More of the Music of Carole King
One of our good customers had this to say about his recent experience on the Steve Hoffman forum.
We’ve added some headings and such like. Scroll down to read the many comments that have been left, most of which I have replied to at length.
Hi Tom,
When Fred emailed me to say that a copy of Tapestry was about to hit the site, I did not hesitate in buying it. I’m not writing today with one of my usual raves of your records. Suffice it to say, it’s always a joy to be hear an album I thought I knew by heart in a whole new way. Rather I’m writing because I still can’t fully square my enthusiasm for your records with the reaction I got when I talked about it on the Steve Hoffman Forum a couple months ago.
Hoffman’s Parting Words
As I purchased my 32nd (!) record from you without a moment’s hesitation, Steve Hoffman’s parting words to me sprang back into my mind. Could he possibly be right? Am I really paying for nothing when I buy a hot stamper? By posting my appreciation of Better Records on his forum, was I merely inducing other people to throw their money away too? Have I been fooling myself? Are there other ways to get records that sound as good as yours?
I never had a chance to respond to his view there because the whole thread was taken down a few minutes after he posted that, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you to share my views with the readers of your blog, since people can’t find my views on the Steve Hoffman forum.
So here goes.
We’re all aware that there’s misinformation on the internet. We’ve learned by now how to spot the sins of commission – the obvious manipulations and falsehoods. What’s more pernicious are the sins of omission – accurate information that’s been removed because it does not fit a narrative.
Somebody interested in finding great sounding records would be blameless if they ended up with a pile of mediocrities, because they followed the advice and opinions readily available on the internet. It’s a frustration that there are so few voices like yours and Robert Brook’s offering a different view.
The biggest problem with a stack of mediocre records that you mistakenly believe are excellent is that if you ever notice they don’t sound very good, the only fix you can think of is to buy more expensive equipment.
And that’s where the real money gets wasted.
[Hear hear!]
A Roadmap for Finding “Pretty Good Records”?
There are tons of posts on the Steve Hoffman Forum, and tons of people are presumably following the advice there, but what’s on there is really nothing more than a roadmap to finding Pretty Good Records.
[Here I would have to say that many of the pressings recommended by the forum posters are not very good at all, since so many of them think Hoffman’s remasterings are the ultimate versions of those albums. They may sound pleasing to Hoffman and his acolytes, but it’s hard to believe they sound the way the artists, producers and engineers who created them wanted them to sound. Having played them up against scores of vintage pressings, made when the albums came out or shortly thereafter — which strikes me as the only legitimate evidence anyone can possibly offer to rebut his approach — we have to say we strongly disagree.]
Likewise, there are plenty of youtube reviewers and other influencers extolling the virtues of the latest pressing with the latest mastering from the original tapes. I really want people to understand that for the most part, these are also only Pretty Good Records. [At best.] There simply aren’t enough countervailing voices pointing this out, and now I know part of the reason why.
If you are getting your records any of these three ways, you are simply not getting consistently great sounding records:
1) Going on SHF and look up which deadwax inscriptions somebody swears by, and buying a copy on Discogs.
Yes, it’s certainly true that some deadwax inscriptions point the way toward the right mastering, the right pressing house, a day when the vinyl was just the right temperature, whatever it was. But, deadwax is not the whole story, and anybody who thinks a M- record with the right deadwax is the best sound they can possibly get is running a serious risk of only having a Pretty Good Record without even realizing it.
2) Going to your local shops and perusing the racks, looking for gems.
Realize that almost anything you buy anymore is going to be priced at Discogs rates. The best record shops I’ve found, like Jerry’s here in Pittsburgh, Atomic Records in LA, Bop Shop in Rochester, Stereo Jack’s in Boston, might price below Discogs rates, maybe charging the VG+ rate for a record that by appearances is NM, or tossing you a discount if you buy an armload. All record stores offer me anymore these days is the joy of the hunt. It’s a roll of the dice that your record will sound any better than Pretty Good once you get it home. And, if it doesn’t sound great to you, good luck trying to return it.
3) Buying new records.
There’s a huge industry telling you that today’s records are the best renditions of the classics. And, it makes perfect sense that they should be! Modern equipment, an accumulation of skills in mastering, thicker vinyl. What could possibly go wrong?
But for me, believing the industry telling me this was the greatest fallacy of all. If I could have back all the money I spent on new records from the audiophile houses and the equipment I bought trying to make them sound great, I’d spend it on a handful of Better Records, and be far happier for it. Sure, some sound Pretty Good. Most, I simply never listen to.
So, was Steve Hoffman right? Does his forum provide a way to get reliably great sounding records? Tom, are you and the company you started only inducing people to pay more money for the same product? The answers are simply no.
Avoiding the Mistakes I’ve Made
Yes, Hot Stampers are expensive. Audio’s an expensive hobby. There is a lot of enjoyment available for our expenditures, and I would like to help other people save some money by not repeating the mistakes I made – namely, I believed all the voices I heard online, and I was too slow to come around to the advice I read on this blog, too unwilling to take the plunge and try out my first hot stamper.
Had I started with a few hot stampers, I’d have built a better stereo sooner around them (using vintage equipment – much cheaper and better than new), and avoided some audiophile pitfalls that have landed me with shelves of Pretty Good Records.
I’d have known sooner how to shop for records, and what to listen for in them. Today I’d have a smaller collection, more focused on a few great-sounding records. Sure, for most people, their hot stampers will always be a small fraction of their whole collection, but when you want to hear an album you love sound as good as it possibly can, and for me, Tapestry is one of those records, there’s simply no other way to get it.
ab_ba
Dear ab_ba,
Thank you for taking the time to write about your attempt to help your fellow analog fans.
The background to your saga can be found in two of your previous letters: Heretics and Believers Clash on the Battlefield in Cyberspace, Part One and Part Two
Best, TP
Further Reading
Even people who should know better, like a Michael Fremer, obviously do not.
Just recently he reviewed the new “Gaucho” by Steely Dan from Analogue Productions using an expensive turntable for playing it.
And often you hear that only recently one can hear these records in the way the artist intended them to be heard. Because way in the good old days they had to master/cut the records for the inferior turntables of the day.
Dear Alexander,
I saw that picture too. Only $300k, bet it sounds great.
Actually, I might take that bet. Who knows what it sounds like? Can we trust that Mr. Fremer knows good sound from bad? His track record is less than reassuring in that regard.
To your point about the mastering engineers of yore having to limit the records in some ways so that they could be played on the turntables of the day is possibly the single worst case of “begging the question” — assuming the very thing that one needs to prove — in the history of audio.
Where is the evidence to support this assertion?
Name all the modern records that have been mastered with the bass and energy of Robert Ludwig’s 1969 cutting of Led Zeppelin II, just to take one example.
Name all the modern records with sound that is remotely as big, clear, dynamic, present and alive as any of those linked here.
To my knowledge, and in my experience, no such records exist.
If anyone believes such records exist, don’t they have an obligation to the audiophile skeptics of the world — a vanishingly small minority group to be sure, of which I hope you are a member — to name them?
I have asked this question before and never received an answer. No answer is likely to come, because there are no such records and never will be, judging by the way things are going.
Thanks for your comment,
TP
Fantastic letters from ab_ba.
I just don’t get why those Steve Hoffman forum folks don’t simply try a BR record?!! What do they have to lose? oh yes…their opinions!!
The proof is in the pudding my friends….It’s all in the sound….and one doesn’t have to break the bank stereo wise to be able to tell. Just turn it up!!…and Enjoy.
I was on the fence with BR, having read many articles and youtube videos.
But then I bought one, which led to another and then another, etc. The sound is what wowed me. That is all that matters….the sound. Perhaps many forum readers don’t turn their volume way up to expose the sound. Those follks are undoubtedly very much enjoying their ‘audiophile’ pressings! Oh well, you can lead them to the water, but it doesn’t mean they’ll drink!!
Dear Sir,
We warned about the danger of having one’s opinions overturned in a commentary we called:
Hot Stampers May Cause Cognitive Dissonance
If you are a member of one of these forums, touting our Hot Stamper pressings, or even vintage pressings in general, is a sure way to upset those who are committed to collecting endless numbers of modern Heavy Vinyl pressings, which they all seem to be committed to doing.
If you say our old records sound better than their new records, the last thing in the world they are going to do is try one.
Rather than put them to the test, their preference will be to ignore you, or perhaps to accuse you of faulty reasoning, since we know that new records are better than old records or else we wouldn’t have bought them in the first place.
You see how that works? We did the right thing, and here are the reasons we’re right and you’re wrong. Playing the records and making judgments about the sound has nothing to do with it and never will.
Thanks for your letter,
TP