Food for thought - vinyl reissues....

[cybot]

Came across this in the letters page of the current issue of Hi-Fi World and I thought I'd share it with you lot.... Enjoy!

In answer to a query from a reader concerning his underwhelming experiences with some of the new vinyl issues, Noel Keywood and David Price (Hi-Fi World) give their views:

NK: "I am very happy with all I have bought so far and Quiex SVP vinyl is superb in my view.I only start to have reservations when mastering engineers decide they can 'improve' original mix downs just by applying EQ in a heavy handed fashion.I suspect,however,that most 'touching up' is done sensitively and is barely detectable.Then,heavy,flat vinyl I have bought to date is quite obviously,smoother and certainly punchier than the thin warpy stuff!"

DP:"Having spent many hours listening to all varieties of Lps,original first pressings,reissues,audiophile reissues,imports and Japanese pressings,I'm of the view that a perfectly preserved first pressing released in the artist's country of origin is the best sounding,closely followed by the Japanese pressing of the same,followed by everything else,with audiophile reissues often constituting the best of the rest.Of course, it's very complex and doesn't always pan out like this,but it's a good rule of thumb.Some years ago,Lyra's Jonathan Carr and I had a very long listening session in his Tokyo apartment and a mind numbingly expensive system,with just about every variant of Steely's Dan Aja,Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Neil Young's Harvest ever made.,listening to up to six or seven variants of same,and that's what we found.We then repeated the tests on a range of other titles and got very similar results;a pattern had emerged!
The closeness to the original release seems to be paramount,both physically and chronologically.So a British Beatles Lp is better than an American or German version (which is more likely to be taken from 2nd generation masters), as is a 1st pressing (i.e. made at the time of release) rather than the umpteenth pressing,made some ten years later (from worn copy masters).. The 'Nice Price' reissues are generally awful (and that goes for Jap Lps,which all went mid-price after a few years subsequent to the release date (if you see 'Y1,600' written on the OBI, avoid). The 'audiophile reissues' are variable;some good,some not so,but none as good as standard home made market first pressings.The 180g thing is in my view a sideshow;some of the best sounding vinyl I've ever heard is Japanese,pressed on 80g.It's not the thickness or weight of the disc,it's the quality of the master presses and the vinyl compound itself,that counts. Jap Lps always sound superb,but are conspicuously different sounding all the same.They're recorded at a lower level,yet their vinyl formulation seems superior so they're quieter even so.They also sound silkier and more delicate to their western alternatives,although this borders on the euphonic if you're going to be a stickler for accuracy.

I really don't think audiophile reissues should be bought with the assumption that they're necessarily better than the original.In most cases, the original was superb (and I mean the original,not the third pressing);the trouble is though it's nigh-on impossible to pick up a mint,unplayed original first pressing of anything now,so suddenly audiophile pressings begin to make sense.Even so,I am dismayed by the repro quality on many of the covers,which seemed to have been scanned on a so-so digital scanner in someone's spare room.Ultimately it's all about the quality of the individual product;I've had brilliant reissues (Marvin Gaye's What's Going On on Motown) and tragic ones (Kate Bush's Kick Inside on EMI) A good place to find out about the quality of reissues is,of course, our very own audiophile vinyl pages,so keep your peepers peeled!"

[Ivor]

Very interesting article that... some very valid pints about 1st pressings and so on.

Thanks D.

[cybot]

Very interesting article that... some very valid pints about 1st pressings and so on.

Thanks D.

Thanks Ivor.

[JAW]

This raises a point that's been at the back of my mind for ages. Any albums that I have from around 1972 - 1974, which I presume would be first pressings, (how can I tell?) sound poor with a lot of surface noise. Older ones and more modern ones sound better. I assume that this is down to poor quality vinyl due to the oil crisis. Anybody got any thoughts on this? The difference is remarkable.

[Fran]

Do they need a good wet/dry clean?

Could just be fungal + crud in the 72-75 ones - as well as beer etc from the parties!!

[JAW]

Do they need a good wet/dry clean?

Could just be fungal + crud in the 72-75 ones - as well as beer etc from the parties!!

It could well be, but it seems to be particularly bad on albums from that era. BTW, what's the best way to clean them? I don't want to invest a fortune in a cleaning machine that I'll hardly ever use!

[cybot]

Do they need a good wet/dry clean?

Could just be fungal + crud in the 72-75 ones - as well as beer etc from the parties!!

It could well be, but it seems to be particularly bad on albums from that era. BTW, what's the best way to clean them? I don't want to invest a fortune in a cleaning machine that I'll hardly ever use!

Uh oh, that is a loaded question John :-) I won't tell you what I've used over the years! I remember buying Cloney's Keith Monks machine when they had no further use for it; alas it badly surface-scored a precious Neil Young album I had (Decade) but I was able to fix that eventually! When I wasn't looking my wife threw it in the skip one day, the machine I mean!!Also I remember using Ilford wetting agent plus a tiny drop of Isopropyl which seemed to work well. Now I use,only when I really have to, Record Storer (Electotec - often advertised in Record Collector), which does the same job and comes with a nifty little application sponge.I use lukewarm water too and then wash off the suds under a mains cold tap (look away now!).I then leave to dry in the delph tray for a little while or if I'm impatient I just,very carefully, use the hair dryer. I've never had any problems using this system over the last 40 years or so....So if I were you I'd try it on a record you don't really care about, a David Essex Lp perhaps :-)) and take it from there....

[Fran]

Wet/dry vacuum job is probably the best way to go. It will clean up about 80% of what can be cleaned. Another 10% can be sorted by using an enzyme based cleaner (just can't remember right now what thats called) and the other 10% will never come back right, no matter what you do.

Theres a few here with cleaners, it might be worth shooting them a PM and you may well be able to hire/borrow one for a few days.

BTW, the cleaning process is a PITA - so dont' think that you will stick at it for more than an hour or so.

For the home chemists: 750mL RO water, 230mLs propan-2-ol(isopropranol) and then add 20mLs of rinse aid (ie from the dishwasher) is the mix favoured by many. Not suitable for shellac, but OK for everything else and kind to labels.


Fran

[Derek]

....So if I were you I'd try it on a record you don't really care about, a David Essex Lp perhaps :-)) and take it from there....

See Dermot I do read it all, you’re just maligning the great man because I can’t pronounce the colourful artists you post.
Hold on, is it’s me you’re pockin’ at, OH, OK that’s alright then, so long as it’s not the wonderful Mr David Essex.
You have to get a listen to an original LP 1973 of “Rock On”, ask anyone I’ve terrorised during a listening session at mine.

Where would you get a line up to include;

Drums - Barry DeSouza
Percussion - Ray Cooper
Bass - Herbie Flowers
Guitars - Jo Partridge
Keyboards -Jeff Wayne

And on his eponymous LP (1974) he added the very great - Chris Spedding

Keep her goin' Dermo

[JAW]

In fairness, that's pretty much the War of the Worlds Band. Oh, and David Essex had a walk on part in that!