2. analog
  3. 1284407717

Anybody own any direct-to-disc LP's?

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I remember in the mid 70's direct-to-disc LP's were being touted. As I can remember, the concept sure sounded like a good idea. I was in college and had just bought my first receiver back then and could barely afford cut-outs or promotional LP's from my local record store. No way could I afford the premium prices for the direct to disc LP's. Decades later when I eventually found my way to high end audio, direct-to-disc had long vanished. Were they that good?
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128x128mitch4t
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t OP
1,602 posts
 
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It must be some other recording method. Susie Q was released several years before d2d was Introduced. Credence had already broken up by the time d2d arrived.
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johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
09-18-10: Sidssp
I didn't know the Creedence was D2D. I should check it out.
He didn't say it was. Just that their 45 rpm singles reissues sound the best he's heard.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
There are some D2D LPs with truly high quality music. The Harry James albums on Sheffield qualify. I also have a Sheffield D2D of Tower of Power. It's maybe not the best iteration of the band, but they're still very good and it's hard to beat a brass-driven funk band on D2D.

Another source of D2Ds in the '70s was American Grammophon. I have Buddy Rich's "Class of '78" in D2D. It was also released for less money as a direct transfer from the 2-track tape slaved to the console at the time of recording. I also have a D2D of Mel Torme with the Buddy Rich Band on the same label.

And speaking of Analogue Productions, they are currently making D2Ds of the old blues guys that they record at the very fair price of $25 each.

Interesting that this topic came up. The October issue of Abso!ute Sound (which I just got) has an interview with Doug Sax, who mastered all those D2Ds for Sheffield. He said the release of CD (because of the 96dB dynamic range, I s'pose) killed D2D almost overnight. But now that vinyl is making a comeback, he's busying with his mastering machines again.

Two reasons D2D would never become mass market are: 1) The band has to record a whole side well enough to be released. Not just a complete song, but the entire side. You can't stop and restart a master. Therefore the performing musicians must be at their best. 2) You can only make so many pressings from the master before it wears out. One time I heard a version of "Lincoln Mayorga and Friends Vol II" that sounded different from mine. They were playing the same songs and following the same charts, but the licks and improvisations were different. It turns out that the album was so popular (relative to its production numbers) that they repeated the album in another recording/mastering session.

Like Mitch4t, I was also in college when the Sheffields came out and was generally too poor to buy them. But I remember I got $15 or $20 in birthday money in 1973. I spent $10 ($47.75 in today's money) to get "Lincoln Mayorga and Friends vol ii" plus a Discwasher at $5. How's that for a budding audio geek? The year after I graduated from college (1975) I worked at the same audio store where I'd bought my Sheffields, and we played "Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker" so often to demo the hardware that I was absolutely tired of it, so I didn't buy it.

BTW, to answer the original question, yes, D2Ds were (are) that good. I'd say they are probably the best-sounding format ever produced for home consumption (in other words, 30ips 1/2" master tape doesn't count), and only a few of the most recent audiophile remasters can equal (or slightly exceed) them. I have the ORG 2-LP edition of Diana Krall's "All For You," and it ranks with the best reproduced sound I've ever heard at home.
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