Was looking at mark knopfler's local hero half speed Master on Amazon, $38. Already have 2 original copies. For the price, I might take a chance on it. I would have to agree, better records is great! The packaging top notch. I believe I now have at least 20 records from them by now....
Half speed masters. Are they worth the extra scratch?
I just purchased a Dire Straits Brothers in Arms half speed master. I'm using a Pioneer PL530 TT. Can this album be played successfully on my TT? I put it on 45 rpm but there is no way to tell if it is spinning at the right speed. The speed control is working but not keeping a steady reading like when I play a normal 33 record. It sounds good but I'm wondering if they should be played on a different table. Also is it worth it to pay extra money for these? I payed 50$ for this album. Thanks for any information.
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I've got a half speed master of The Police ’Ghost In The Machine’. The drum intro for ’Spirits In The Material Wild’ will knock your socks off. You hear the air and decay on the drums. Impact and attack is startling to say the least...the toms sound like they were in the room. I think having a dialed in Technics 1200G with a nice microline stylus certainly helps. But yeah, well worth the little hit in cost. |
I've mastered a handful of releases at half speed, have one to do in 2 weeks time for a composer from the Bavarian State Opera who's completed a modern chamber music / electronic hybrid 2xLP. I find that works with vast dynamics suit half speed, as well as very quiet works where surface noise is a real threat, not to mention pre-delay. And then there is DMM. There was a moment after the Apollo Pressing plant burned down where it was assumed there'd be an uptick in DMM, but thankfully none of my business was with Apollo so I got out unscathed. However, there are still DMM diehards, if you can find the machinery. I recently saw this article (below) and this studio offers DMM dubplates for 700eu! Not to say I don't have $1000+ records and loads of one-off dublplates, but nothing this extreme and purist! Might have to try it someday. https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/copper-listens-to-copper-stockfisch-records-dmm-dubplate-vol-... |
Tom Port got after me about some of the misinformation above. No, not mine. Others. He has a point. But the parts I explained are perfectly clear, and true. Rather than try and set the record straight let me just say not everything claimed to be from the original master, or half speed mastered, or whatever, actually is as claimed. For example, an "Original Master Recording" from MoFi so hilariously obviously NOT from the original master- Al Stewart Year of the Cat - was so bad it did not even have the piano in the beginning of On the Border, at all. By "at all" I mean "at all". Not buried deep down in the mix. Not muffled hard to make out. "AT ALL!" This particular pressing was so bad I sent it to Tom just to play, to show anyone just how truly awful a reissue can be. I have a very normal beat up and played a lot average vintage copy that is light years better than this MoFi. Tom sold me a White Hot Stamper and you better believe it is light years better than my average vintage copy. There are so many steps in the chain, so many opportunities for dreck to creep in, it is a miracle there are any good records out there at all. In any format. With LP, add to that the challenge of squishing plastic into grooves the size of a organic molecule. No wonder the only way to know for sure is to drop the needle and listen. That is what Tom Port does every day. If you really care about sound quality that is what you will do too. Or pay Tom to do it for you. That you can rely on. Labels that say half speed mastered, audiophile, original master, etc, those you cannot rely on. At all. |
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