It was openly admitted at the time But they dubbed the original master tapes at half speed to digital 44k and cut the lp at half speed from the 44k tape, hence them claiming that at full speed it was like 88k digital I think even Greg Schnitzer mentioned it in one of his interviews

They knew when to hold em'...

I'm sure Fremer was able to hear it back then

Hmmm... 🤔

Very interesting. I recently acquired this Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits Mofi. I think it sounds really great to be honest. It doesn’t sound digital to me!

Makes me wonder what else they might have done this type of work on back then? Obviously, and besides the MoFi people, nobody ever knew about it or could tell. So it didn't really make any big difference it seems. But it does make me wonder if they did something like this on their 1982 pressing of Journey's 1981 Escape album or many of the other albums they did back then 🤔 I've always wanted to find a copy of that Journey album but people charge ridiculous prices for it (like $1,500 to $3000). It'd be kind of funny to spend that kind of money and then find out it was digitally remastered or cut. Not to say I would ever come close to paying that kind of ridiculous money for the album either 🙂 Brian in Fort Worth 🎶

When was Kenny Rogers on A&M? That hits set was from Liberty Records, which soon folded and was handled by Capitol/EMI, then he signed a record contract with RCA (breaking a then-huge contract they just signed with Diana Ross, who left Motown after an then-ugly fallout with Motown) and his career remained very strong with more huge hits, tours and more classics. Guess the Blu-ray Audio and SA0-CD DARK SIDE releases are form that MOFI version?

What's their problem with cutting it directly from the tape besides being lazy?😮

I find it funny that about all the hysteria about this digital step MoFi uses. I own plenty of MoFi recordings and they sound wonderful! If you want to send all of your MoFi recordings back go ahead Mine sound great and I’ll be keeping mine A lot of this is unnecessary hysteria among audiophiles

MoFi cassettes were "1 to 1 real time dubs" on Scotch chrome tapes. The BVH-1000 was a professional 1-inch helical scan videotape format used in television production. I believe the specs on the Sony PCM-1600 recorder were greater than the consumer oriented PCM-F1. On MoFi did releases a handful of music on pre-recorded VHS digital audio tapes and Panasonic had made a VHS player to play those tapes.

Good Work Steve✨😀

So interesting. Can you add a link to the original article. Seems like it’s less a digital caper and more of a way to push Sony into improving they’re technology sooner

Steve I just got a copy of Kenny’s greatest hits how ironic

Interesting sleuthing Steve. I think in the end…if they standup and sound good…. Who cares. All sorts of silliness occurred with tape and vinyl too. It’s a messy process to get from artist to your device in your home. Lots of trickery. I am ok with it…. As long as it sounds great to me. Most mofi sound excellent…. All mediums have problems. Those ticks that Allan mentioned is a great example. Without digital you couldn’t fix that. This is why we have many many pressings. Lots of people and different problem solving along the way. Fun stuff. Another thing to note is that the older PCM machines were not from these “chip” based PCM. The old ones like the Telarc sound stream….. actually sound like analog. Digital done right is pretty darn good

50,000 Beatles fans can’t be wrong

If it’s true that the Kenny Rogers album has a digital step then it sounds terrible. But if it isn’t true then it sounds great. Once I know for sure I can tell you definitively how the record sounds.

I read the description of the album in the pre-order on the InGroove website site that the channels were corrected on this new release.

I have that MoFI and it sounds absolutely fantastic. It doesn’t sound digital or in any way compromised.

In fairness to MOFI, in 1980 or 1981 the transfer of individual analog tracks via a digital intermediary step to an analog medium (vinyl LP) would probably have been hailed as sonic wizardry. Digital recording and mastering were still quite new to most music consumers at that time, and widely seen as a step in the right direction away from noisy vinyl and shite pressings. That's not to diminish the importance of transparency, but the now widespread obsession with AAA as a kind of sonic holy grail is relatively new.

Hopefully you did your research & checked the source. A good idea would be to contact Kevin Gray, he cut the 2003 DSOTM reissues from the original master tapes?

Very interesting Steve. My interpretation of what he said about the Beatles albums was that there were 25,000 cut for the box sets. Because all the albums were also sold as single copies as well , then more were cut, probably bringing the total cut to 50,000 for each album. As for multiple copies of the low numbered box sets, didn't the same thing happen with the original Apple releases of 'The White Album'. It is rumoured that there were multiple copies of the range 1-10 .....

Fun to know “behind the scenes.” For me, if the music sounds enjoyable that is what matters 😊

mind blown 😮

Now the cat is out of the bag, Mofi already “led people behind the spruce” over 40 years ago😂. Does that change anything? Do albums with a digital step now suddenly sound worse? If I spend a lot of money, then I want a very good sounding record. It doesn't matter how this is achieved. Most of the time, Mofi's sound has worked. So be happy about good sounding albums and stop whining. If you feel like shit😖, then just don't buy the stuff.

I find anything related to vinyl reproduction to be very interesting. Love to find pressings that sound audiophile quality.

I wonder if this is what gave them the idea all those years later….

Interesting westman.

This was really interesting, thanks for the information and video Steve. Now I have to go listen to my mofi dsotm album and gold cd...cheers ✌️

Oh my god is this channel becoming so redundant.

I pre-ordered Abraxas.

What? MoFi has Abraxas‘ channels reversed. Interesting ! Can’t they even get that right? Low down on my list of preferred reissue companies. Thanks for letting us know. Another good reason to avoid.

Is the original version from the UK better than the original version from the US? Is that what Patrick is saying?

In the Green Day cover vein from 1973 National Lampoon-Lemmins, amazing cover, recorded by Bruce Botnick with Chevy Chase and John Belushi, great parady of Woodstock.

No.

RL talked about the number of records he cut of LZ 11 and Houses of the Holly. The original classic reissue comes very close. The difference of course is the tape was fresher, sound more immediate and John’s drumming just keeps out at you. Either one great demo discs for anyone not familiar with these cuts.

7+gmju07? 6

I don't know its provenance, but the 2010 Ron McMaster (who I normally do not like) did The Stooges Funhouse, and IIRC it sounds pretty good. (in 2010 he did do an all analog pressing of Black Sabbath S/T, so maybe this one is all analog too)

The Kevin Gray Jackpot pressing of The Electric Prunes is excellent!

The MFSL Dead Can Dance sounds blood amazing! I got it in trade along with a pristine UK R.A.Y.E.S pressing of Permanent Waves and a nice 1st Cannonball Adderley album all for a really DULL sounding DCC Aqualung which everyone (but me) loves... 😁

I really love Cream, and I most HIGHLY recommend the Abbey Road mono Disraeli Gears, which is super unusual for me. But, apparently the mono master sounds a LOT better than the stereo master even though I would normally prefer Psychedelic stuff (like Hendrix/Beatles) in stereo. BTW, I listened to that live concert from the box set you showed, and just for me personally you know what REALLY pissed me off! Clapton did not use a wah wah pedal ONE damn time in the whole concert, and Bro, being a guitar player myself, that was one of the things that made him such a Guitar God back then. I never really cared much for what he morphed into later on. But, the fact that in that whole concert with all those great Cream classics he didn't use the classic wah wah one time completely disqualified this concert album, which is a real shame... Zeppelin's 2008 UK concert 3-LP album though was THE BOMB!

I did some research and I found this, I can't verify it, but here it is: Almost all of the half-speed mastered CBS Mastersounds are analog. They have the blue label on the front jacket. The red label ones are digital, and less valuable. Bro, this album sounds *WAY* too good, especially if it was made in 1981. There is no F'n way this is digital in any way, not from back then. BTW... the median price is about $75.

Makes fun of the Mariah Carey album then proceeds to show Sabrina Carpenter :0 Then Steve and his Where’s Waldo Black Sabbath Green Day connections. The Dad Joke Guy of the VC. 🤓 ;) Fun video guys👍🏻 New Music… Tim since you enjoy new/new-ish music you should check out “Iron And Wine” latest album. He does a cut with Fionna Apple that is really nice. For Beach Boys fans the last two Lemon Twigs lps are great. I wouldn’t say they are sonic wonders but the production is acceptable. For old school, check out the new Lenny Kravitz. Good stuff imo. The Doors LA Woman… The vocals are clearer on the UHQR LA Woman for basically the same reason we are hearing detail on many other audiophile remasterings. Upper Midrange bump. Though mastering chain changes might be coming into play it is mainly eq choices. Unfortunately what I am also hearing is harshness, such as with the cymbals. Everything sounds a bit too forward imo. Not as bad as with the Rhino HiFi’s but yeah. Low end sacrifice with hyper detail applies here as Tim was mentioning concerning eq choices. On the otherhand, the AP 45 while eq’d better imo is 1.5 db louder. Which plays into the snake oil of 45’s sounding better. Maybe that is why that Van Morrison GHs sounds so good to you Steve, its just louder. Not sure I would pay $125.00 for a GH that probably is impressive simply due to increased volume. Been fairly disappointed with many of the new audiophile reissues for the choices in eq and the hyper detail trend. Hoping they will jump off of that train and back into musicality/tonality focus. Jazz is still kickin it though. Some great sounding reissues there by KG and BG. ABACK-sus… Steve, if want to hear an outstanding version of Abraxas, and I had almost forgotten about this one, try locating the old SACD. One of the best DSD stereo transfers. The detail and soundstage are really something else. Absolutely one of the best examples of what digital can do done correctly. Plus there are 3 live bonus tracks. Cavaet: It is a single layer. So you have to have SACD capability such as with an Oppo or Universal player if you do not have a dedicated SACD player. Speaking of digital, if you want a fantastic version that sounds tonally close to the UK lp, the MFSL gold cd is very close. Not the original MFSL gold but the one after. I am mentioning these because they can usually be picked up cheap. CBS Half-Speeds… I think I have mentioned this before but for the most part they are to be avoided. A crapshoot at best. Why? The story goes that CBS wanted to get in on the “audiophile” train but did it pretty shabbily. How? They cut discs at half speed but didn’t adjust the eq or the Dolby down an octave. They cut them at half with mastering notes in real time. Bad idea. Really wonky sound for many of them. The corrected WYWH is the exception. The corrected one mind you. So that is why to avoid the CBS Half-Speeds. They got too big for their mastering britches on that series. You want to hear how badly these can get check out Born To Run. As with any label there are exceptions. Blood On The Tracks is a pretty good listen and the cool thing is it is the only version that has the speed correct. All other versions are slightly fast. Beck’s Mellow Gold remastered for audiophile would be killer. As would Faith No More!

You faked me out with the Maria Carry UHQR. lol.

I looked on the MoFi site and no sign of Mariah...

You guys come across as a couple of snobs on this one. Michael T you asked who would pay $125 ? Go back to a lot of the jazz stuff you guys are always raving about. I have no interest in this as a High Fidelity record myself but I would imagine there are people who are. Not everything has to be classic rock or jazz titles that have been done to death

I will sell Patrick my stinky foam.

If you like the classic style christmas music dont sleep on the Ray Coniff 180gram christmas vinyl coming out in the next months. Old school classic xmas songs. My family plays it every year.

Nice score on the Led Zeppelin RL. I just went there on Thursday and it was not in the new arrival then and Harry went on Friday and it was in the either.🎉🎉🎉

Normally you may play a Christmas album while having friends and family over, so can you imagine flipping a 45 RPM over for Christmas music?! Too bad it was not the opposite with the 45 RPM being the One-Step, because the 33 RPM would sell out as a 60$ Supervinyl record. Then again, get the SACD and hit play and enjoy company! Cheers

Check out the Mofi release MFSL1-524, Santana Caravanserai. It sounds so magnificent‼️