Quality of New Records

[DistortedVision]

Does anyone feel the quality of newly pressed records has declined over recent years? I've just bought some brand new records all factory sealed. Most notably Depeche Mode - Ultra (180gsm), Depeche Mode - Best of Volume 1 (Limited Edition Triple Vinyl), Coldplay - Parachutes (180gsm) and U2 - Joshua Tree (180gsm). They were bought from different online stores and all 6 records are warped and some had significant surface noise. I sent them back to be replaced and all of the replacements have exactly the same problem. This isn't the first time it's happened.

I can't believe I've just been unlucky. I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi DV, yep, definitely agree on this.

Having been recently seduced by the record section in the basement of Zaavi at tottenham court road I spent some hard earned on Gil Scott Heron, Stevie Wonder to name a few. Almost ran home to try these out and feel really flat now - like the sound.

I didnt have problems with warping or surface noise however the sound just seemed flat - no colour, warmth, soul!!

When I compare against some 'original' vinyl I have - even an original copy of Miles Davis Kind of Blue - has much more depth to it.

I dont know if the manufacturing processes are the same - but these new vinyls seem clinical to me.

 

[chebby]

New records I have bought recently include Kaya (Bob Marley), Tres Hombres (ZZ Top), Cash (Johnny Cash) and Mayall with Eric Clapton (180gm re-issue of a Mono 1966 pressing).

The finish and quality of the recording is superb on all of them although I should say that I don't have the originals with which to compare. I don't buy these pressings because they are 180gm but simply because it is the only way to get new pressings of these faves.

The real 'star' of my growing collection so far (for recording quality) is a mint Ryko 1990 re-issue of the double album 'ChangesBowie' on transparent vinyl. That is stunning.

 

[Anonymous]

Presumably modern vinyl are "DDA" (to coin a code), so the perceived advantage of the analogue medium is lost during the recording and mixing process?

 

[Anonymous]

I suspect it's the fact that the pressing process is complex and the skill levels are declining.

Without wanting to get too technical the molds used to press the vinyl don't last very long and are re-made from a master mold (for want of a better lay expression) fairly regularly. So the best you can hope for today is that the "master mold" is in good nick and the "pressing mold" has been well made. Next you need to press the same weight of vinyl that was used in the original in presses of the equivalent performance. You also need a fairly high degree of skill, at least in the people overseeing the operation.

It's also true that the medium was originally intended to reproduce analogue recordings. The technology is also such that trying to cram too much onto an LP suffers from the law of diminishing returns. In general if the total track length per side is much more than 20 mins the quality will suffer and the drop off if fairly rapid. (It's easy to understand iff you think about it as the grove spacing starts to decrease almost exponentially as you puch the track length up.

 

[chebby]

ffiish:Presumably modern vinyl are "DDA" (to coin a code), so the perceived advantage of the analogue medium is lost during the recording and mixing process?

That is probably true in most cases and yet in those few instances where I have both CD and LP versions of the same (recent) recordings the vinyl sounds better.

I have virtually given up playing CDs (except classical) they just don't engage me. Whenever I play a CD I invariably get distracted and pause it or mute it. Many such times I just don't get around to resuming listening.

The opposite is true with vinyl, many times I will end up playing two or three sides (or more) even though I only meant to have a quick listen.

 

[John Duncan]

Well my analogue-remaster-3-disc-45rpm pressing of Famous Blue Raincoat will arrive today, so I'll let you know. Not that I have a record player to play it on.........

 

[chebby]

Still got the builders in John?

Haha.

Been there. The decorator finished on Monday after 6 weeks of builders, plumber, electrician, tiler.... etc (I lost count)

It still seems strange after all that time to have the house to ourselves.

 

[John Duncan]

Yep, all five of us still sleeping downstairs, two weeks in - they said that the kids could go upstairs again after four days, and now it's mooted for the end of next week.......

 

[chebby]

I feel for you John. Some of our work was exterior (sofits, facias, guttering, new conservatory etc) but when when it came indoors to the kitchen and bathroom and downstairs loo you can only imagine what reactions you get from a 16 year old girl when you tell her she has to wash at a kitchen sink (that is hanging on by the plumbing only) AND before 7.30 am! (A time of day that was previously only a theoretical concept to her). Luckily that was only for two mornings.

She has not forgiven us yet.

The other daughter is still traumatised by The Great Spider Migration which occurred after the whole kitchen floor was replaced!

 

[John Duncan]

See my kids are eight and downwards so they go "ooo spiders cool". In fact, eldest's birthday is coming up and the party's at the bug house at Syon Park (where they get out snakes, tarantulas blah blah). It's my wife who'd freak.....

 

[chebby]

Yes I remember when they were much younger. Fearless. I have a photo of the eldest cheerfully holding a live spider crab with a 5ft leg span at some Sealife place in Newquay years ago. But now if a spider is bigger than a 1p piece I have to deal with it.

I remember a huge moth in the kitchen once (about the size of a *** packet) that she wanted to adopt - even though my wife was threatening to move in with her mother unless it was killed - but nowadays even small moths are not tolerated.

Don't get me started on the time a cat brought in a live stag beetle!

Basically I can never win. If I exterminate the invader I am a 'murderer' and if I trap it without harm and liberate it then I am moaned at because it may come back in!

 

[Anonymous]

I've bought a few new albums on both CD and vinyl for comparison and the CD is always better.

I have reached the conclusion that there's no point in buying anything on vinyl that was recorded digitally anyway.

I do like my oldest vinyls that are analogue through and through.

 

[chebby]

Yes, quite right, back to the subject. Sorry about that folks.

a4quattro:I've bought a few new albums on both CD and vinyl for comparison and the CD is always better.

As I mentioned earlier I found the opposite ('The Dub Side of the Moon' being one example). I may even get an Ortofon 2M Blue stylus and switch around between Red and Blue styluses depending on age and type of recording. The 2M Blue is supposed to be at it's best with modern pressings whereas the Red is more 'forgiving' of the older stuff. (A bit of treble roll-off on the Red may explain this.)

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

I've got to say that my current preference for vinyl over CD is often confounded by "bad" pressings of brand new, often, 180g albums. Older vinyl bought years ago or more recent record fair/ebay purchases usually surpass the new stuff. Yet, I can't resist the allure of new releases on vinyl. The current Bob Dylan and The Clash releases are a case in point. The price of the former and the lack of availability of the latter will probably mean I go, reluctantly, for the CDs.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have any old pressing's but i think it's down to the record company. For example 2 of my 3 'Secretly Canadian' lp's have noise on the first track of each side.

I have had a few LP's that seem to be warped from new, but have only taken one back as it's so little that i don't notice it (and assume i'll get the same on the replacement).

 

[chebby]

How LPs are made....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUGRRUecBik (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IReDh9ec_rk (Part 2)

 

[Anonymous]

Tony Warwick:
Hi DV, yep, definitely agree on this.

Having been recently seduced by the record section in the basement of Zaavi at tottenham court road I spent some hard earned on Gil Scott Heron, Stevie Wonder to name a few. Almost ran home to try these out and feel really flat now - like the sound.

I didnt have problems with warping or surface noise however the sound just seemed flat - no colour, warmth, soul!!

When I compare against some 'original' vinyl I have - even an original copy of Miles Davis Kind of Blue - has much more depth to it.

I dont know if the manufacturing processes are the same - but these new vinyls seem clinical to me.

I also picked up some Stevie Wonder from Zavvi, and found that 2 of the 3 discs I bought had intermittent distortion in one channel. On closer inspection, I was able to see a kind of cross-hatching marking on some of the grooves. Dodgy pressings I presume. More generally, I find that new vinyl often has quite a lot of pop and crackle straight out of the sleeve, and even mint sounding vinyl starts to wear noticeably after a few plays.

However, I have a collection of Billy Joel (yes, yes, whatever) from the 70s that I mostly bought second hand in the early 90s. They have been played A LOT and are still in excellent nick.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Off topic a bit, but where are you sourcing your vinyl from as I have been sourcing everthing as 2nd hand from ebay/discogs the last couple of years and have't seen any alternative sources.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.selectadisc.co.uk/

 

[chebby]

A lot of my new Vinyl comes from amazon uk.

 

[survivor]

By and large I`ve been happy with my recent puchases of newly pressed records. One notable exception though is `Scott 4` by Scott Walker on the 4 Men With Beards label which is badly pressed to the point that side 2 is pretty much ruined. Shame as I`d been looking forward to that one. Returning it for another copy would probaby result in me receiving more of the same.

Once tried three copies of Morrissey`s `Southpaw Grammar`. All atrocious. Had the same result with three copies of `TYR` by Black Sabbath. These two albums were bought when they were first released so badly pressed vinyl is nothing new.

Yesterday morning I received two vinyl albums in the post which were bought on ebay from a seller who had obtained some unused stock from a record shop which had closed down. Both are in mint condition, one is from 1989 and is `Scarlet And Other Stories` by All About Eve to replace my old copy and the other was `These Days` by Crystal Gayle from 1980 which I`d never heard before and just took a chance on. Well, the All About Eve album sounds good but the Crystal Gayle lp sounds absolutely fantastic! Released on the CBS label on 180gm vinyl this lp puts all of my new records and most of my old ones to shame. Very, very, very impressed and it just goes to show how good a decently pressed record can sound after 28 years if it hasn`t been played and stored well.

Just a quick word regarding the amount of minutes of music on one side of a record. Very true that the fewer the minutes the greater the sound quality. I have some old Blondie 12" singles which literally only have two and a half minutes of music on the A side but sound great. On the other extreme I have some old K-tel albums which have ten songs per side and sound awful.

 

[DistortedVision]

I quite often find that the used records that I buy from eBay, Discogs, Gemm etc sound better than modern pressings. By this I mean less surface noise, no warping etc. I've also found alot of modern pressings to sound clinical and lifeless.

However is it just me or does anyone find that the vast majority of online sellers on such sites over-exaggerate the condition? I only buy records graded as Excellent / Excellent. I think that most inaccuracy comes in describing the condition of the sleeves which is less detrimental.