Jeff Powell Tells the Story of The World's Most Expensive Record

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@ShotGunSky 8 ай бұрын

In the early 80s I worked for KM records in Burbank and later IAM in Irvine. I actually was a record press operator, and my good friend did the metal work for the masters and mothers. We were chasing the dream of audiophile vinyl records. We put out many titles for Nautilus, Saraband, CBS Mastersound, several using some half speed mastering techniques. I believe we were putting out a pretty great product, but as in all things timing is everything, and with the introduction of CDs we were doomed. So very fun to hear this story and know there are people out there still chasing the dream. Thank you!

@jeffreybollman6186 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the half-speed masters (from several mentioned companies) I tried to collect as many of these sonic masterpieces (only one at a time as I could afford). I only collected a few before CDs showed up & killed my vinyl collection.

@johnpetrakis379 7 ай бұрын

May you never hear Amanda McBroom in this lifetime again!

@sammencia7945 7 ай бұрын

@shotgun Thank you. I own a few pieces of your handiwork, Nautilus test pressings and such. Sounds amazing and thank you! How many TP would you make if an album?

@danpessell846 6 ай бұрын

Just noticed your name on my remastered copy of Big Star's #1 Record. Well done.

@Jamie-B 7 ай бұрын

loved hearing this story. My dad owned a studio back in the ‘60s and cut vinyl records on a lathe. In fact, the studio was my first home as I lived there for the first 2 weeks of my life until my parents bought their first house. I’ve always loved audio production and was thrilled to hear this fantastic story. I will send to my Dad who will love it as well. Thanks so much for sharing, Jeff. I could listen to your stories all day, sir.

@johnwhittemore7078 7 ай бұрын

If you don't know, Jeff has some of the very best ears and best heart of anybody in the business!

@dmsadigitalmediaservicesar2586 7 ай бұрын

This is a very subjective statement and subject matter.

@reverendcarter 7 ай бұрын

Jeff is an amazing engineer and producer, his skills go way beyond mastering vinyl, he's part of the great Memphis pedigree that extends all the way back.

@donniecastleman5701 8 ай бұрын

Hey Jeff! 34 years have come and gone, great to see (or hear) that you're doing awesome!

@FreeTimeMastermind 7 ай бұрын

Outstanding video. Always great to hear this kind of behind the scenes technical processes.

@maxdisbrow977 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating story. Thank you so much for sharing. That was fifteen minutes of my time very well spent. I'll watch that again at least once more, likely twice. Thanks.

@ET_Don 7 ай бұрын

What a great story, thanks for sharing. I wonder what kind of price a Voyager Golden Record would bring today if one was available.

@voicesofvinyl 7 ай бұрын

This is amazing. I have several records cut by Jeff and they all sound terrific.

@satch72 8 ай бұрын

I had heard about that when it sold. Love knowing the back story. Thank you for sharing

@MrRHolmes571 8 ай бұрын

So cool Jeff! Man, I envy you being at Sam's place. So much history and vibe. Thanks for sharing the background on this!

@Mark-Book 6 ай бұрын

Wow. That is dedication to hard work, perfectionism and the power of that song.

@kyzor-sosay6087 6 ай бұрын

Interesting,well told story.Thanks for your time and for making the record and the video.

@kirmussaudio7578 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating video and story! Just some thoughts on lacquer preparation for any plating and some general thoughts and our observations as based on pressd records which could perhaps apply to lacquers, illustrated below as food for thought... In our study and in understanding where water droplets are larger than record grooves, and where PVC has the same electrical charge as pvc plastic, repelling water, t would be interesting to try the Kirmuss process on a cut lacquer before any plating. We see water used as a pre rinse. Perhaps our restoration process on a lacquer could be beneficial. Very interesting all your results. Your detailed and well organized process and discoveries. Really impressive! In the thought process... food for thought and for investigaion, we have indeed discovered outgassing of records and caught in a record sleeve for weeks or multiple decades, this creates a film as you noted. In our studies, our process removes this film. The needle now discovers the detail hidden by this film. Having not played a lacquer, just records, known where the heat of the needle can see dust fused into surfaced pressing oil as discovered by the Shure Brothers, creating more pops, pop creation can be avoided by using a 10 micron diameter brush before any play. Of course from a pressed record our process removes approximately 0.9 microns of this release agent. I would assume this practice could perhaps apply to the lacquer as well. No pressing oil per say in a lacquer. More study needed as your lathe is doing the cut. Am very curious as to what if anything as to any film surfaces during the cutting. This said, I would assume where heat generated at the point of contact with the needle in playing a lacquer could perhaps create a pop perhaps by way of heating of the lacquer at the point of contact. Just hypothesizing at this point. In combination with the blast of nitrogen air, perhaps our process could help before any plating. Lots of variables. FYi; I picked up some lacquers at the Electric Recording Company in the UK. Hmmm, time permitting it would be interesting to experiment. In pressed records discovered where records should be played once per day per side. Allowing the plasticizer to do its job and return the groove to its rest or pressed position for best sound reproduction. The needle creates heat at the point of contact with the pressed record's groovened, . As just mentioned, wise to always use a 10 micron brush before play to remove dust. As lacquers are cut and not pressed, something to look at as to repeated same day play of a lacquer. More investigation.... Playing records sees the stylus pick up contaminants. In playing records a needle cleaner is suggested. I am sure where in playing a lacquer where a safe wet needle cleaner was usd before any play, and where 10 micron diameter parastatic felt brush was used. The above illustrated as common good practice based on our studies of pressed records. In stacking lacquers for shipping, noted the care. Paper spacers are problematic due to their manufacture. Dusty. Very impressed with your video!!!!!

@CScott-zu5mv 7 ай бұрын

Jeff Powell, you make us proud.

@gilbertwashburn7095 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video keeps me inspired I listen to records everyday I've been collecting since I was little kid I'm 69 years old back in the late '70s my friend found a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album it was in a box a wooden box with a sliding drawer sort of like the one in your on the video it was a Pink Floyd Master disc I've never seen another one I was told it was only a dozen made have you heard of this he sold it at record show for $400 I was back in 1981 I've never seen another one and I can't find any information online very interesting it sounded fantastic we played it it had a pamphlet about how it was made and who made it I don't remember that details but he bought it from a guy in New York have a great day

@markmarkofkane8167 6 ай бұрын

I am fascinated by the vinyl record manufacting process. I grew up on 45's and albums, and my Dad's 78's.

@chilidogcowboy 6 ай бұрын

8:00. A fellow who used to work at a nuclear power plant alerted me of a term called “tramp gases.” Those are gases that get trapped in nitrogen or hydrogen containers that are used and similar processes for security applications at nuclear power plants. If the container containing the gas ever held anything other than nitrogen or hydrogen or whatever current gas it’s holding it can show up as a false positive. Cool fact.

@smalltown2223 8 ай бұрын

Nice one Steve. I love the new kitchen, especially all the new appliances. Looking forward to the new bathroom going in on Monday. The Gong People are very happy with the wolf pelts too.

@bigwave_dave8468 7 ай бұрын

Woah! Cool project! I remember Nelson Pass telling me about how he built the amplifiers for somebody´s lathe but I hadn't thought about how much the lathe influenced the sound -- duh! It would be cool to use the test-tone record to build a digital filter, modeling the characteristics of lathe.

@Henrico11 7 ай бұрын

Tip: look up 'vinyl simulators'.

@kenvives 7 ай бұрын

I thought for sure The World’s Most Expensive Record (s) had to be the gold plated ones that went on Voyagers 1 & 2. Who would have thought…

@dangerousmusic 7 ай бұрын

My mom's voice is on those records. soundcloud.com/nasa/golden-record-polish-greeting

@kenvives 7 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusic What an honor! Imagine an alien race finding this disc and figuring it out perhaps millions of years from now. Her voice rings out in eternity.

@nosivadbor 7 ай бұрын

I had the same thought!

@Deanna-qm1fh 7 ай бұрын

WOWZA!

@diracflux 7 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusicthat’s amazing!

@blainelanders2361 7 ай бұрын

Wonderful story sir! Thank you for putting this up for viewing!

@ChrisJohnson-c3s 7 ай бұрын

I'd love to know more about specific equipment choices for the recording process as well as was it recorded direct to disc? Also what was the playback system, cartridge, preamp the entire system?

@dangerousmusic 7 ай бұрын

Hey Chris; I don't have that intel, but I can tell you what Jeff's signal chain consists of. That is an up and coming video. (Whenever we can get'r done between designing gear!)

@patrickstorey6576 4 ай бұрын

So did the magic coating for the lacquer actually do what it was supposed to do?

@dangerousmusic 4 ай бұрын

Indeed it did!

@paulbolus9399 8 ай бұрын

But how much did it cost to make?

@gdansk12349 7 ай бұрын

Exactly. Felt like clickbait

@skierpage 7 ай бұрын

There's no way the recording session itself cost as much as super producer Trevor Horn's "Slave to the Rhythm" single for Grace jones, which cost £800,000 40 years ago. The mastering cost of cutting the one record is wrapped up with the cost of developing T-Bone Walker's Ionic Original special disc coating. Presumably the cost per record made will decrease now they've made one. I can't find any recent information about it; back in 2022 T-Bone talked about releasing more one-off or limited edition physical records with the magic coating.

@theslideguy4228 7 ай бұрын

What a cool project to be a part of! I would love to hear that master....

@findJLF 7 ай бұрын

Great story - thanks for keeping music alive.

@danielfinke6677 7 ай бұрын

Curious is the coating took off and is widely used? Your mother was my music teacher in BG, btw.

@Prousto 7 ай бұрын

Incredibly good dude, questionable project.

@jnnx 7 ай бұрын

Money laundering.

@ridetheheckler 6 ай бұрын

I agree. I'm not a fan of that project at all.

@AlexAlcyone 6 ай бұрын

can you elaborate? I heard that some art auctions are related to money shenanigans but was this project set up that way from the start? It sure seems strange to have a budget for 3 years of dicking around to make one pressing of one disc, like who would spend that kind of money and why.

@Chris.from.1950 6 ай бұрын

Yeah. A bunch of very bright, well-connected people spending a lot of time on a completely wrong-headed project. The Dylan recording was, according to my research, done digitally by Mike Piersante. Anyone who was "merely" interested in hearing the recording as perfectly as possible could just listen to that first generation file. The goal, though, was this esoteric, antiquarian project of making a one off, durable 33-1/3 RPM disk, which could be sold to the highest bidder through Christie's, the famous auction house, a process that finally yielded a 1.8 million dollar sale. Bizarre.

@mpp9964 7 ай бұрын

Is a CD version of this Dylan recording available?

@dangerousmusic 6 ай бұрын

Not that I am aware of.

@Chris.from.1950 6 ай бұрын

That would make it much harder to sell the LP for most of $2 million!

@jerryking7502 7 ай бұрын

I'm curious as to when this all went down?

@SpikesStudio3 7 ай бұрын

Awesome story bro. Thats going to the pub for a story with a beer. Seriously. Mates will love it. 👍

@analogalchemy 7 ай бұрын

Jeff cut my record back in 2018 for Rhygin Records. What is the industry doing about the lacquer manufacturing only being done by one producer in Japan?

@kzustang 6 ай бұрын

Great video. Great story.,Great to see vinyl tech still pushing the limits. You are definitely doing sacred work. Take care and the necessary precautions to avoid health hazard with the laquer and stuff. Thanks for sharing.

@pixelaided5664 7 ай бұрын

I'm so jealous of his job. So interesting and you can see the knowledge oozing out of him. This guy is a problem solver.

@dobieprime 8 ай бұрын

So maybe a dumb question...but...what happened with the "coating" that was being created?

@dangerousmusic 8 ай бұрын

After all the testing, they finally created a cocktail that worked. Is that your question? You can hit us direct at support@dangerousmusic.com.

@dobieprime 8 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusic Yes. It made me wonder because, there is a company that makes a record cleaning machine...Kirmuss. One of his big things is that his cleaner takes the "coating" off the vinyl so it plays in a purer form (that's my paraphrase). I was wondering if that's the coating he was talking about.

@dangerousmusic 8 ай бұрын

@@dobieprime Unrelated. They are dealing with a vinyl record vs. a lacquer master. Completely different materials.

@dobieprime 8 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusic Understand...I should have caught that...:) Loved the video though. :)

@CT-ho6si 7 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusic So is this coating now being used regularly or was this only for the one-off ?

@DJAdalaide 8 ай бұрын

Did you make a copy for yourself?

@UrbanIslandEntertainment 6 ай бұрын

Wow! What a great educational story and I just bought a "toy" Milty Zerostat 3 for a friend who has static problems in his listening room and it should work for his needs. Thanks Jeff!

@johnhowardnardine6815 6 ай бұрын

VERY interesting story! And I learned several things I didn’t know. What I could do without is the inserted stock footage of things like an auction or signing: it’s kind of unnecessary for your audience who are serious enough to listen to a long and, by the standards of today’s short attention spans, intricate story. We’re not children needing constant entertainment to stay engaged.

@mypalfootfoot9591 8 ай бұрын

An interesting and entertaining story, told by a smart and obviously talented guy!

@dmsadigitalmediaservicesar2586 7 ай бұрын

Um yea, How come the outro of this production is distorted? It would seem that coming from D Music it would at the very least have been produced without any distortion. You know I may have missed this as I walked out of the room just for a brief moment but who was the artist on this final auctioned record? And this one may be intentionally left out but who was the final purchaser?

@jgm65203 6 ай бұрын

Great story- thanks for sharing

@0gcrypto 7 ай бұрын

when did this happen?? sorry if i missed it... what year??

@VincentAgostino-gy6hr 7 ай бұрын

How much of that 1.8 did you get?

@norbertputnam598 7 ай бұрын

Jeff, this is a great new development. Did it still retain full frequency bandwidth?

@sammencia7945 7 ай бұрын

Video also can be packaged with the 10" now and prove provenance of the piece. Burnett has excellent explication of what the intention of this project is.

@markmcclellan8421 7 ай бұрын

I had a really great conversation with Jeff about mastering from digital cutting vinyl a couple of years back, it was very illuminating! He was in the middle of remastering Blonde on Blonde and other Dylan gems. He’s a very knowledgeable guy and really really nice. For all you people getting vinyl mastered from your digital files bring the volume down 20:db. And don’t brick wall it!

@KevinSimpson031 8 ай бұрын

Great, interesting story. I enjoy hearing the type of things that go on BTS.

@wilkeymusic2 7 ай бұрын

Hell of a story! Somehow I knew Bob wasn't coming to the studio though. Lol. 1.8 Million for one disc of one song? Bananas.

@donwershba2319 8 ай бұрын

Hi Jeff - We met at ARDENT many years ago when I worked with the great John Fry (RIP) in getting them an SSL console. This was a fabulous story and it was great to hear it from you! Cheers - Don

@brucelittle3958 6 ай бұрын

Unbelievable story for a recording of a song on vinyl. I toured Sun studio back in the 70's and it was quite the classic studio where Elvis got started!

@carminedesanto6746 8 ай бұрын

Are those multi kilobuck turntables/arm / cartridges operate at the same tolerances as the primary cutting lathe ?

@carminedesanto6746 7 ай бұрын

Ok, I understand your point ..but then why spend more on a record player than a Crosley ..and yet we’re in a world of $50k Linn 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ I confess I have an LP12 ☕️

@donmorris2030 7 ай бұрын

Great story Jeff, I remember you well from the TapeOP conferences. I sold loads of 2" tape to T-Bone over the years. I hope this one was tracked to tape. Hope all is well with you.

@mikeblakeable 7 ай бұрын

Some people just like the sound of vinyl, i luv the sound, i like all the imperfections 😊i luv the aesthetics of all the ole equipment 😁

@touchcircle22 7 ай бұрын

awesome video glad I found your channel

@TheJuggalo1491 7 ай бұрын

Very great show. Thanks...

@donbell8187 6 ай бұрын

Jeff is a real gentleman and one of the funniest guys I ever met. Amazing ears, too!

@zakaroonetwork777 7 ай бұрын

What was the point of this record? The recording still came off a Digital Computer. Is this Secret Coating available commercial use?

@diracflux 7 ай бұрын

An expensive art project maybe?

@Mutifidus 7 ай бұрын

My vote for best reproduction of sound is a master played at 15ips on a reel to reel like the one behind him. Maybe that’s why it is there.

@skierpage 7 ай бұрын

I just watched producer/recording engineer Cookie Marenco of Blue Coast Recordings raving about the sound of analog tape. She (and others) is a big fan of DSD (Direct Stream Digital) as the best-sounding format for distribution. I wanted to ask her if she's ever considered releasing reel-to-reels of albums for rich audiophiles who buy hor-rodded tape decks to play a few dozen expensive vintage and modern tapes.

@joekaplowitz2719 8 ай бұрын

Touching the record with greasy fingers is a big no no.

@tysi2011 7 ай бұрын

Who bought it?

@OCDHIFiGuy 7 ай бұрын

Chris makes great stuff ! Hey Marek !! Rock on, 🤘 Brothers !!

@robcaudill1574 7 ай бұрын

Congrats Jeff!! Proud of you Bro!!

@knockedoutloaded279 8 ай бұрын

I wonder how many songs they recorded..?

@NitroGummyBear 8 ай бұрын

Such a cool story.

@ThePulsepositive 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely fascinating.

@deaddadd 6 ай бұрын

I would think the gold records on the Voyager spacecrafts would cost more, but the weren't offered for sale. Great story!

@dangerousmusic 6 ай бұрын

Apparently those cost $18K a piece in 1977, which would be the equivalent of $89,160.21 in 2024 bucks. On another note, you can audition my mother's greeting from the record here: soundcloud.com/nasa/golden-record-polish-greeting

@jmdavison62 7 ай бұрын

Why not just record it to high-resolution digital and then press as many copies as you want?

@dangerousmusic 6 ай бұрын

The idea was to create a playable fresh lacquer master, which is superior to vinyl records.

@johnunderwood3132 7 ай бұрын

So what is the best way to clean a vinyl? Anyone

@Harcix 7 ай бұрын

Acetone

@skierpage 7 ай бұрын

Audiophiles disagree. Ideally you never have to clean, because you use an anti-static brush every time you play the record and never touch the grooves. If a record gets dirty there are all kinds of record cleaning liquids and sprays and some very expensive record cleaning machines that vacuum the solution off, as well as ultrasonic record cleaners that claim to vibrate particles of dirt out of the grooves. There's controversy over whether you want to remove any protective chemicals/coating originally on the vinyl surface, leave it, or lay down a new anti-static or anti-friction coating. The promise of T-Bone Walker's Ionic Original coating is it will eliminate any damage from the stylus playing the record.

@djhrecordhound4391 7 ай бұрын

Wonder if Jeff can do 78rpm...?

@geargeekpdx3566 7 ай бұрын

"This is not the most expensive record in the world... This is just a tribute"

@peterzernzach1563 7 ай бұрын

Riggs Goo goo

@kinzieconrad105 7 ай бұрын

WooTang

@mybachhertzbaud3074 7 ай бұрын

How much did the L.P. on the Voyager cost?😜🎶🎶👽🎶🎶 Play On

@dangerousmusic 7 ай бұрын

$18,000 according to Science Friday.

@damonappel 6 ай бұрын

So....wait: What happened to this special formulation? Is it going to be on the market, ever? ...Or was this all just for that auction of that special recording? 😲

@dangerousmusic 6 ай бұрын

You are the only person perceptive enough to have asked this question! Yes, that is the most tantalizing aspect of this story (to us!) Stay tuned.

@bobtaylor7197 6 ай бұрын

Found your comment prior to making my own similar query 😮

@deanallen-5636 8 ай бұрын

Thank you

@redstrat1234 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating.

@Gr3aser 8 ай бұрын

Love this story!!!!

@jergervasi3331 7 ай бұрын

Sounds like you need to get the "bunny suits" they wear in the clean rooms at Intel! LOL

@soundproductionandadvice 8 ай бұрын

Fantastic story. Thank you.

@Ackermanmedia 6 ай бұрын

So this entire process was to see how much one they can squeeze out of people who consider themselves audio nerds?

@Chris.from.1950 6 ай бұрын

Correction. "... squeeze out of one person..."

@ifandwhen-kl2cr 6 ай бұрын

Wait, didn’t that Wutang 1/1 sell for much more?

@Chris.from.1950 6 ай бұрын

The Wu Tang project was a CD, but, yes, it was in the $2 million range. Sigh.

@cthulholmhastur5317 7 ай бұрын

Wow. Epic. Kinda makes you step back.. and say "How can we put a price on that? Especially THAT price? ANY price...?" Humbling, I guess is the word I'm searching for.

@jowens1126 7 ай бұрын

fantastic story and very interesting.

@walterhoenig6569 6 ай бұрын

You misspelled’Chief’.

@dangerousmusic 6 ай бұрын

Yes, you're only the second person to mention it, but I've certainly wanted to stab my eye out on both occasions.

@RadioShack-vo2sn 2 ай бұрын

WHAT A GREAT STORY, BUT ACTUALLY IT IS REALITY AND A GREAT PIECE OF HISTORY.

@sl8ofhand 6 ай бұрын

What about Wu-Tang Clan: Once Upon a Time in Shaolin?

@Chris.from.1950 6 ай бұрын

CD. This was a lacquer disk, an LP.

@APMTenants 6 ай бұрын

There are record players that read with a laser. Why not record the lacquer without ever playing it? I know some will say it won’t sound the same, but you won’t know unless you try it. I bet no one could hear the difference

@shonuffLA 7 ай бұрын

Crazy story

@biffedya 6 ай бұрын

who is Bob Dylan

@johnstitt2615 7 ай бұрын

Talk about being systematic and methodical. ✌️👌✌️

@Dd-td6jl 6 ай бұрын

WOW, what a story!!! Roknroll

@mike42441 7 ай бұрын

$1.78 million?! Wow, somebody sure has money for blowing in the wind...

@WilliamAshleyOnline 7 ай бұрын

This is a very cool video but what about Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’. This album was recorded in secret over six years and has the unique characteristic of having only one copy ever produced. It was sold at auction in 2015 for a staggering $2 million1. This sale included specific contractual terms, making it not just the most expensive record but also one of the most exclusive music releases ever. AH BUT IT WAS A CD NOT A RECORD.. ok so still true for vinyl I guess right. I wonder how much the record on voyager cost?? As an actual gold record apparently it cost $18,000 to produce but I got hunch it would sell for quite a bit at auction if anyone ever recovered it. The reel to reel masters of it sold for half a million so the original disk would probably cost more, maybe even priceless.

@dangerousmusic 7 ай бұрын

We should have said "single". If memory serves, the Wu-Tang set included a Dangerous Music SOURCE.

@WilliamAshleyOnline 7 ай бұрын

@@dangerousmusic I am curious though if there was a net on it, as 1.6 million may seem like a lot but when it involves hundreds of cuts and special lab contracts to process that I sort of wonder how much the project actually cost. None the less With Bob Dylan special press it is definitely a unique collectors item for some lucky rich dude.

@ifandwhen-kl2cr 6 ай бұрын

The original buyer of the wutang record resold it for 4.75 million

@pepeshopping 7 ай бұрын

Right. When old analog wants to play in the digital space… Remember making a pretty good recording in 1982 with a cassette recorder and a headphone! 12 year old me understood enough to question if a headphone could also be a microphone, and it did! I had the headphone right next to the speaker and the band said it was the best live recording they ever heard.

@electronik808 6 ай бұрын

but the main question is: how did it sounds?

@TheVTRainMan 7 ай бұрын

Why don't they just digitally record the fresh cut lacquer record and sell it? Even if I could get my hands on the best pressed record, my cheapish equipment would never reproduce the best representation of that recording. But, I'm sure the equipment used to test and analyze the playback before pressing would be amazing to listen to.... you could give that experience to everyone... the DAC, Amp, and speakers being the only limitation.