I became a serious vinyl convert less than a year ago and ever since have been buying records regularly to enlarge my collection. I listen almost exclusively to jazz and buy new reissues of jazz releases, most of them on Blue Note, but also Prestige, Riverside and Columbia.
To say that I am disappointed by the quality of the vinyl is an understatement. Virtually every record is warped, which I can live with, reluctantly. A bigger problem is the distortion that becomes more and more prevalent on reissues. It's a short buzzing sound, which sounds kind of like the sound of lost airwaves on the radio but higher in pitch. I know it's not my cart as I have records that sound perfect, and it's in the the same spot on faulty records so it must be a quality issue with transfer and manufacture.
I also own quite a few used original pressings or old reissues and none of them have a similar defect, which leads me to believe that it is a current problem with quality control. It is extremely frustrating as I've spent thousands of dollars on my rig and record cleaning machine only to spin warped records that sound distorted.
I know this topic has been discussed many times here on A-gon but I would actually like to do something about it. I know many designers and manufacturers read the forum, but it seems not record companies' reps as it's not getting any better. As a community of many thousands who pay a lot of money to indulge in our hobby and passion, I think we should be able to exert some level of pressure on companies like Blue Note to release products of high quality. I'm open to ideas and suggestions. Where I could, I emailed the record company, but Blue Note for example has not contact info at all. Also, I'm afraid single emails won't do much. |
