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CooterBrown

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Thank you for taking the time to answer.  I think I followed it.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand the difference between "masters" and "mixing."  Is the difference in terms of audio the "Joe Harley" part overseeing the mixing of the Kevin Gray masters? Did I follow that correctly?

 I mean, for me not being an audiophile it sounds like I wouldn't know the difference in terms of audio.  So the cost is more the packaging/picture stuff?  Sorry if I'm being stupid.  The Hoffman dudes get over my head fast.

 

Edit: I am pretty positive I'm going to wind up ordering every Blue Note classic I can this year.  Not sure about adding a Tone Poet addiction to that as well.

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Well, I think I get it now.  Read up some more on it on the Hoffman forums although most of their acronyms are lost on me.

Pre-ordered the Dexter Morgan release on Amazon.

From the non-jazz side of things I picked up “Born in the USA” by Springsteen and “Closer to Home” by Grand Funk from the local record shop today.

 

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Heh.  I meant to type more on it, but I was on mobile and the site was being weird.  The studio shots are really nice, and the album is great.  Very nice package, especially for the price.  The album itself is of course, awesome.  My first time to hear Mr. Tyner leading a big band as opposed to a quartet (Sahara, The Real McCoy) or his stuff with Coltrane.

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For those interested, the Old 97’s “Fight Songs” won the monthly poll on Run Out Groove vinyl, so they are pressing it. I’m pretty pumped about this. It’s one of only two Old 97’s albums that have never been pressed on vinyl. (Satellite Rides is the other)

It’s going to include the original album, plus a 2021 “remix” from the original masters and a 3rd album of demos from 1998.  The album is supposed to be delivered by July.

You can pre-order it on their site for 30 days, then they press a limited quantity.  I’ve never ordered one of these before. Seems pretty legit. Everything is pressed from original master tapes.

https://www.runoutgroovevinyl.com

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On 3/2/2021 at 7:19 AM, Patricio Swayze said:

Very good mail day yesterday.  Surly is probably not the crowd for this (unless you visit the heavy music thread), but still cool vinyl. 
 

 

 

I certainly have had my intense metal days.  In fact, my last few years in Austin (all pre-Covid) the majority of live music I went to see was metal and uh, dubstep.  Kind of  became like the movie theater--I mainly only went to the theater for big budget action flicks.  So metal was my 'action flicks' of live music.  And I visit the heavy thread every once in a while.  I just tend to personally go through phases of what I'm into, and currently more jazz than anything else. 

Also, I can't really play that kind of vinyl in the house w/o headphones as long as the wife is around.  And lately, she's always around.  My Coltrane stuff suffers the same fate.  Headphones, or hope she's out running an errand.

 

 

22 hours ago, castolon said:

VMP lost me with the most recent round of price increases and the nonsense for a couple months with the swaps not working, but I will forever be grateful for getting turned on to Buena Vista Social Club. 

My brief run w/VMP lasted about 1/2 of last year.  But every album I got from them was a very joyful experience once finally received.  They definitely turned me on to some things I would never have even known existed.  I got the BVS like you, but that one I had listened to digitally for some time.  The two that really stand out for me are even mellower.  "Blossom Dearie" which is just a gorgeous record that immediately places you in a very specific place mood wise.  And then "Dreams" by GÁBOR SZABÓ (sorry for the all caps, cutting and pasting).  I had never even heard of Mr. Szabo before.  The album is like gypsy world music jazz outer space spaghetti.  And it builds, and has a flow from beginning to end that just makes sense. An amazing discovery for me.  Like something I've never heard but has always been in my subconcious.  A real experience that I would  never have had were it not for VMP (and in turn were it not for Anton and mdmost bringing it to my attention).

I glance every once in a while at their site and I don't feel the need to sign up anymore.  Maybe I'm missing some other cool discovery, but I keep finding other ways to spend the money (and more) that I spent on VMP on other albums.

 

 

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"Boston" shooting up my personal favorite vinyl list, with a rocket. Another classic 70s album that I was never put on to; found it in the RGV for a few bucks. Knew "More Than a Feeling" but didn't really appreciate the Foreplay/Long Time until sitting down with the vinyl. And Smokin while listenin' to Smokin. 

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For those interested, the Old 97’s “Fight Songs” won the monthly poll on Run Out Groove vinyl, so they are pressing it. I’m pretty pumped about this. It’s one of only two Old 97’s albums that have never been pressed on vinyl. (Satellite Rides is the other)
It’s going to include the original album, plus a 2021 “remix” from the original masters and a 3rd album of demos from 1998.  The album is supposed to be delivered by July.
You can pre-order it on their site for 30 days, then they press a limited quantity.  I’ve never ordered one of these before. Seems pretty legit. Everything is pressed from original master tapes.
https://www.runoutgroovevinyl.com

I have a dozen ROG releases and they’re uniformly excellent.
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If you happen to ever shop online at Sound of Vinyl, order from the original UK site (soundofvinyl.com) instead of the US site (soundofvinyl.us).  Even with paying for international shipping, most albums are significantly cheaper with the exchange rate.  For example, I've been picking up the rereleases of PJ Harvey's catalog from the UK site for around $21 a record and they're $27-35 a pop on the US site.  A quick check shows that the savings on box sets is a bit more...$78 vs $100 for a Tame Impala box set.

 

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Looking at the local Walmart I noticed a ton of 180g pressings of boner-inducing titles for the middle-aged set, but also saw a bunch of "Walmart Exclusive" records with colored vinyl, all of them thematic to the album. I know vinyl is hipster central and a lot have a religious need to only buy from mom and pop stores, but, hypothetically speaking, if someone couldn't care less about that, objectively how is the audio quality of these discs generally? I picked up Metallica's black album Walmart Exclusive version, because I'm middle-aged and it induced a boner, but should I go back and buy with reckless abandon?

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15 hours ago, BoomMF said:

Looking at the local Walmart I noticed a ton of 180g pressings of boner-inducing titles for the middle-aged set, but also saw a bunch of "Walmart Exclusive" records with colored vinyl, all of them thematic to the album. I know vinyl is hipster central and a lot have a religious need to only buy from mom and pop stores, but, hypothetically speaking, if someone couldn't care less about that, objectively how is the audio quality of these discs generally? I picked up Metallica's black album Walmart Exclusive version, because I'm middle-aged and it induced a boner, but should I go back and buy with reckless abandon?

A lot of it just depends on the mastering and where it was pressed. Some "exclusives" are nothing more than colored vinyl with digital masters so basically a colored 12" CD. If it's something done by Kevin Gray or Bernie Grundman then it's probably straight from the master tapes. For instance, there's a silver version of Nevermind at Target that is the same version, just not black vinyl, as what I bought in 2013 which was mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original Nirvana master tapes and pressed at Pallas which is one of the best pressing plants you can get a record from. Check on Discogs as they will have the mastering details. I know the Stone Temple Pilots colored exclusives are the same pressings as the remastered editions that came out in the box sets of Core and Purple. I missed out on the Purple one as I have an OG from 1994. 

I haven't noticed any difference between a colored vinyl and a black vinyl album, quality wise, with the exception of clear vinyl which seems to get more static. 

 

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I haven't noticed any difference between a colored vinyl and a black vinyl album, quality wise, with the exception of clear vinyl which seems to get more static. 


That’s my experience also. However, my understanding is that vinyl is naturally clear and black is an added color so you’d think clear would sound the best.

Also, picture discs have the worst sound.
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It's interesting that MOFI's most expensive set of vinyl, the One Step, is a translucent black vinyl. So the vinyl is a black color but you can see through it when held up to sunlight or an overhead light. The first unofficial One Step was the 45 rpm version of Kind of Blue from Miles Davis. A batch of these were released among the usual non-translucent, standard black vinyl versions. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Girlschool?! There must be something in the air because I was just listening to an all-girl band too.
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And as a PSA, if you're into vinyl and want an end-game cleaning solution, you need to check out iSonic's ultrasonic record cleaners. The body is the same as Kirmuss (sp?) But go for about 1/6 of the price of his machines. The way this thing has quickly rehabilitated some grungy records is almost magical.

37ac7b10cd6a2e0c58c10847165b2634.jpg

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On 3/12/2021 at 7:50 PM, BoomMF said:

Looking at the local Walmart I noticed a ton of 180g pressings of boner-inducing titles for the middle-aged set, but also saw a bunch of "Walmart Exclusive" records with colored vinyl, all of them thematic to the album. I know vinyl is hipster central and a lot have a religious need to only buy from mom and pop stores, but, hypothetically speaking, if someone couldn't care less about that, objectively how is the audio quality of these discs generally? I picked up Metallica's black album Walmart Exclusive version, because I'm middle-aged and it induced a boner, but should I go back and buy with reckless abandon?

It's been hit or miss for me with quality on the 180g pressings.  For example: 

Billy Joel - "Streetlife Serenade" & Whiskeytown -
"Stranger's Almanac" sound fantastic.

Black Crowes - "Southern Music & H.C."  & REM - "Automatic for the People" sound kinda crappy.

 

Maybe they just have new people pressing some of these and some came out of retirement on the good pressings.

 

 

 

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It's been hit or miss for me with quality on the 180g pressings.  For example: 
Billy Joel - "Streetlife Serenade" & Whiskeytown -
"Stranger's Almanac" sound fantastic.
Black Crowes - "Southern Music & H.C."  & REM - "Automatic for the People" sound kinda crappy.
 
Maybe they just have new people pressing some of these and some came out of retirement on the good pressings.
 
 
 
This is my experience and theory.

I read a few years ago, around 2015 maybe, that there were only handful functioning machines for pressing in operation and parts were scarce to revive older ones, but there were a slew of new ones with modern technology being produced to meet increasing demand.

My worst experience was a copy of Plastic Ono Band that I bought at Waterloo. Got it home and the needle skates across the disc. Tried it on several units with the same result. Since I don't live in Austin, I was unable to return it. Amazon woulda been a better choice for the RI in that case.

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17 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Cinderella's Night Songs is a criminally underrated album. That one is solid from start to finish. Too bad they always get lumped in with hair metal since their sound isn't that at all.  

 

17 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Agreed on night songs thought I think that album cover might have something to do with them getting lumped into generic hair metal.

i don't know dick about cinderella but i found this intriguing so i pulled up a song from that album...this is like the definition of hair metal. 

 

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They were definitely in the hair metal category.  I think a better way to put it is that they were a pretty talented hair metal band and as their albums progressed they leaned more heavily on blues rock stylings musically while in terms of appearance staying pretty much square in the hair metal category.

 

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On 3/13/2021 at 11:01 AM, Rip76 said:

I’ve never purchased records online but  I may start.

Discogs is fantastic.

I've had uniformly excellent experiences having bought maybe 2 dozen records from sellers/record stores all over the world. Even had a store in Germany send me the wrong record once. The guy profusely apologized, refunded me immediately and gave me like double the cost to ship it back to him.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I stayed in Austin at a hotel just off campus, The Otis, and all the rooms have record players in them. You can check out titles from the library in the lobby to play in your room and, if you want, buy them. I came across the limited edition double LP version of Rio, which I've been looking for for a long time. It's very rare and each time it comes up on eBay or for sale otherwise it's $100 or more - it's a killer record but come on.

Flipped it over and it's marked at $25. Well, don't mind if I do.
074f18aeba5e348a3f4efdd694fa806c.jpga81388c23c8429cc4b29723c83233bb7.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
A new record store just opened a few doors down from Lala’s. Haven’t been yet but more local stores is a good thing.

You got a name? Google is coming up empty.

I’ve always been a Waterloo devotee going back to my college years(CD’s back then) but been buying more from Breakaway recently. Would be good to put another place into the rotation.
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Edit: Anton was the quickest!  

I pre-ordered the Dexter Gordon "One Flight Up" Tone Poet release on Amazon.  Package came in last night.  They shipped me two copies for some reason, but it looks like I was only charged for one.  I'm listening to it today to make sure nothing is wrong with it.  Provided nothing is wrong with it, I'll ship the second one to whoever on this thread PM's me first about it. (Anton wins)  Shipping cost only, since it was free to me.  And you have to be patient with me, I have never shipped an LP before and it may be a day or two before I make it to the post office. 

Seems I got a chance to give back to the thread that has given some good insights to me.

 

 

 

Edited by MC Fresh Breath
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Thanks, MC!

It’s pretty nerdy, but there is a live stream with a bunch of big industry names going on right now.

Mike Hobson (founder of Classic Records), Michael Fremer (reviewer, from Analog Planet), Chad Kassem (owner of Acoustic Sounds, Analogue Productions, and Quality Record Pressings), the QRP plant manager, Bernie Grundman (legendary mastering engineer) and a relatively well known you-tuber (45RPM Audiophile). Cool to hear them talk about how this stuff is done. Mostly centered on the new UHQR KoB release.


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Anyone check out the Austin Record Convention this weekend? Not as many tables but they make up for it by having more lines to wait in to file through boxes.

My haul was limited, but I've been wanting the Texas Flood One Step since I started collecting vinyl, so like a whole year. And yes, the first one I'm listening to is the Pantera.

bd81caa8d65698014e670270fc85a638.jpg

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I was at the Austin Record Convention on Friday. I saw some $$$ Miles Davis- Kind of Blue. I didn’t check to see if any of them were mono ‘Six Eye’ first pressings, as I pre-ordered the AP UHQR reissue and didn’t want to be tempted. Does anyone know if the 45rpm AP will be mono or stereo?

Some of you of a certain age who went to Convention might have caught the owner of the gone, but not forgotten Inner Sanctum Records (W. 24th St next to Mad Dog and Beans) at a vendor table.

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I was at the Austin Record Convention on Friday. I saw some $$$ Miles Davis- Kind of Blue. I didn’t check to see if any of them were mono ‘Six Eye’ first pressings, as I pre-ordered the AP UHQR reissue and didn’t want to be tempted. Does anyone know if the 45rpm AP will be mono or stereo?
Some of you of a certain age who went to Convention might have caught the owner of the gone, but not forgotten Inner Sanctum Records (W. 24th St next to Mad Dog and Beans) at a vendor table.

Both of the UHQRs are stereo from the 3 track tapes, and are the same mastering that Bernie Grundman did for Classic Records in the 90s.

The original mono tapes were apparently lost or taped over and I don’t think the original mono release was even mastered from them.
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