 to 85% of the way toward a Hot Stamper. Complete the picture with bass, dynamics, etc. (and a big speaker system) and there's a good chance the sound will blow your mind.
Watch for Strain in Jerry's Voice
High Time tells you the most about the sound of side one on any given copy. If the pressing in question is lean, bright, grainy, transistory or aggressive in any way, Jerry Garcia's voice will sound strained. Far from a professionally trained singer, he's already straining to some degree on even the best copies.
The better pressings have him sounding ever so slightly dull at the beginning of the track. As the song progresses he starts pushing his pipes pretty hard. The sound will become quite unpleasant if there is any added brightness when he tries to reach those high notes.
Then Listen for the Huge Room on Roda
If you have a good copy of Look Around and a high-rez stereo/room and want to have some fun, play the second track on side one, Roda. In the left channel there is some double-tracked clapping (or two people, how could you tell the difference?) in a HUGE room. Actually although it sounds like a huge room it's probably a normal sized room with lots of reverb added. Either way it sounds awesome.
These hand claps drive the energy and rhythm of the song, and they are so well recorded you will think the back wall of your listening room just collapsed behind the left speaker. On the truly transparent copies the echo goes WAY back. (Note that it can also be heard in the center of the soundfield and off to the right as well, but, of course, those effects can only be heard on the best copies, on the best equipment, in the best rooms.)
Common Vices of Mass Production
The best of this kind of mainstream radio-friendly pop rock has stood the test of time very well. One listen and we think you'll agree: this is fun music that belongs in your collection. IF... IF you get hold of a good pressing, and in our experience this mass-produced stuff leaves a lot to be desired most of the time.
Actually that's not really fair; the specialty audiophile limited edition pressings of most records are even worse sounding, so the production numbers really don't have much to do with the final product, now do they? Millions of copies of this album were made, and heavy vinyl pressings are only made in the thousands, but which would you rather play? I'll take a slice of good old thin vinyl from the '70s over that heavy audiophile stuff any day of the week.
We Love Dynamic Choruses, and These Are Amazing!
The sad fact of the matter is that most mixes for rock and pop recordings are much too safe. The engineers believe that have to be for the average stereo (read: crap stereo) to play them without distorting the loud passages or having the quiet passages veer into inaudibility.
Light, Medium or Heavy on the Congas?
During the shootout for this record a while back we made a very important discovery, a seemingly obvious one but one that nevertheless had eluded us for the past twenty plus years (so how obvious could it have been?). It became clear, for the first time, what accounts for the wide disparity in ENERGY and DRIVE from one copy to the next. We can sum it up for you in one five letter word, and that word is conga.
The congas are what drive the high-energy songs, songs like Tuesday's Dead and Changes IV. Here is how we stumbled upon their critically important contribution.
