I don’t think it has to do with digital mastering but the quality of the pressings. A friend who is a distributor was going to market with a new album that was in demand; it was pressed at United for the States and Optimal for EU. He chose the Optimal pressings to sell based on his experience.
I don’t buy much new vinyl and what I do buy comes from a variety of sources- from audiophile labels like MoFi and Speakers Corner- as well as a lot of non-audiophile music that can be pressed almost anywhere. Quality does vary and I have gotten a few defective discs, but I suspect that’s the norm. I’ve gotten clean playing records from GZ, Record Industry and others that aren’t necessarily considered top tier because they use digital sources for the most part.
Old records are great but condition is the devil- most sellers overgrade-
Recently, I’ve been finding dead stock of records-- I guess you could called them ’sealed’ but its just old inventory that was never played. Some going back to the early ’70s. Some even on really thin vinyl that sounds great.
I think you have to avoid the hype of 180 gram "from the analog masters" (which is meaningless- it could be a digital master taken from some tape copy). For Zep, I thought those reissues done what- 2014 or so-- were generally pretty good. (I bought three of them just to see what they were about and got rid of them in favor of preferred old copies but don’t remember having any QC problems).
If you are buying new, it makes sense to buy from a source that enables a return (and possibly reimburses you for return shipping or provides a prepaid mailing label). For out of print, that may not be possible.
The crinkle sound could also be static- something pretty common in the winter with central heating.
And cleaning of course. I don't buy into the 'mold release' issue but a lot of inner liners shed, and just handling and exposing a record to a normal non-clean room environment (when it wasn't made in a clean room to begin with) means there are little dust nits and particles that collect on the surface, especially if the record suffers a static charge. Look at the surface in good light.
I don’t buy much new vinyl and what I do buy comes from a variety of sources- from audiophile labels like MoFi and Speakers Corner- as well as a lot of non-audiophile music that can be pressed almost anywhere. Quality does vary and I have gotten a few defective discs, but I suspect that’s the norm. I’ve gotten clean playing records from GZ, Record Industry and others that aren’t necessarily considered top tier because they use digital sources for the most part.
Old records are great but condition is the devil- most sellers overgrade-
Recently, I’ve been finding dead stock of records-- I guess you could called them ’sealed’ but its just old inventory that was never played. Some going back to the early ’70s. Some even on really thin vinyl that sounds great.
I think you have to avoid the hype of 180 gram "from the analog masters" (which is meaningless- it could be a digital master taken from some tape copy). For Zep, I thought those reissues done what- 2014 or so-- were generally pretty good. (I bought three of them just to see what they were about and got rid of them in favor of preferred old copies but don’t remember having any QC problems).
If you are buying new, it makes sense to buy from a source that enables a return (and possibly reimburses you for return shipping or provides a prepaid mailing label). For out of print, that may not be possible.
The crinkle sound could also be static- something pretty common in the winter with central heating.
And cleaning of course. I don't buy into the 'mold release' issue but a lot of inner liners shed, and just handling and exposing a record to a normal non-clean room environment (when it wasn't made in a clean room to begin with) means there are little dust nits and particles that collect on the surface, especially if the record suffers a static charge. Look at the surface in good light.
