The Blue Note Thread

Caught up on the Hoffman thread on the Tone Poets. Joe Harley stopped in to let everyone know that the popping issue on the Gil Evan's record has been caught and fixed and any new pressings should not have it. Glad this is the one I decided to wait on! He also talked more about a video (documentary?) that is being produced on the process of producing the Tone Poets. Here's the whole post if anyone is interested:

This is the case. I spent the day out at RTI today doing more filming but also having very productive meetings with plant managers. You'll eventually see the QC process on the Tone Poet series in action in this video. Several layers of visual and audio inspection are always in place at RTI. Believe me, the people at RTI want every pressing to be perfect, that is always the goal and they are constantly evolving their systems to catch any defects. (They just instituted even more layers of QC over the past few weeks.) But we are still talking about very little that is automated. QC involves eyes on for many people and the presses themselves require continual maintenance and tweaking since they are 20+ years old in most cases. It's never a case of "set and forget". In the case of the two ticks on the Gil Evans record, I brought my own copy out to have it examined. (I have 3 copies of Gil ... 2 are fine and 1 has the two ticks. They test pressings were perfect.) They were way ahead of me since they already identified where it was and why it happened. An imperfection developed on one of the stampers after roughly 425 LPs had been stamped. (FYI stampers get changed after approx 500 pressings so every album has multiple stampers.) This defect was so small that it could not be seen by the QC people. And the QC person who spot checks pressings from every stamper got one before the defect developed. (I could not see it either until I looked under a magnifier.) By the time I raised a ruckus about this several weeks ago they were already well into using a new stamper which had no defects. As near as we can determine, around 50 or 60 of a run of 5K had the two ticks. RTI is pressing more now since that first run ran out and I listened while I was out there today. Everything sounded great.

But going through the entire process, as you'll eventually see in the film, was a reminder of how much human factor is involved with all pressing plants, from the plating process, through pressing and right down to the packaging. (Records get rejected at the packaging stage as well if the person inserting LPs into their sleeves spots something. ) These people TRULY care about what they are doing. But the fact remains that, on occasion, defects get through. I've been at this for many, many years (I'm 67) and it's just the nature of the beast. And having worked with many other plants I can tell you that, to date, RTI presses better sounding and more defect-free pressing than anyone else I'm aware of, especially if you remain (as I do) in regular contact with the principals. Plating is another area that really doesn't get the press attention it should. Plating is an ART and it can make or break the quality of the pressing you receive. Dorin Sauerbier at RTI is one of the best, possibly THE best plating man in the business. This guy is obsessed with what he does and his quest for perfection is uncommon. You'll see all of this in the film but I'll say there is a reason why so many use his services. You'll notethat for the BN 80 releases we have Dorin do the plating, even though the pressings are done by Optimal. He's my guy, 100%.
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VMP's pressing of Kingmaker is now available to anyone, not just VMP members.

app.vinylmeplease.com

KingMaker

The debut LP from the latest virtuosic vibraphonist signed to the legendary Blue Note records. We have this on off-white vinyl.
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johnpisme said:
Caught up on the Hoffman thread on the Tone Poets. Joe Harley stopped in to let everyone know that the popping issue on the Gil Evan's record has been caught and fixed and any new pressings should not have it. Glad this is the one I decided to wait on! He also talked more about a video (documentary?) that is being produced on the process of producing the Tone Poets. Here's the whole post if anyone is interested:
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Very cool quote, thanks for sharing. I've been dipping into that thread... Worth reading it? There's a lot of posts now...
 
johnpisme said:
Caught up on the Hoffman thread on the Tone Poets. Joe Harley stopped in to let everyone know that the popping issue on the Gil Evan's record has been caught and fixed and any new pressings should not have it. Glad this is the one I decided to wait on! He also talked more about a video (documentary?) that is being produced on the process of producing the Tone Poets. Here's the whole post if anyone is interested:
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Are they sending out new records to people who have faulty pressings? Mine has a nasty pop/skip and I was thinking about replacing it but I don’t want the same thing.
 
MattS said:
Spotted you on Reddit talking these up. Might have to splurge on that dexter Gordon
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When I have the knowledge, I’ll share it but I wasn’t about to let anyone buy a DOL or Waxtime pressing (forgot which, or are they one in the same?) when the recent AAA pressing is only $6-7 more.
johnpisme said:
Well, I got tracking info for the order with the second copy in it before Carol responded to my email about the issue so I might be taking you up on this!
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Let me know!
This album means a lot to me now actually. The week my cat was in the hospital, a few weeks back, I streamed this album on the way there and back most days, and nights as they had visiting hours from 1-3am. Besides the obvious powerhouse that is “Free For All,” I really fell in love with “Pensativa.” That keep me in decent spirits when everything else seemed to be turning to shit. What a lovely, uplifting tune.

Fortunately, everything turned out okay thus far, but I need that album to commemorate that weird, rough time.
 
Dark Star Boogie said:
When I have the knowledge, I’ll share it but I wasn’t about to let anyone buy a DOL or Waxtime pressing (forgot which, or are they one in the same?) when the recent AAA pressing is only $6-7 more.

Let me know!
This album means a lot to me now actually. The week my cat was in the hospital, a few weeks back, I streamed this album on the way there and back most days, and nights as they had visiting hours from 1-3am. Besides the obvious powerhouse that is “Free For All,” I really fell in love with “Pensativa.” That keep me in decent spirits when everything else seemed to be turning to shit. What a lovely, uplifting tune.

Fortunately, everything turned out okay thus far, but I need that album to commemorate that weird, rough time.
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Man, that's rough. My dog died in Novembet and it wrecked me for a long time. Glad the music helped! My tactic was to further drown in sorrow with songs like "I love my dog" and that Harry Nilsson song about puppies. Probably not as healthy!
 
Listened to the chic corea tone poet for the first time and enjoyed it a lot. I love the breakneck speed and all these different structure being explored and how after the title track in "now he beats the drum" it gets mellow and morre traditional sounding for a while.
 
johnpisme said:
Caught up on the Hoffman thread on the Tone Poets. Joe Harley stopped in to let everyone know that the popping issue on the Gil Evan's record has been caught and fixed and any new pressings should not have it. Glad this is the one I decided to wait on! He also talked more about a video (documentary?) that is being produced on the process of producing the Tone Poets. Here's the whole post if anyone is interested:
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing this. I tend to dip in and out of the Hoffman thread but it moves at such speed stuff often gets buried.

Whilst im here, if anyone knows of a good UK/European deal on the following Tone Poets it would be much appreciated:
Gil Evans – New Bottle Old Wine
Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2
Lee Morgan – Cornbread

Cheers
 
Selaws said:
Thanks for sharing this. I tend to dip in and out of the Hoffman thread but it moves at such speed stuff often gets buried.

Whilst im here, if anyone knows of a good UK/European deal on the following Tone Poets it would be much appreciated:
Gil Evans – New Bottle Old Wine
Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2
Lee Morgan – Cornbread

Cheers
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Same here! Can't find any of these records under ±35€, I saw a Wayne Shorter for the first time this week-end, priced 39,99€. Meanwhile, the Lou Donaldson one we ordered through Amazon.fr at 27,99€ got delayed to June 21st.
 
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