Except that the mastering has had a greater chance of being done by a professional with experience and a tuned room than by an amateur who by their own admission doesnt really understand how EQ works.
Compromise is a spectrum, and its up to each person how willing they are to go along that spectrum.
I totally agree. Mastering is an art and takes a gentle hand, so it is best avoided at all costs, especially as it can make a bad sounding record worse. But there are tools available now that masterers did not have in the past, and without having the constraints of mastering for vinyl it is possible to do things like expand the dynamic range.
Also the most talented vinyl master engineer for DJ music died in 2011.
In all cases I can't see a reason for trying to digitize from a record when a digital copy is available. In the very rare case that it is a "vinyl only" release (which has certainly been prepared digitally if it is a general modern release), I would contact the artist and politely ask for a digital version.
I have great albums that sound like a$$, such as 3 Feet High And Rising. But I still always buy vinyl. When I used to work in the industry I had a budget each month for free music. While all my colleagues got CDs, I chose vinyl. I now feel my choice was certainly the better investment. Plus the promo CDs were always in abundance, cos, well, they cost nothing to make. Unlike a beautiful gatefold record, that took skill to make, master and press.
Last edited by pete; 05-20-2017 at 02:30 PM.
bored, curious, deaf or just bad taste in music?
finally a mix by me
and what's this, another shoddy mix...another dull mix
Nilesh Patel.
Have a look in your collection and see if you see the words "Nilz - The Exchange" etched on the runout of a record. Even if the track is poor, the mastering should cut the mustard.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/386598-Nilesh-Patel
I mean, I'm quite partial to George Peckham's work, but Nilesh set the standard with dance tracks through the 90s and 00s.
Last edited by pete; 05-20-2017 at 03:15 AM.
bored, curious, deaf or just bad taste in music?
finally a mix by me
and what's this, another shoddy mix...another dull mix
Ok.. not to beat a dead horse..
but this whole idea that what you do to a recording that's ripped from vinyl is "mastering"........
When professionals master a track they start with the unmastered track.. the master tape in the old days, an uncompressed digital file now. Or if the final mix was on a DAW, then they might start with stems and be able to work with the individual elements.. to arrive at the final product. When something is "remastered" they go back to the source tape and do it again.
But once all that's done and it's been put on the record, you have actually very limited ability to change those decisions. For example, if a high pass has been applied you can't really undo it.. compression can be counteracted with expansion but it doesn't usually work super well.
So yea, I'm not saying that any of you are not capable of taking a vinyl rip and possibly improving on certain aspects of the sound.. I'm sure it's possible and I'm sure it happens. But I wouldn't call it "mastering". Everyone and their dog is a mastering engineer these days yet there's so much bad bad sound out there, much more bad than good.. it seems and when discussion goes in this direction I can't help but cringe a little wondering what these results really are (maybe not for every DJ who's doing it, every time.. but probably most of them, most of the time).
Nothing personal guys.. we've been having these conversations a long time, I know you're not dummies. But less is more.
With all this talk about mastering, here's what an expert and a true legend has to say about the subject:
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/herb-powers
And here I, was loving, and agreeing to all of your previous post...At one point I was even going to state,on how absolutely correct you were on carts,and phono pre-amps...For my sake,after properly ripping over 2,000 vinyl records,and Yes,properly "cleaning"(without changing the gain,eq,etc.) those recordings (using only this,when needed.http://www.antarestech.com/noiseredu...s/soundsoap-5/ ),I can say,that I know what I'm doing,and what works for me...Yet,somehow I was still learning something through this conversation.
Last edited by DennisBdrmDJ 2.0; 05-20-2017 at 01:49 PM.
Absolutely
I'd recommend a Moving Coil cartridge albeit their low output . Moving Magnet I'd get one with a minimum of .5v output .
Get the Purple Heart cartridge from Japan. or if budget conscious the Denon 103
Consider replacing the RCA cords with Straightwire & if you really want to be Audiophile , replace the tonearm with an SME.
Heavily Important ; Recommend the UA Apollo or an Apogee A to D converters.
That would be a Massive setup. That would be the right setup indeed.
to Pete-
Yes, "Nilz"
Fantastik Vinyl Mastering engineer . Many a records I have in my collection with his Mastering touch; Truly Remarkable.
The "Bob Ludwig" of Mastering for Electronic Dance music Vinyl.
I worked with the chief cutting engineer @ Masterdisk NYC for one of my tracks & was able to convince him to go +6db hot" on the lathe.
he eventually agreed albeit blew out a couple of heads but agreed it sounded more palpable, punchier & louder.
I used one of Nilz's records as a demonstration of how good a record can sound.
He must've worked his ass off.
Gone way too too Soon. A true lost to humanity.
Last edited by Manu; 08-24-2017 at 03:45 AM. Reason: because merged
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