Vinyl Me Please Classics

Yeah my Nat second press was dished as well, but within tolerability (for me ~1mm). I plan on getting a Vinyl Flat and will likely use this as a test for dealing with minor dishing.

On a positive note, it seems like all Classics from now on will be AAA cuts, according to this post (which was probably already made here). No idea if QRP will be the vendor for pressing, but they’re preferable to GZ in my book.
 
zombie.modernist said:
Yeah my Nat second press was dished as well, but within tolerability (for me ~1mm). I plan on getting a Vinyl Flat and will likely use this as a test for dealing with minor dishing.

On a positive note, it seems like all Classics from now on will be AAA cuts, according to this post (which was probably already made here). No idea if QRP will be the vendor for pressing, but they’re preferable to GZ in my book.
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If the curation continues to hold up, that will keep me subscribed to Classics for the foreseeable future.
 
ChristoBee said:
If the curation continues to hold up, that will keep me subscribed to Classics for the foreseeable future.
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Agreed. It makes them competitive to the audiophile labels, with a more interesting catalog. Too bad the opposite approach is being taken for R&HH, with most of it being cut a GZ. I really wish they would just use a proper mastering studio for all lacquer work, regardless of source. Seems bizarre to me that two of this month’s cuts are AAA lacquers cut by one of the best engineers in the game, and the third is an assembly line GZ job.
 
zombie.modernist said:
Agreed. It makes them competitive to the audiophile labels, with a more interesting catalog. Too bad the opposite approach is being taken for R&HH, with most of it being cut a GZ. I really wish they would just use a proper mastering studio for all lacquer work, regardless of source. Seems bizarre to me that two of this month’s cuts are AAA lacquers cut by one of the best engineers in the game, and the third is an assembly line GZ job.
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I don't see how they can justify charging the same price down the line if this remains the case. I wonder if that means they are going to raise the price of classics or something to be closer to the Anthology price.
 
dhodo said:
Oops! Just being a pessimist. If I was an optimist I would hope that they would start applying the same mastering care to the hip hop track but I'm not surprised they seem to be playing into the stereotype that only people who listen to classics care about mastering.
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Could it also be that most hip hop is of the sort that it doesn't need remastering as much? I mean, I can't imagine the mixes on stuff from the 90's and on needs a huge upgrade compared to stuff from the 50's - 70's
 
VMPKJ said:
Could it also be that most hip hop is of the sort that it doesn't need remastering as much? I mean, I can't imagine the mixes on stuff from the 90's and on needs a huge upgrade compared to stuff from the 50's - 70's
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There is always a difference between mastering for cd/digital and mastering for and cutting to vinyl. I think GZ is probably doing this in house for VMP but it probably isn't on the same level as say a Kevin Gray or Ryan Sterling cut. It certainly doesn't cost the same. Have you heard the original Aquemini? It sounds great.
 
dhodo said:
There is always a difference between mastering for cd/digital and mastering for and cutting to vinyl. I think GZ is probably doing this in house for VMP but it probably isn't on the same level as say a Kevin Gray or Ryan Sterling cut. It certainly doesn't cost the same. Have you heard the original Aquemini? It sounds great.
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Yeah, exactly. The source itself probably won't benefit much from a "remaster" but the process by which that is cut to a disc will really dictate the ultimate sound.

To your point, hip-hop albums have the capacity to sound amazing on vinyl. As you say, the OG Aquemini is amazing. I have several OG pressing of 80s albums like Paid in Full, By All Means Necessary, Raising Hell, etc that all sound great as well. Some 90s and late 80s hip-hop albums were usually aimed for CD length, and so albums exceeding 45 minutes started to get crammed onto a single disc with a DMM cut. Lots of these still sound great though, as they went off to a competent mastering studios. Beyond the OutKast disc, my OG copies of Fear of a Black Planet and Midnight Marauders sound great despite the long side lengths and DMM cuts. Unfortunately I do not have many more 90s hip-hop albums as VG+ copies are rare as hell.

What bothers me about the use of GZ isn't that it's DMM (as hip-hop has a long history of good sounding DMM cuts) or that it's a digital source (most albums in the genre are probably digital only). Quite honestly, it's really just that a computer is making the EQ decisions, instead of a human with experience cutting the genre. GZ can do some good hip-hop stuff, but never have I preferred them over quality dedicated cuts from the past. To play devil's advocate a bad dedicated cut by a cheap studio is often worse, but as of now Classics is using Sterling who would do a great job with any of the rap albums.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
At this point they should copy the Run Out Groove model. Sell pre-orders for a limited time and then print up that many lps
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Lol, I was thinking the issue with that was the long lead time to get the actual LP, but it will take over a month to get the second press of these anyways. This is annoying as it’s supposed to be a “record of the month” not “record of an indeterminate time in the future”. At least ROG sets the expectation of a wait.

The swap model is clearly messing up the game as they can’t just make a hard line in the sand when the order “sells out” since they’re busy hoping for cancellations. It’s clear their projections are pretty poor based on how often they’re flabbergasted by desirable album sell-outs and slow moving overpriced exclusives.

Idk. It’s just very frustrating as most people here know since our complaints got the last place shuttered.
 
where did you hear that Outkast was oversold? Does it matter that my account was charged and that I added it the day it was announced?
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
At this point they should copy the Run Out Groove model. Sell pre-orders for a limited time and then print up that many lps
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zombie.modernist said:
Lol, I was thinking the issue with that was the long lead time to get the actual LP, but it will take over a month to get the second press of these anyways. This is annoying as it’s supposed to be a “record of the month” not “record of an indeterminate time in the future”. At least ROG sets the expectation of a wait.

The swap model is clearly messing up the game as they can’t just make a hard line in the sand when the order “sells out” since they’re busy hoping for cancellations. It’s clear their projections are pretty poor based on how often they’re flabbergasted by desirable album sell-outs and slow moving overpriced exclusives.

Idk. It’s just very frustrating as most people here know since our complaints got the last place shuttered.
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how hard is it to tell the system we have X number of items, once X minus holdbacks is met stop taking sign-ups and swap.
Ajax said:
where did you hear that Outkast was oversold? Does it matter that my account was charged and that I added it the day it was announced?
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You "should" have received an email if you have to wait until August
 
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