How Big Is Your Sample Size?
While during the shootout I had completely forgotten that all the domestic pressings of Bellybutton are direct metal mastered. (The import pressings are clearly made from copy tapes and are to be avoided.) It was only afterwards, when looking for stamper variations, that I noticed the DMM in the dead wax .
Are You a Thrillseeker Too?
I don't play records to drink wine and smoke cigars. I play records to ROCK. Whether the music is rock, jazz or classical, I want to feel the power of the music just as you would feel it at the live event. To me that means big speakers and loud levels. We played Chicago VII as loud as we could. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" just KNOCKED ME OUT on this Hot Stamper copy, which had the best Side Three we played during the entire shootout. Exhilaration and adrenaline rush is right!
So Many Are So Bad -- How Can This Be?
Hello Hello Hello...
Is There Anybody Out There?
I cannot recall hearing a more ridiculously thick, opaque and unnatural sounding audiophile record in my life, and I've heard a ton of them. It reminds me of the turgid muck that Doug Sax was cutting for Analogue Productions back in the '90s. The CD of this album has to sound better than this. There's no way it could sound worse. [Newsflash: I managed to track down a copy of the CD and it DOES sound better than this awful record, and by a long shot. It's not a great sounding CD, but it sure isn't the disaster this record is.]
Originals vs. Reissues
Incidentally, just a couple of days ago I conducted my own shootout between the Red Label "Mingus Ah Um" I bought from you a few weeks back and my pristine, Six Eye White Label Promo original. To my surprise, you were absolutely right about the greater clarity of the former (starting with the snare drum on the first track). If I had to choose between them when selecting half a dozen "desert island" LPs (and "Mingus Ah Um" would definitely be one), the Red Label version would be the pick. Much obliged for the edification.
Sage Advice from Calvin Coolidge
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
If you substitute "finding Hot Stamper pressings" for the words "the human race" you will no doubt appreciate the point of this commentary.
Practical Advice on What to Avoid
The first thing that comes to mind when reading his letter is that many record collecting rules were broken in going about his search the way he did. But then I thought, What rules? Whose rules? Where exactly does one find these rules? If one wants to avoid breaking them they need to be written down someplace, don’t they? Wikipedia maybe?
Ready. Set. Type!
The first entry in the thread is from 2009. The headline reads "Hot Stampers....Anyone own any?"
Hot Stampers Versus Collector Pressings
If It's About the Music, the Choice Is Clear
Hot Stamper pressings are almost always going to be studio multi-track recordings, not live Direct to Discs. They will invariably suffer many compromises compared to the purist approach of an audiophile label trying to eliminate sources of distortion in the pursuit of the highest fidelity.
But when they do that, they almost always FAIL. How many Direct Discs sound like that Glenn Miller? A dozen at most. The vast majority are just plain AWFUL. I know, I've played practically every one ever made. For more than a decade that was my job.
Which Pressing Sounds BetterThe Brit SYL or Domestic Asylum?
Harry Pearson famously listed the SYL pressing of this album on his TAS List of Super Discs, but most of them sure don’t sound that super to us! Play enough of them though, and if you’re lucky you just might find one like the one we did -- a lovely Brit Import SYL pressing that has SUPERB SOUND on BOTH SIDES! For the first time in years, we found an SYL pressing that bettered all of the best domestic pressings we threw at it. Side one earned the stellar grade of A++ while side two was the best in show with MASTER TAPE (A+++) SOUND!
Step One: Weed Out the Heavy Vinyl
... And thanks again for that amazing "Who's Next" record. It was startling to hear the difference between that and the Classic - and that was one of the better modern audiophile records! I can't tell you how many modern reissues I've bought over the past couple months that have lost, and lost badly, to just my one single original or early pressing of an album. Reissues by AC/DC, The Who, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, and Patti Smith have all failed miserably against my merely average sounding originals.
I can't tell you how many modern reissues I've bought over the past couple months that have lost, and lost badly, to just my one single original or early pressing of an album. Reissues by AC/DC, The Who, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, and Patti Smith have all failed miserably against my merely average sounding originals.
