monte3x

Excellent article. Kevin Gray does excellent work. One of my favorite mastering engineers.

If you wanna hear it first let me know.

Some recent reflections on the Gold Disc affliction: The new Randy Newman "12 Songs" Gold Disc from Audio Fidelity sounds great, but I don't know how it stacks up to the other copies of it that are available as I'd never heard the album before. Still, I didn't expect much out of it sonically and its sparse beauty blew me away. Audio Fidelity's gold disc of "The Smoker You Get, The Drinker You Get" is another new master I've recently heard that pinned my ears back. Clean. Open. Crunchy like the Joe Walsh I remember. Like it very much. 10cc - The Original Soundtrack (Mofi Gold) - I like it, not love it so far. Was perhaps unfairly expecting a much deeper soundstage from it. Sounds a little 2-dimensional on my system. DCC has an "unauthorized" version that they mastered and 'couldn't release' that you can usually come up with for about $25. They claim them to be very limited, but every time one gets bought another one quickly takes it's place. Somebody's probably cranking them out in the basement. I think you can find the DCC "unauthorized" version (whatever the hell that means) on eBay as well. It has no cover -- just a disc and a jewel case. DCC claims it blows away the MoFi which they declare crap. I'd like to do an A/B for myself because so far it wouldn't go that far but the MoFi hasn't really opened up for me....

Wow. Are those all burned on the same units? I had thought the coaster burning phase of CD ripping had tempered way, way back as the technology of the units themselves evolved... I've been pretty surprised at the lack of coasters in the past 5-6 years. I used to get them all the time -- didn't matter what brand the media was really. I could count on 5-10 a spool. Generic media could be as bad as 50/50, but there didn't seem to be a particularly bad member of the reputable names. Things got much better when I started using Toast as the ripping application. Immediate drop in coaster production. And further improved when I replaced the drive in the desktop mac I use as a music storage/graphic design with a pioneer superdrive dvd burner and I don't think I have had a bad CDR burn since -- using primarily whatever was on sale at the store: TDK, Memorex, Verbatim, Maxell etc. I don't generally burn much faster than 16x though. When I started collecting and burning vinyl rips to play on my main system some über audio geeks convinced me to switch over to that spendy Japanese Taiyo Yuden CD-R media because it supposedly has better 'writability' and a longer half-life. I wanted to make archive quality burns so I bit. The discs do smell much nicer than brands I used to use but other than that I'm not sure I'm getting the extra $10 worth out of the cake for them. And won't know for at least 20 years. I suspect overkill though as they don't seem to perform any different, and I've yet to have any CDR I've Toasted go bad from age that I'm aware of... But that peach smell is really nice when you're doing a big burn session.

Mofi and Audio Fidelity Gold discs are still being produced and can be purchased new here: http://www.musicdirect.com/category/6 and here: http://www.cduniverse.com/default.asp?style=music There is also a guy goes by the name of Jonifan on ebay who is an authorized sales rep for the new MoFi stuff. This is a very subjective but worthy pursuit, and is bound to start some disagreements, but since you asked here's my 25 cents on cds from that period -- Agree with Steve that the recent Beatles Remasters are very good. Not sure I'd agree as to the Stones Remasters unless we're not talking about the same "remasters". The best sounding 70's era redbook Stones CD's that I've found are the German-pressed Londons, but I fear we are moving into some highly offensive Hoffman-level uber-geek territory here... Same deal on the Bowie. The remastered Ryko stuff sounds just terrible on my system. Completely dry and lifeless. Look to the West German RCA presses on the 70's era material but be prepared to pay for it if you buy it on eBay....a lot of times you can find these at the local used CD shop for cheap because many people assume that if a disc has the word "remaster" on it it must therefore follow that it is sonically superior. The German RCA Bowies that I managed to grab (Aladdin Sane, Hunky Dory, Ziggy etc) are real diamonds. Pink Floyd: I bought that set "Shine On" with the studio albums "digitally remastered" and they didn't bug me. I listen to Animals from that set quite a bit and find that it is a very analogue sounding and enjoyable pressing. Meddle on MoFi is muy fantastico, but again it is trumped on my system by an original Harvest pressed vinyl rip. If you don't want to hunt down and spring for the excellent MoFi versions, the latest Supertramp Remaster series are solid sounding. Because it is heavy on the treble Supertramp material by nature can be shrill and fatiguing. They did a nice job on the remaster series tempering that. Steely Dan Remaster series is very nice as well. Although Aja and Gaucho on the Mofi discs are really full, detailed and gorgeous sounding. All the Donald Fagen redbook discs were mastered extremely well, as one would expect. Queen's catalogue has never been done justice in cd format except for the Mofis of Day at The Races and Night at The Opera. The Japanese mini-lps (of which I unfortunately have 5) are super compressed and really shrill and unpleasant. Not inexpensive either. Go for the Hollywoods. They're cheap, plentiful and sound better than everything but the aforementioned MoFi's. Zeppelin is a whole 'nother story. I've got the all the 1990 Remasters, The Page remasters (Complete Studio Recordings Garage Box), the Diament discs, many of the Japanese mini's -- and don't listen to a one of them since getting my hands on the excellent vinyl rips. Hendrix and Zeppelin just never seemed to translate well to redbook in my estimation. There's at least a departure point for further discussion. I'm sure there is plenty of feedback to be had on this subject, and it is a good subject to explore....

I have a bunch of them, and continue to buy them in spite of their oftentimes steep price tags. As snow says -- it's all about the mastering. Some of the Mofi/DCC/Audio Fidelity recordings sound really good. Some, not so much different than the standard issue discs. My gut feeling is that they are way overpriced as far as what they deliver with regards to significant sound "improvement." You shouldn't need to pay through the nose to get an original quality recording. While the Golds can be very nice I am more and more convinced that some of the highest quality redbook discs out there are being burned from digital files produced by the elite level of underground vinyl rippers who have made it their mission to archive and save the original recordings from the endless cycle of remastering, compressing and obsessive tweaking that so many have been subject to. These guys are locating the highest quality original vinyl pressings available, and ripping them via turntable/cartridge combinations that cost half as much as my house. The pros among them record in full 24bit 192khz resolution and then resample to 44/24 for clean-up purposes (clicks, pops, etc). Finally the rips are dithered to standard redbook 16bit/44khz. They don't do anything by way of 'enhancing' or boosting the original, and the results are oftentimes very warm and natural sounding, spacious, and breathtaking. I recently compared a vinyl rip of Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" to my MFSL, and to my ears the vinyl rip was sonically superior. And that's saying something as I thought the MFSL version was really, really good. Of course for those with nice turntables this is all probably not of much interest as they can just go after the top vinyl pressings themselves....

my all time fav: I'm Not Crazy Institutionalized Suicidal Tendencies Sometimes I try to do things but it just doesn't work out the way Iwant it to, and I get real frustrated and then like I try hard to doit, and I like, take my time but it just doesn't work out the way Iwant it to. Its like, I concentrate on it real hard, but it justdoesn't work out. And everything I do and everything I try, it neverturns out. Its like, I need time to figure these things out, but theresalways someone there going “hey mike, you know we've been noticingyou've been having a lot of problems lately, you know? You need tomaybe get away. And like, maybe you should talk about it, you'll feel alot better.” And I'm all like “oh, nah, its ok, you know. I'll figureit out. Just leave me alone, I'll figure it out, you know? I'm justworking on it by myself.” And they go “well, you know, if you wannatalk about it, I'll be here, you know? And you'll probably feel a lotbetter if you talk about it. So why don't you talk about it?” I go “no,I don't want to! I'm ok. I'll figure it out myself!” But they just keepbugging me, they just keep bugging me, and it builds up inside. So you're gonna be institutionalized. You'll come out brainwashed with bloodshot eyes. You won't have anything to say. They'll brainwash you until you see their way. I'm not crazy - institutionalized You're the one that's crazy - institutionalized You're driving me crazy - institutionalized They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution To give me the needed professional help to protect me from the enemy, myself. I was in my room and I was just like staring at the wall thinking abouteverything, but then again I was thinking about nothing. And then mymom came in, and I didn't even know she was there. She called my nameand I didn't hear her and then she started screaming “Mike, Mike!” AndI go “what? Whats the matter?” She goes “whats the matter with you?” Igo “theres nothing wrong, mom.” Shes all “don't tell me that! You're ondrugs!” I go “no mom I'm not on drugs. I'm ok, I'm just thinking, youknow? Why don't you get me a Pepsi?” She goes “No! You're on drugs!” Igo “mom, I'm ok. I'm just thinking.” She goes “No! You're not thinking,you're on drugs! Normal people don't be acting that way!” I go “mom,just get me a Pepsi! Please, all I want is a Pepsi!” And she wouldn'tgive it to me! All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and shewouldn't give it to me! Just a Pepsi! They give you a white shirt with long sleeves! Tied around your back, you're treated like thieves! Drug you up because they're lazy! It's too much work to help a crazy! I'm not crazy - institutionalized You're the one who's crazy - institutionalized You're driving me crazy - institutionalized They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution To give me the needed professional help, to protect me from the enemy, myself. I'm sitting in my room, when my mom and my dad came in. they pulled upa chair and they sat down. They go “mike, we need to talk to you.” AndI go “ok, whats the matter?” They go “me and your mom, we've noticedthat lately you've been having a lot of problems, and you've been goingoff for no reason, and we're afraid you're going to hurt somebody, andwe're afraid you're going to hurt yourself. So we decided that it wouldbe in you're best interest if we put you somewhere where you could getthe help that you need.” And I go “wait, what are you talking about, WEdecided? MY best interests? How do you know what MY best interest is?How can you say what MY best interest is? What are you trying to say?I'M crazy? When I went to YOUR schools, I went to YOUR churches, I wentto YOUR institutional learning facilities. So how can you say I'Mcrazy?” They say they're gonna fix my brain. Alleviate my suffering and my pain. But by the time they fix my head. Mentally I'll be dead. I'm not crazy - institutionalized You're the one who's crazy - institutionalized You're driving me crazy - institutionalized They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution To give me the needed professional help, to protect me from the enemy, myself. Doesn't matter, I'll probably get hit by a car anyways.

I have a hard time believing the Beatles are really responsible for all of this...

elgrau -- i've lost faith in the remastered 'Tomorrow Never Knows' being able to deliver you the alluded to out of body experience when it's quite clear that you are already having an out of mind experience this math shitstorm you've whipped up here is making my brain hurt. i'm gonna have to go switch out my cables and listen to some AC/DC to get things working right again.

finally managed to score a mofi ultra-disc version (UDCD505) of 'Crime of the Century', and I must say that it sounds gorgeous. sonically the best version I've ever heard of this recording. I have the remastered version of 'Breakfast In America' but now I'm thinking I may want to upgrade to the mofi pressing.... The mofi 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' (UDCD 1-526) was also a pretty astonishing upgrade over my prior version. having a hard time tracking down 'Bridge Of Sighs' and 'Madman Across The Water' without breaking the bank.

I freaking love Jacob's Ladder. The first time I saw it I was pretty...um...high. Let's just say that didn't help matters much.....

Music Direct keeps an inventory of them as well. http://www.musicdirect.com/category/8

I totally agree that they are very consistent. I've never got a mofi disc that sounded bad. but i've gotten some that i didn't notice a huge sonic difference difference in. probably try to track down Crime Of The Century and Tommy next to continue the research.... Thanks for the feedback.

Any feedback on these? I have a few and haven't been blown away by the difference in most cases...