Definitive Audiophile pressings

Atvinyl said:
Bruce has disappeared?
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Heaven or Las Diaper Baby said:
Catching up....I know it's not on the list anymore but I don't see titles references...what Bruce did MOFI have listed?

Those Joni's...I've got all the recent Rhino REs (not the box), plus the recent CD box, plus OGs of all but Blue (only have the 2007 RTI but I've no complaints). So, at $125/piece plus the shelf space those boxes demands, it's a pass on all of them, even the ones that I really love (looking at you Hejira). However I will grab them all on SACD.
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His first two albums as one steps.
 
Okay I've got a matrix question for you guys. So I've got two different pressings of Wish You Were Here. Both are the CBS Half Speed Mastersound series. One is the 1980 US Pressing, the other is the 1980 Canadian Pressing. The US Pressing has the matrix "HAL 33453 2AD IT" on Side 1 and "HBL 33453 2AB IT o" on side 2. My Canadian pressing has the matrix "APH(C)-5000-A H̶̶̶A̶̶̶L̶̶̶3̶̶̶3̶̶̶4̶̶̶5̶̶̶3̶̶̶-̶̶̶2̶̶̶H̶̶̶ DM 17". But they sound different in terms of EQ, even though it appears the Canadian pressing is just using the 33453 plates. How does this work? If the Canadian matrix shows the same US plates matrix but crossed out, is it the same plates or what?
 
Mather said:
Okay I've got a matrix question for you guys. So I've got two different pressings of Wish You Were Here. Both are the CBS Half Speed Mastersound series. One is the 1980 US Pressing, the other is the 1980 Canadian Pressing. The US Pressing has the matrix "HAL 33453 2AD IT" on Side 1 and "HBL 33453 2AB IT o" on side 2. My Canadian pressing has the matrix "APH(C)-5000-A H̶̶̶A̶̶̶L̶̶̶3̶̶̶3̶̶̶4̶̶̶5̶̶̶3̶̶̶-̶̶̶2̶̶̶H̶̶̶ DM 17". But they sound different in terms of EQ, even though it appears the Canadian pressing is just using the 33453 plates. How does this work? If the Canadian matrix shows the same US plates matrix but crossed out, is it the same plates or what?
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Are the "HAL 33453" etched exactly the same? I wouldn't think they would be the same plates, but it's possible.

But if one is "HAL 33453" and the other is "H̶̶̶A̶̶̶L̶̶̶3̶̶̶3̶̶̶4̶̶̶5̶̶̶3̶̶̶", with no gap, then they aren't from the same plates.


My experience with a few different CBS Half Speed Mastersound series releases is that they really aren't that good.


The Mastersound of Born To Run sounds muddy compared to the WLP...and the promo has a bit of surface noise in parts, but it still sounds a lot better to me.
 
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Mather said:
Okay I've got a matrix question for you guys. So I've got two different pressings of Wish You Were Here. Both are the CBS Half Speed Mastersound series. One is the 1980 US Pressing, the other is the 1980 Canadian Pressing. The US Pressing has the matrix "HAL 33453 2AD IT" on Side 1 and "HBL 33453 2AB IT o" on side 2. My Canadian pressing has the matrix "APH(C)-5000-A H̶̶̶A̶̶̶L̶̶̶3̶̶̶3̶̶̶4̶̶̶5̶̶̶3̶̶̶-̶̶̶2̶̶̶H̶̶̶ DM 17". But they sound different in terms of EQ, even though it appears the Canadian pressing is just using the 33453 plates. How does this work? If the Canadian matrix shows the same US plates matrix but crossed out, is it the same plates or what?
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Holy shit. He wrote this at 2:14 a.m. @Mather is actually losing sleep over finding the perfect pressing of WYWH. ;)
 
LeeVing said:
Are the "HAL 33453" etched exactly the same? I wouldn't think they would be the same plates, but it's possible.

But if one is "HAL 33453" and the other is "H̶̶̶A̶̶̶L̶̶̶3̶̶̶3̶̶̶4̶̶̶5̶̶̶3̶̶̶", with no gap, then they aren't from the same plates.


My experience with a few different CBS Half Speed Mastersound series releases is that they really aren't that good.


The Mastersound of Born To Run sounds muddy compared to the WLP...and the promo has a bit of surface noise in parts, but it still sounds a lot better to me.
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So why do they cross out the previous matrix? Like what is the point of that if they're going to use their own matrix?
 
Mather said:
So why do they cross out the previous matrix? Like what is the point of that if they're going to use their own matrix?
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My guess would be that it's a new plate made from the same mother. Maybe the difference in sound comes from the plate manufacturing process itself? Or is the mastering sound that different to make you think it comes from a completely new lacquer?
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Pretty sure NightMather has created his own pressing plant just to mess with you
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Well I've never really understood how the matrix numbers work. And this particular series has about a zillion different variations on two main numbers 33453 and 43453, and then a Canadian version which has the crossed out 33453. So I'm just trying to wrap my head around why the different numbers are used and why you would bother crossing out a previous matrix code. What that denotes.
 
Turbo said:
My guess would be that it's a new plate made from the same mother. Maybe the difference in sound comes from the plate manufacturing process itself? Or is the mastering sound that different to make you think it comes from a completely new lacquer?
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It sounds like a different EQ to me. That's what I find confusing in regards to plates and lacquers etc...
 
Mather said:
So why do they cross out the previous matrix? Like what is the point of that if they're going to use their own matrix?
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They messed up? A lot of times they don't know the cat # of a release when they are making the plates - at some point it could have still been 33453...the catalog # of this release in the US is "33453" with various prefixes depending on pricing changes or this half speed (PC, JC, HC)

But for it to be the same as the US pressing, the etching would have to be identical...or else its a different cut.

I would also think a Terre Haute US pressing - the "IT" US copy would sound different than the Don Mills pressing
 
Mather said:
Well I've never really understood how the matrix numbers work. And this particular series has about a zillion different variations on two main numbers 33453 and 43453, and then a Canadian version which has the crossed out 33453. So I'm just trying to wrap my head around why the different numbers are used and why you would bother crossing out a previous matrix code. What that denotes.
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The 43453 was for the various Mastersound releases. This is that version's catalog number.
 
LeeVing said:
They messed up? A lot of times they don't know the cat # of a release when they are making the plates - at some point it could have still been 33453...the catalog # of this release in the US is "33453" with various prefixes depending on pricing changes or this half speed (PC, JC, HC)

But for it to be the same as the US pressing, the etching would have to be identical...or else its a different cut.

I would also think a Terre Haute US pressing - the "IT" US copy would sound different than the Don Mills pressing
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Okay cool, interesting. The big thing with this release is that they messed up the half speed EQ initially, so they went back and fixed it and changed the matrix code from 33453 to 43453. And there's a zillion different variants due to using old jackets, etc. My Canadian pressing sounds like they adjusted the EQ, and it sports a lot of 43453 identifications on the label and jacket but not the barcode and not the etching. I just find it interesting.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I just discovered that Record City has a U.S. distribution site, which has a separate store on Discogs.

DubStoreUSA

www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
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Very cool.

Did a couple of comparisons, looking at what appear to be the same albums/pressings as listed on discogs and on Record City's website. Looks like the discogs prices are about $12 higher, though shipping on discogs is between $4.70-$5.50, which is lower than on the website (which starts at about $18 for the first record and then goes down as more records are added to the cart). Probably a wash in the long run. And I'm going to assume that either way, they're coming from Japan (as your 'U.S. distribution site' statement infers).
 
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Mather said:
Some of these prices are... very strange. Lots of new easily available wide release albums for like double the actual price.
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Yeah, though I don't look to RCJ for newer stuff, I have noticed their pricing on it, especially US releases, tends to be quite high. Something to do with the fact the US stuff is imports for them?
 
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