St Vincent - Masseduction

[brownz]

Has anyone else picked this up on vinyl and have the feeling that I have, that it's been mastered through a duvet ?

 

[Al ears]

Has anyone else picked this up on vinyl and have the feeling that I have, that it's been mastered through a duvet ?

That good eh? ;-)

Check your stylus.....

 

[brownz]

Stylus is clean, also everything else played before and after sounds spot on, TT is set up correctly, I'm hoping I know how to do this by now ;-) If I don't then I'd probably get the sack from my day job !!

Do you have the album ?

I also tried it on Roon via Tidal FLAC, and even that sounded flat and compressed, no brightness to it at all, almost as if the whole stereo image was compressed into a 4m wide gap between the speakers. Just tried at work as well, which makes me think it's the way it's been mixed / mastered.

 

[Al ears]

Stylus is clean, also everything else played before and after sounds spot on, TT is set up correctly, I'm hoping I know how to do this by now ;-) If I don't then I'd probably get the sack from my day job !!

Do you have the album ?

I also tried it on Roon via Tidal FLAC, and even that sounded flat and compressed, no brightness to it at all, almost as if the whole stereo image was compressed into a 4m wide gap between the speakers. Just tried at work as well, which makes me think it's the way it's been mixed / mastered.

I was joking. Don't own the album but can see that it obviously leaves something to be desired. I have come across similar items in the past, but rarely thankfully. ;-)

Perhaps we should start a ' One to avoid' section.

 

[thescarletpronster]

Perhaps we should start a ' One to avoid' section.

It would be good to resuscitate the long-standing thread 'Praise & shame - rate your new vinyl here', started by Claire back in the day (when staff members still used the forum).

 

[chebby]

I have found a number of online references/reviews that mention the ‘muffled’ quality of the opening track ‘Hang On Me’.

Maybe it’s a deliberate style of presentation, an artistic decision.

 

[brownz]

Heh, yeah just googled that....

It seems to suggest that the 1st track is deliberatly fuzzy.

I get the feeling they left the "Make it sound like crud fader" at 10 on the mixer desk after track 1 though !! 🙂

 

[Lord Fluken]

I do have this on vinyl and agree it does seem to be track 1 that is the issue, definitely mufffled for whatever reason. The rest is fine though

 

[daytona600]

US Pressing sound fantastic , not heard the EU pressings not all versions sound the same & could use different

sources , mastering , plating & pressing plants , mastering engineers etc US , japan , Uk , EU etc

& this month just added to the famouts TAS 2018 super disc list of best sounding records

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-tas-super-lp-list-new-entries-for-2018/

 

[thescarletpronster]

Looking at the US and UK LPs on Discogs, they both appear to have been mastered by Ray Janos ('RJ') at Sterling Sound, and have been pressed by GZ Media in the Czech Republic (164565E1/A / 164565E2/A).

It's not unusual now for copies worldwide to be taken from the same master plates and pressed at the same plant. It seems a bit crazy, but that's how it is.

Of course, a separate run (one of the different vinyl colours) could have had a fault in pressing; or one of the stampers could have been poorly pressed, so affecting just a batch of copies.

I still haven't got round to listening to this album properly, so thanks for the prompt. I loved her previous album on first listen, bought a copy, then quickly got bored with it. Hopefully I'll find more in this one.

Oh, and in an Am**on-style 'if you liked this, you might like that' recommendation, try the latest album by Torres. It's got some similar qualities.

 

[daytona600]

USA version - Lacquer Cut By – Ray Janos at sterling sound in new york & plated & pressed at RTI in californai

all top-notch stuff for great sound

EU version - GZ Media in the Czech Republic - GZ are the cheapest & the worst pressing plant in history

if they spent a few extra quid with pallas or optimal in germany , RT holland or MPO in france & not the lowest cost bidder GZ terrible plating , cutting & pressing

 

[thescarletpronster]

USA version - Lacquer Cut By – Ray Janos at sterling sound in new york & plated & pressed at RTI in californai

Oh, someone's entered the wrong runouts in Discogs, then, as all the UK versions show a job number for GZ.

I agree about GZ, by the way – not the worst pressing plant, but one of the worst of those that identifies themselves in the runouts.

I've had some major problems with RTI-plated records in recent years, so won't hold them up as an example of a good company. Although as their numbers apparently only indicate plating, it's not possible to tell where those releases were actually pressed.

The GZ connection on this LP might have put me off buying a copy for myself!