www.whathifi.com/us/features/holy-grail-vinyl-art-half-speed-mastering

more like the second biggest scam in vinyl.

digital masters and half-speed !

you might as well listen to CDs or mp3s

an alternative view, note mr port sells records

ontherecord.co/2020/12/19/half-speed-mastering-a-technological-fix-for-a-non-existent-problem-22222222/

Half speed mastered records sound much better when you have your speaker leads raised off the floor with cable lifters...

and use a state-of-the art gramophone    

Jeez, if this crowd doesn't believe in half speed mastering, there's no hope!

I liken it to 45 rpm cf 33 1/3. There's a difference if its done right, and the material warrants it.

Well, it's an interesting polemic.

Why such a strong opinion? The video interview seems quite straightforward. You don't believe it?

I think I have a few half-speed mastered LP transcriptions in my flac collection, some must be Mo Fi.
I don't recall finding them objectionable;- I'd have to go back to listen again.

But I do have some 2x 45 rpm remasters (not sure if half speed as well) that do sound really great.

That seems to work.

Why not 1/2 speed mastering, if the RIAA filters are reconfigured as described, all set up correctly?

Sincerely interested in the arguments ;=}))

more later...

Did MoFi do same or similar (digital transfer) at some point for their 'Original Master Recordings' since the late 70s?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Does playing the music at half-speed create more vocal-sibilance (esses).??

Otherwise that problem / argument would / could apply to any record cut to analog.?

Or have I got it the wrong way around? Is it going from the reel-to-reel deck to the lathe.?

No, playing at half-speed doesn't create more ssss but you can't correct it at half -speed.

Almost all the HSM records I've owned/heard have had weird tonal balances - from boosted highs and lows to ridiculous bass, all to compensate for tonal deficiencies that arise with HSM.

The mega-buck MoFi Beatles sounded worse than the NZ EMI blue box.

My remaining MoFi's are Aimee Mann Lost In Space which sounds better on CD than MoFi, Al Stewart Year of the Cat and Fleetwood Mac Mirage - my NZ copies sound better.

Might have one or two others, CBS, Nautilus.

The last HSM I listened to was the re-issue of The Who Live At Leeds - mediocre, no bass, no energy, no buy !

Geez. Oh well, thanks. That's interesting, if not amazing. 👍

I need to make a start, going through my 'inherited' / donated jazz LPs. But, although I found 1 great recording early in, I really need to do something about my set up - I have the same problem as someone else I saw online in that I find the stock Denon DL-103 sounds way too boring / bland. But that's another story.

Dec 29, 2020 9:27:37 GMT 12 michaelw said:

more later...

Very interesting.

Dec 29, 2020 14:52:23 GMT 12 rmc001 said:

Geez. Oh well, thanks. That's interesting, if not amazing. 👍

I need to make a start, going through my 'inherited' / donated jazz LPs. But, although I found 1 great recording early in, I really need to do something about my set up - I have the same problem as someone else I saw online in that I find the stock Denon DL-103 sounds way too boring / bland. But that's another story.

DL-103 boring/bland? Somethings wrong with your system then !

I guess we get to a stage where a thread is thrashed to death but I do think that alot of these ideas are good for marketing and sales... Do they actually sound better...or just different?!
And to make a proper judgement you would need to both copies of the same disk available at the same time..Not something I could be bothered with. But hey if the label says its half speed mastered and it cost more than the standard version then it MUST sound better..

Dec 29, 2020 14:52:23 GMT 12 rmc001 said:

Geez. Oh well, thanks. That's interesting, if not amazing. 👍

I need to make a start, going through my 'inherited' / donated jazz LPs. But, although I found 1 great recording early in, I really need to do something about my set up - I have the same problem as someone else I saw online in that I find the stock Denon DL-103 sounds way too boring / bland. But that's another story.

If you have inherited some HSM, sell 'em for $$$ 

Denon 103 shouldn't sound boring, if anything they are a little too exciting.

Dec 29, 2020 9:27:37 GMT 12 michaelw said:

more later...

Thanks for the insight!

As soon as i understood that the source (tape) had to be played back at half speed, I grokked potential problems, esp. in HF.

Cassette tape a miracle with metal & chrome at 1 7/8" ps, I had but sold off some old RTR decks at 3 3/4" & 7 1/2" per second, even had a Tascam 32 1/2 track that went to 15" per second, but if mastering tapes are at 30" per second but replayed at 15", are we losing HF?

Sstill not ssure why that would add to ssilibantss.

I'll get around to inspecting the flacs I have.

HSM doesn't add hiss but makes it hard to remove.

I have an open mind on the subject and have several that sound pretty good and a better buy than trying to find good originals. (First two Roxy Music lps for example)

Anyway just for Michael an interview with the devil himself 🤣
www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/miles-showell-abbey-road-dire-straits-mark-knopfler-remasters-interview/

Thanks for the interesting read.

BIA = zzzzz

Local Hero is where my eyes lit up.
He used JVC digital backup tapes copied from 3M 32-track ?

That should set off alarm bells, the original was recorded on a Nagra 4.2L analogue tape recorder and a good copy of the LP has a wonderful immediacy and tubey richness.
I've got an early UK copy but even local NZ copies share those qualities.

Roxy fan too, First 7 UK box is a good sounding set

Since replaced with a Studio Albums set with Avalon, also by Mr Showell with variable results from OK to yuk.

I read it that they bypassed the JVC tape as being inferior and got a direct transfer from the 3M tape, a much better source.
One of the biggest problems I see now is either (a) finding original tapes or (b) actually getting access to those tapes.

I never bothered with the Roxy reissue box as I lost interest after Eno left.
Saw them live in London either 1976 or '77 when Ferry was in his army fatigues phase. Don't think I've ever seen anyone quite as awkward on stage but despite that an enjoyable show.

One thing with the first two Roxy half speed reissues is that the jackets while good quality are slightly oversize so regular clear covers don't fit.

Roxy Music - Roxy Music

www.discogs.com/Roxy-Music-Roxy-Music/release/10566095

Ah yes, 3M over JVC but still digital

Record companies are full of it when it comes to original masters.

Eg.1 the Rhino Doors box was digital, the original analogue masters being deemed un-usable, but a few years later Chad Kassem managed to get his hands on them for his Doors re-issues.

Eg.2 Beatles stereo remasters cut from 44.1/24 digital but sanity prevailed with the follow-up Mono remasters being AAA.
Curiously the remastered Red and Blue stereo compilation albums were AAA.



$$$$$$$ talks ?

Mar 21, 2021 8:28:48 GMT 12 cooksferry said:

www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/miles-showell-abbey-road-dire-straits-mark-knopfler-remasters-interview/

This caught my eye in that link:

"Thankfully, when they put together the masters for Brothers In Arms, they used Sony tape. In those days, there was no easy digital medium to play it on, so what they would do was convert the digital signal into a video picture, and the video recorded had enough bandwidth to capture the signal. "

That reminded me that I still have an old (very obsolete now) cheap impulse TM purchase, a Sony PCM-501ES.

There were later models, up to Sony PCM-701ES?

They recorded audio digitally on to VHS tape. My recollection is that the early AD converters used that (sorry to be vague) system whereby the audio was chopped into left and right, like some early dual band oscilloscopes, and early CD players, maybe someone can clarify that.

Might have been improved into true dual channel in the 701ES.

Here's a link or two on that sort of technology:

wiki2.org/en/Sony_PCM-501ES_digital_audio_processor

recording.org/threads/sony-pcm-501es-digital-audio-processor.30798/

Well, I think mine works, and I have a bunch of NOS VHS tapes, but what to use it for?

Maybe it would be useful for a band recording a long jam demo, but modern digital technology makes it obsolete.

Maybe it can be stripped and used as a project chassis? At the moment it's on a shelf in the wardrobe. Among other old devices.

Cheers! ;-)

Keep it original as an example of man's digital follies

Mar 22, 2021 17:16:58 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Keep it original as an example of man's digital follies

Yeah thanks;- even as I wrote that, I thought it the better course.

I could offer it on TM with a bunch of VHS tapes included for ... someone, perhaps!