Date:         Sun, 7 Jan 2007 18:52:39 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: early CD bashing
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Hi Phillip:

All of what you said is true, but many if not most very early CD's were mastered poorly, often not 
from the original master tapes. Remember that the very first generation of CD's came from Japan and 
Germany, because that was where manufacturing plants were. Many masters were made from whatever 
master tape existed in-country, which was often not the original. I've been told numerous stories 
about what was used, and also how sloppy the mastering was in a rush to get as much product on the 
market as quickly as possible.

When the Mercury Living Presence reissue project started, it was definitely NOT the norm to track 
down original master tapes, play them back on restored original equipment (or an excellent, 
well-adjusted and skillfully-maintained modern substitute), and use a very direct chain from the 
tape to the digital master. And, requesting quality-control samples from every manufacturing line at 
the plant was unheard of. The rock and jazz guys felt much more free to turn knobs and adjust 
everything from EQ to dynamics between the tape and the digital master. Furthermore, they were 
content to master right into Sonic Solutions, which was not the practice for the MLP CD's (in all 
cases except where Sonic was absolutely necessary to fix various problems, they were mastered  Tape 
[Ampex 300-3]  >> 3-2 mixdown console [Westrex custom board] >> A-D converter [brand escapes me but 
it's British and I believe is 3 letters] >> Sony 3/4" digital mastering system). When this careful 
method of remastering paid big dividends from healthy returns on investment, other companies took 
notice and this became more the norm.

Yes, for sure, a few careful people had been doing this or something akin all along, but most of the 
big label folks were just sloppily rushing product to market. I'm not into conspiracy theories, but 
one could argue this was a calculated strategy to get a double-dip out of the CD medium -- do it 
really quick and dirty the first time and then go back 10 years later and do a "deluxe remaster" at 
a higher price point. I could rattle off a long list of albums for which this was done! In fact, I 
was just today comparing an original issue (1984) Led Zep CD with a recent reissue done right by 
Jimmy Page himself. The difference is amazing. The original CD sounded much worse to my ears than 
the original-era LP (dead-sounding, noisy, not enough bass, bad dynamics). All of that was fixed in 
the recent reissue and Page was still hearing-OK enough not to "toothpaste" the remaster with 
over-compression.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "phillip holmes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 5:48 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] early CD bashing


> I've had recent experiences where 20 year old CDs, that originally sounded like glass being ground 
> up in a blender, sound just fine.  I'm talking about CDs mastered in the mid '80s.  Many early CD 
> players had resolution closer to 14 bits than 16.  That was coupled with brick wall filters that 
> introduced phase shift in the audible spectrum (brick wall filters are dumb) and they had lots of 
> jitter.  Also, most were built with the same awful op-amps and tantalum/electrolytic coupling caps 
> that the cheapest consumer receivers used.  It's no wonder that folks damned the CD as an awful 
> medium.  It was at the time.  They were auditioned against four figure vinyl front ends through 
> ultra-fi preamps and amps that will show any shortcomings.  Many used ribbon tweeters (I have 
> Magnapans that use a 3' long true ribbon tweeter and it reveals mistracking and 
> distortio--ruthlessly).  But even cheap modern players can get decent sound out of those old CDs. 
> I have a friend who still has a modified Magnavox player from the late '80s.  The op-amp output 
> was replaced with discrete FETs and the power supply was modded with lower ESR caps and bypassed 
> with polypropylene caps.  It still plays fine and sounds nearly as good as my cheap combi-player. 
> Phillip
>