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to let the buyers know what they are buying because the buyers deserve that.
Why now? Because they got caught? Didn't their buyers deserve to know all along what they were buying?
I keep watching this video and it seems to get worse.
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
Follow Ups:
if you don't count the choo choo recordings.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
I have one of the choo choo records!
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
"...as part of the company's resolve to provide the most accurate sonic reproductions possible, all Mobile Fidelity product is mastered directly from the original master tape as opposed to production copies often used for mass reproduction. This ensures a more complete and exacting transfer of the original musical data. In the case of the Original Master Recording™ (OMR) LP, the use of the master tape is combined with a unique procedure known as "half-speed" mastering, which literally slows down the cutting system involved in mastering vinyl so that musical information can be transferred from the source tape [that being the original master tape] to the lacquer with greater precision."
None of that sounds ambiguous or vague to me. They straight up say that they use the original master tape directly to cut their lacquers to make their half speed mastered records.
And I believe that the company did exactly that for a long time but they don't always do that these days.
The issue is, why didn't they tells us when they stopped using the original master tape directly to cut all of their lacquers?
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
to me and most likely most spinners, they won't care as long as it sounds better than what is usually marketed. I'm sure they are taking steps to ensure the older recordings are done as close as possible and I hope they don't do this only for profit, it's not a market to make much money after all the expense.
Here's the problem - the price for this. Most have to really love something to pay 100 bucks +, or you collect things to put on a shelf.
For me and I hope for most of us, I buy for the music not the equipment. I listen to what I have and that's it until I can do more. If I damage the vinyl I have to look for another copy, whatever I can find. It's not always vinyl.
It's a densely recorded pop album that you can pick up in any used record store for $8, from a singer with a very tarnished brand. In defense, it is an iconic record, but who would pay $125 for it?
not like some so-so recording that would greatly benefit from a "new" process.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
But anyone who thinks the Mofi one step isn't going to be an entirely different beast than anything that has preceded it hasn't really looked into the differences. The original cutting masters used to cut all of the original albums were 3rd generation EQed, compressed and rolled at both ends to make it an easy record for 15 million fans to play on their crap turntables. The fact that Mofi did a proprietary transfer from the original master tape with none of the baggage that came with the cutting masters used on the original LP is going to make for a very very different sounding record.
I'mnot into this album either. But if I were I'd be all over this record. For all the money so many audiophiles put into their systems I am often astonished at how so many of them pay little or no attention to the source material. That is at least half the battle. A better sounding mastering is an instant huge sound upgrade for very little money relative to the cost of the hardware. IMO the audiophile's music collection is half of the sound system.
...that goes by definition. MoFi doesn't release things for every type who have crap turntables, they release for US and all the others all over the world. They don't release a $125 record to be played on a $125 turntable.
Thank you MoFi, I can hear a distinct difference and appreciate what you're trying to do.
Too bad it's so expensive now, especially NOW. The price is undoubtedly going up
any particular reason you felt the need to point that out?
maybe a mood thing, nothing personal. Lots of experts here out to prove they are experts
wanna go through mood swings? Try working on a Michael Mann film
But I am not an audiophile, I am a record collector who enjoys such lo fi mediums as 45 singles and 78s. I would never let sound quality dictate the music that I listen to, but always happy to have a better sounding copy of something I do like. Though I'm not holding my breath for a reissue of Sinatra and the Modernaires on 78.
Edits: 07/24/22
My system is pretty humble and I'm waaaayyy off the upgrade path.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Nt
The vinyl front end is pretty good and the headphones, everything else is sort of odds and ends.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I'm 100% with you on not letting sound quality dictate my musical taste although a few demo discs are fun and useful for gauging the state of the system.
For me it's more about getting the best version of the music I already decided I am going to own. That's where it becomes an audio upgrade.
Nt
he was The Man then after all
Looking at a list of MoFi's One-Steps, all of those records had better than average sonics when originally released. Local hi-fi shops used a lot of them to demo systems, they were that good.
I agree that what MoFi is doing is deceptive, but it's not totally false advertising, so what's the big deal?
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Do you want "better than average" or exceptional sound? What they do in their mastering process is generally vastly superior than what was done with the original releases. Sure, a great sounding recording will still sound "better than average" even when cut from 3rd generation cutting tapes that have been EQed, compressed and rolled off at the frequency extremes. But they do tend to sound substantially better when they are given a careful audiophile treatment by expert mastering engineers who are doing their best to get the best sound possible on the record. As I said elsewhere for all the money most audiophiles pile on their hardware, many tend to neglect the obvious, easy and effective upgrade that comes with better source material.
It matters
The original Nightfly was mastered with care by an expert, using the latest technology available at the time.
I know I could find a clean copy for less than ten bucks. Even if it actually is inferior to the One Step, the difference in price vs. diminishing returns makes the One Step silly. It's like buying a Ferrari and using it strictly for grocery shopping.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
But I thought we were talking about Thriller? Where it CAN get that much bigger
I'd be glad to wrench and go shopping with ya
Polish up your airbrushing technique.
Here's another thing I don't get. An album is recorded in 1970. The record company that released the album never took care of it. It got tossed into some warehouse that got hot and cold, etc. Every time it got dragged out and played, it was degraded.
So now, 52 years later, it's somehow supposed to be better than it was in 1970? I'm talking about Bridge Over Troubled Water , and I read an interview with Paul Simon in which he complained about how Columbia didn't take any care at all of the Simon and Garfunkel master tapes.
When Steve Hoffman worked on the Doors reissues for Rhino, the master tapes were in such bad condition that it delayed the release of the series for months.
And how can anyone complain about MoFi mastering a record like Nightfly from a digital file when the record was digitally-mastered in the first place?
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I wish I could set up my track permanently, that's the best I'll ever get.
It's amazing when I set it up once in a while and adults, ADULTS, start racing on it they won't stop for hours. It's a great way to forget about the rest of the world. It's the way fun was meant to be
What I loved was you could snap one body on and race a 1936 Ford. Snap that body off and another one on, you were racing a '65 Sting Ray.
And the cars would drift like mad if you took the rear guide pins off.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
...-some of this stuff is very hard to source in decent condition, usuriously expensive and often both at once. That rings the bell for me.
And b) where there was a serious flaw with the original pressings. Think Neil Young's Comes A Time or L.A.M.F. by the Heartbreakers.
The Blue Notes, old RVG pressings, even the UA copies with all-blue labels, they're getting expensive as hell. The reissues are less expensive and you know what you're getting in terms of condition.
I picked up the MoFi Forever Changes because originals are too damned expensive.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I don't think Mofi has done half speed mastering since the late 80s
This guys says that one of the last half speed mastered record from MFSL was Frank Sinatra - The Concert Sinatra MFSL 1-345 in 2011.
"Hi Greg thanks for watching. Unfortunately whoever emailed you at MOFI is not correct. Not all modern MOFI's that are mastered with the "Gain 2" System are half speed mastered. One of the last half-speed mastered pressing before MOFI switched to real time cutting was Frank Sinatra's The Concert Sinatra catalog number 1-345. After that 1-346 The Band's Music from the Pink and all after that were mastered in real time or pretty much around this time. All current 45 rpm One-Steps and current 33 rpm MOFI are mastered in real time using the Gain 2 system. Also, if any albums are mastered by MOFI at 1/2 speed it will say on the album. Run DMC was mastered at full speed using the half inch 30 IPS original analogue tapes. MOFI's 45 rpm one step of Donald Fagan' Nightfly and Dire Straits 45 rpm cut of Brothers in Arms mastered at full speed using the original master tapes which were the original digital master tapes. I hope this helps clear up the confusion. I think I will do a video on this exact topic explaining this to my viewers. Watch for that later this week."
post #17 2022
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
...anybody would pay huge dollars for reissues of Brothers In Arms or Nightfly . Both had excellent sonics in original release (and both were digitally mastered in original release), and used copies are easy to find. The lacquer for Nightfly was cut by Bob Ludwig.
That's the huge problem I have with expensive reissues in general, MoFi in particular.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
My Anadisq 200 half speed mastered BS&T is from 1996.
I didn't know they ever stopped doing half speed mastered vinyl records?
Do you know when they stopped?
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
The assets were purchased by Music Direct.
Half-speed mastering stopped when the original company died. As I posted below, the most recent MoFi I purchased has nothing about half speed mastering on the wrap around sleeves and nowhere does it say that the LP was mastered directly from the original master tape.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
.
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
the one we all know and love that started in the late 1970's and the current iteration owned by Music Direct.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
.
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
I think it was before 1996. Their promo ad copy may have already been out dated when they used it then. I could be wrong...
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