First pressings

[barretter]

Originally Posted by John10b

I would tend to agree with you, but as in life it’s not that simple could it be that they have made brand new stampers etc from the original tape and thus made new record hence “first pressings “, interesting.
Cheers
John

Of course they made new stampers, they weren't going to use knackered 15th generation stampers from 50 years ago. There is no mention of "first pressings" on the box or accompanying publicity.

[John10b]

Very true, in your post #16 I misunderstood when you mentioned “first pressing”.
So if they did make new stampers they can legitimately say “first pressing” but perhaps they should add “from 15 generation Stamper”, all very interesting.
Cheers
John

[barretter]

I fear you still don't understand what a "first pressing" means to a record collector. It can't be a copy made from a stamper produced 50 years after the original issue of the recording.

[Station X]

Perhaps an analogy with books might help? There can only be one set of first editions.

Reprints of these are facsimilies.

[ms660]

Then there's the country the record was first pressed/released in.

Lawrence.

[John10b]

Thank you for putting me right Barreter and all it makes sense, particularly the analogy with books.
That’s what I like about this forum so informative and educational from experts within their own field.
Cheers
John

[Ekcoman]

I heard way back in the mid 60s that the best quality vinyl was always used by the top price classical lps unlike the pop material. Not sure any truth in this looking back now.

[Richard_FM]

I've head of that too!

Some fans would try to Japanese pressings of bands as they tended to be good quality vinyl & often came with some nice extras like posters too.

[sp10mk11]

Yes I remember Japanese pressings were always of high quality on quiet high quality vinyl, I heard that either Technics or JVC cutting lathes are being brought back into business which is no bad thing and when you add them to other record plants that are opening around the world this is an even better thing for analogue fans.

Gary

[John10b]

That’s good news about cutting lathes being brought back into service.
Cheers
John

[John10b]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask the following question, if not mods please advise.
Who would I contact to trace where original recordings (tapes, discs, stampers etc) are stored.
I’m particularly interested in an American Tenor from the 50’s. He recorded on RCA. Many recordings have been released on RCA but also BMG, Sony etc.
There is talk of issuing a new LP, however, what concerns me is the quality of the source material that would go onto record (all the correspondence in this thread confirms my worry).
I spoke to the engineer who produces the CDs, of the above singer, and he told me he gets all his source material via CD’s, he never gets original material.
So if any one can advise I would be very grateful.
Cheers
John

[RojDW48]

This is an oddity I picked up a few years ago. Presumably they would have needed to make a new stamper from the assembled recordings for it. Would this 'demo' have circulated to gauge enthusiasm for this particular compilation? Certainly plays well.

[Nuvistor]

Found this on Amazon, currently unavailable, it could be the same photo on a different album of course.

[RojDW48]

Originally Posted by Nuvistor

Found this on Amazon, currently unavailable, it could be the same photo on a different album of course.

I also did a bit of searching on the net and it seems CBS did release this album with the same playlist - not sure when - my 'demo' is dated 1980.

[Restoration73]

In the days of prime vinyl mass production (1970s-90s) I would have recommended
an earliest issue pressing. Poor quality control usually meant degraded later issues.

The ultimate form of vinyl recorded medium from the 1980s on was DMM, where the master was used as the stamper. In the case of audio digitally recorded and mixed it could be labelled "DDA" to use the CD terminology.

[barretter]

Originally Posted by RojDW48

This is an oddity I picked up a few years ago. Presumably they would have needed to make a new stamper from the assembled recordings for it. Would this 'demo' have circulated to gauge enthusiasm for this particular compilation? Certainly plays well.

This would have been one of the copies given away to radio stations and record shops to play and to magazine writers to review. Most likely a first pressing.

[Nuvistor]

There were some truly terrible quality records produced in the 70’s, off centre holes, low weight vinyl, too much recorded music giving poor S/N.

[barretter]

Originally Posted by Restoration73

The ultimate form of vinyl recorded medium from the 1980s on was DMM, where the master was used as the stamper.

Not really! but stampers could be produced directly from the DMM master thus cutting out several steps needed to produce stampers from lacquers. DMM also made possible longer quieter sides for LPs.

[John10b]

Any ideas how to trace or contact holder of original master material?
Cheers
John

[Radio Wrangler]

The quality of LPs was very variable. Some were rather good to listen to and others were horrible. Coor grade contaminated plastic, high noise level, swishes. eccentric holes and terrible distortion towards the end. Depending what you wanted to buy, that was often all you could get. Some records sounded wonderful, but that didn't help when it was a different piece of music you wanted to listen to.

I have problems when presented with the 'all vinyl good, all CDs bad' mantra. There was an awful lot of overlap. Some CDs were grim and lifeless. Some LPs would have served mankind better recycled as drainpipes.

All recording processes have limitations. Their dynamic range for one thing cannot capture the entire real world. The art and skill lie in choosing what can be lost, tailored to the medium and to the end listener's conditions.

David