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Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

I was thinking changing Opamps in a DAC could be more or less the equal valent changing a tone arm cartridge. As Amirm tested it is not noticeble. :facepalm:
Tonearms and cartridges vary quite widely in performance, though. Think replacing a standard moving magnet cartridge with a low output moving coil. Is any op-amp change going to come close to that sort of difference?
 
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I have one of these and it is BY FAR the loudest LP I own. It is almost 3 dB louder than anything else I have. In addition, unless my TT is set up perfectly it will "skip" on the very loud parts of "Whole Lotta Love" and a few other songs and my TT is not a "Kiddie Phonograph" . It is very sought after and collectable but I think over hyped. These "special rare versions of Iconic LP's" are part of the appeal of vinyl for some people and part of the renaissance.

It almost sounds like a publicity stunt.
 
Sounds more like operator error to me.
A lot people, me included, returned the original pressing of "Teaser and the Firecat" because they could not play "Rubylove" without miss-tracking. It would have been a local pressing. At the time I had purchased a Thorens TT but could only afford a Decca Deram cartridge, a DIY HPA and Sennheiser headphones. It took another year before I had a MM cartridge and receiver.
 
Because it was obviously cut too loud. A simple twist of the knob would have cured that.

The point would be NOT to cure it, but to release a limited amount of copies to draw attention to the LP release itself. "Whoa, the new 'Zeppelin album is so cranking, it can blow the needle out of the track" (to a lay person, half-stoned)

This day and age I would think people are more "in tune" with media stunts like this in general. I could have explained in a more detailed way, but I think it's generally better to introduce an idea, then let people realize for themselves, in a less-verbatim way. You first have to understand the concept I'm talking about, then apply the circumstances to it....and it's a fit. ;)
 
Because it was obviously cut too loud. A simple twist of the knob would have cured that.
How would you know?

How would you know if it wasn't a publicity stunt? We haven't even discussed that part, just db limits. You, out of this whole group, should know I'm not here to "cure" an old album's technicals. I'm here to put a different spin and interpretations of old cranky issues that "jam up" this particular thread. Here, I did it again...but always receive a little gut punch for it.
 
How would you know if it wasn't a publicity stunt? We haven't even discussed that part, just db limits. You, out of this whole group, should know I'm not here to "cure" an old album's technicals. I'm here to put a different spin and interpretations of old cranky issues that "jam up" this particular thread. Here, I did it again...but always receive a little gut punch for it.
Part of the appeal for some people of LP's and other physical media is that audibly different mastering do exist and some have historically interesting stories behind them like the RL LZ2 pressings. From what I have read it sounds like everyone was unhappy with how the first pressing / recall / reissue was handled so I doubt it was a "stunt" but then again Robert Ludwig got to do "Houses of the Holy" so apparently no hard feelings? See below from the SH forums a letter purported to be from Robert Ludwig explaining at least his side of the story. I do have an RL version of LZ2 and it is way louder than the "replacement" version, unfortunately it is not in the best condition. My "go to" version is a NM copy of a "George Prios" cut from the early 1970's. It sounds very similar to the "hot" original but much cheaper and is nice and quiet and clean sounding. Any of these "good" early pressings sound at least as good as any digital copy that followed and to me much better than the later remasters.

In any case I think history like this is fun and interesting and is something different than what streaming offers.

I wrote Robert Ludwig in the last week and he wrote me back. All the versions from sterling are the same hot mix. The subtle variances between them are all simply from the slight differences in making a hand-made analog lacquer disc, at least one of which was sent to all the pressing plants at the time. The CTH plant got a lacquer that was half RL and half LH (Lee Hulko, his partner) but was of the SAME MIX AND MASTER, based on RL's notes. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, aside from subtle variances and should be valued the SAME no matter who's initials are in the dead wax. They are all the same master from STERLING SOUND! Here is my reply from Robert Ludwig. Let this be the final word in this debate. Thanks!
Hi Jim,
I'm surprised about Lee Hulko's initials being on some of the parts. In all these years I had never come across any copies with his initials before.
When there were big orders of certain titles and there wasn't physically enough time for one person to crank out the lacquers as fast as the record company wanted, sometimes we would help each other out.
For instance, my initials might appear on a Beatles record that Lee mastered.
In every case, compared to now, those titles were relatively easy to master. Once one of us mastered an album and it was approved, we made careful notes, either one of us could cut it and it should come out the same. Back then, Lee and I shared the one room and worked different hours so it is possible one of the plants blew a part and needed a replacement right then with no delay.
So after I mastered the album (which Eddie Kramer & Atlantic approved) it was shipped to all the radio stations and the initial pressing was all from me and Sterling Sound.
Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible) and apparently it skipped on his daughters little turntable. Instead of calling us at Sterling and asking us to lower the level a little and telling us where it skipped, they had the disk cutters at Atlantic use my EQ'd cassette file copy and they cut it WAY lower than my original cut plus, in my opinion, it sounded dull and generally not very good sounding in comparison.
So all the disks that were played at the radio stations and all the initial pressings world wide came from me (and apparently Lee cut a part or two) and that was what "sold" the record and made it a hit. A year later, whenever I visited someone I would look at their Zeppelin II album to see if it was my cut or Atlantic's cut. It was easy to see by eye, the Atlantic cut ended much farther from the label and the grooves to the naked eye looked very conservative.
I still got to Master "Houses of the Holy" later on, no skipping problems with that as far as I know!
I hope this clears this up for you.
All my best,
Bob Ludwig
Gateway Mastering Studios Inc
428 Cumberland Ave
Portland Maine 04101
207 828 9400
[email protected]
 
Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible)
I made the opposite error with a project I worked on. Thinking (as so many here at ASR do) that the widest dynamic range possible was the ideal with a digital project (this in the early 1990s), I didn't take the option of having the project properly compressed. Guess what folks? Some recordings really do need compression in order to work in a domestic environment. Many years later I sent the group a remaster with more appropriate dynamics, but by then the damage had been done. I've got some DSD based recordings I've bought that have similarly excessive dynamic range in my collection.

Maybe Eddie Kramer really wanted the "hottest" LP in town, but he should have known that the result would be a lot of returns as defective. I'll acknowledge that the "hot" cut made the album a hit, so maybe there was method in this madness. And Robert Ludwig did get to master "Houses of the Holy" later so somebody must have learned their lesson.
 
Part of the appeal for some people of LP's and other physical media is that audibly different mastering do exist and some have historically interesting stories behind them like the RL LZ2 pressings. From what I have read it sounds like everyone was unhappy with how the first pressing / recall / reissue was handled so I doubt it was a "stunt" but then again Robert Ludwig got to do "Houses of the Holy" so apparently no hard feelings? See below from the SH forums a letter purported to be from Robert Ludwig explaining at least his side of the story. I do have an RL version of LZ2 and it is way louder than the "replacement" version, unfortunately it is not in the best condition. My "go to" version is a NM copy of a "George Prios" cut from the early 1970's. It sounds very similar to the "hot" original but much cheaper and is nice and quiet and clean sounding. Any of these "good" early pressings sound at least as good as any digital copy that followed and to me much better than the later remasters.

In any case I think history like this is fun and interesting and is something different than what streaming offers.

I wrote Robert Ludwig in the last week and he wrote me back. All the versions from sterling are the same hot mix. The subtle variances between them are all simply from the slight differences in making a hand-made analog lacquer disc, at least one of which was sent to all the pressing plants at the time. The CTH plant got a lacquer that was half RL and half LH (Lee Hulko, his partner) but was of the SAME MIX AND MASTER, based on RL's notes. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, aside from subtle variances and should be valued the SAME no matter who's initials are in the dead wax. They are all the same master from STERLING SOUND! Here is my reply from Robert Ludwig. Let this be the final word in this debate. Thanks!
Hi Jim,
I'm surprised about Lee Hulko's initials being on some of the parts. In all these years I had never come across any copies with his initials before.
When there were big orders of certain titles and there wasn't physically enough time for one person to crank out the lacquers as fast as the record company wanted, sometimes we would help each other out.
For instance, my initials might appear on a Beatles record that Lee mastered.
In every case, compared to now, those titles were relatively easy to master. Once one of us mastered an album and it was approved, we made careful notes, either one of us could cut it and it should come out the same. Back then, Lee and I shared the one room and worked different hours so it is possible one of the plants blew a part and needed a replacement right then with no delay.
So after I mastered the album (which Eddie Kramer & Atlantic approved) it was shipped to all the radio stations and the initial pressing was all from me and Sterling Sound.
Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible) and apparently it skipped on his daughters little turntable. Instead of calling us at Sterling and asking us to lower the level a little and telling us where it skipped, they had the disk cutters at Atlantic use my EQ'd cassette file copy and they cut it WAY lower than my original cut plus, in my opinion, it sounded dull and generally not very good sounding in comparison.
So all the disks that were played at the radio stations and all the initial pressings world wide came from me (and apparently Lee cut a part or two) and that was what "sold" the record and made it a hit. A year later, whenever I visited someone I would look at their Zeppelin II album to see if it was my cut or Atlantic's cut. It was easy to see by eye, the Atlantic cut ended much farther from the label and the grooves to the naked eye looked very conservative.
I still got to Master "Houses of the Holy" later on, no skipping problems with that as far as I know!
I hope this clears this up for you.
All my best,
Bob Ludwig
Gateway Mastering Studios Inc
428 Cumberland Ave
Portland Maine 04101
207 828 9400
[email protected]

I agree it was as likely a stunt as not. Just the idea was never pondered here before, and deserves some consideration. I dont' mean it as a New Coke failure, but a success intended to create a very specific impression upon Zeppelin fans. I'm not fully informed if this hot goof was common or not, but it seems like something that could be exploited to promote a hard rock band.
5043b3ceb44583c52aff6bfcf823d7cb.jpg
 
I agree it was as likely a stunt as not. Just the idea was never pondered here before, and deserves some consideration. I dont' mean it as a New Coke failure, but a success intended to create a very specific impression upon Zeppelin fans. I'm not fully informed if this hot goof was common or not, but it seems like something that could be exploited to promote a hard rock band.
My favorite stunt is the "Paul is Dead" hoax. Supposedly this was not a stunt orchestrated by the record companies but more a few prank articles "going viral" (before the internet). I have no idea what was really behind it but to this day I can't help but listen to the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" to see if the lyrics really are saying "I buried Paul" :)
 
My favorite stunt is the "Paul is Dead" hoax. Supposedly this was not a stunt orchestrated by the record companies but more a few prank articles "going viral" (before the internet). I have no idea what was really behind it but to this day I can't help but listen to the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" to see if the lyrics really are saying "I buried Paul" :)
It's "Cranberry Sauce". Really and truly. I've had early pre-mixed versions of the song for years.

My favorite Beatles hoax is Klaatu:


And then there's the Rutles:

 
It's "Cranberry Sauce". Really and truly. I've had early pre-mixed versions of the song for years.
I just listened to my 1987 CD and it sounds like "I buried Paul" not "Cranberry Sauce" :) ..... I believe Ringo said he was saying "I'm very bored". It is now stuck in my brain forever as "I buried Paul".
 

There’s something a bit unnerving about the idea of those CDs.

You could put such an enormous amount of information on such a single CD, which also means a staggering amount of information (movies or whatever you put on there) is lost if the CD gets scratched fails or lost!

It’s much more likely you could lose a single CD or even a few back up CDs, then you would lose an entire collection.
 
I think you can add redundancy if you rewrite data onto a bunch of different layers or disc sektors.
 
Part of the appeal for some people of LP's and other physical media is that audibly different mastering do exist and some have historically interesting stories behind them like the RL LZ2 pressings. From what I have read it sounds like everyone was unhappy with how the first pressing / recall / reissue was handled so I doubt it was a "stunt" but then again Robert Ludwig got to do "Houses of the Holy" so apparently no hard feelings? See below from the SH forums a letter purported to be from Robert Ludwig explaining at least his side of the story. I do have an RL version of LZ2 and it is way louder than the "replacement" version, unfortunately it is not in the best condition. My "go to" version is a NM copy of a "George Prios" cut from the early 1970's. It sounds very similar to the "hot" original but much cheaper and is nice and quiet and clean sounding. Any of these "good" early pressings sound at least as good as any digital copy that followed and to me much better than the later remasters.

In any case I think history like this is fun and interesting and is something different than what streaming offers.

I wrote Robert Ludwig in the last week and he wrote me back. All the versions from sterling are the same hot mix. The subtle variances between them are all simply from the slight differences in making a hand-made analog lacquer disc, at least one of which was sent to all the pressing plants at the time. The CTH plant got a lacquer that was half RL and half LH (Lee Hulko, his partner) but was of the SAME MIX AND MASTER, based on RL's notes. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, aside from subtle variances and should be valued the SAME no matter who's initials are in the dead wax. They are all the same master from STERLING SOUND! Here is my reply from Robert Ludwig. Let this be the final word in this debate. Thanks!
Hi Jim,
I'm surprised about Lee Hulko's initials being on some of the parts. In all these years I had never come across any copies with his initials before.
When there were big orders of certain titles and there wasn't physically enough time for one person to crank out the lacquers as fast as the record company wanted, sometimes we would help each other out.
For instance, my initials might appear on a Beatles record that Lee mastered.
In every case, compared to now, those titles were relatively easy to master. Once one of us mastered an album and it was approved, we made careful notes, either one of us could cut it and it should come out the same. Back then, Lee and I shared the one room and worked different hours so it is possible one of the plants blew a part and needed a replacement right then with no delay.
So after I mastered the album (which Eddie Kramer & Atlantic approved) it was shipped to all the radio stations and the initial pressing was all from me and Sterling Sound.
Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible) and apparently it skipped on his daughters little turntable. Instead of calling us at Sterling and asking us to lower the level a little and telling us where it skipped, they had the disk cutters at Atlantic use my EQ'd cassette file copy and they cut it WAY lower than my original cut plus, in my opinion, it sounded dull and generally not very good sounding in comparison.
So all the disks that were played at the radio stations and all the initial pressings world wide came from me (and apparently Lee cut a part or two) and that was what "sold" the record and made it a hit. A year later, whenever I visited someone I would look at their Zeppelin II album to see if it was my cut or Atlantic's cut. It was easy to see by eye, the Atlantic cut ended much farther from the label and the grooves to the naked eye looked very conservative.
I still got to Master "Houses of the Holy" later on, no skipping problems with that as far as I know!
I hope this clears this up for you.
All my best,
Bob Ludwig
Gateway Mastering Studios Inc
428 Cumberland Ave
Portland Maine 04101
207 828 9400
[email protected]
Thanks, but isn't the actual source for this Discogs?
 
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