Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

Here are our notes for the top two copies from our recent shootout, each of which had one Shootout Winning side and one that came close but did not quite earn the top grade.

Side One

Track Three (Over the Hills and Far Away)

• Upfront and detailed and breathy
• Spacious
• Big and wide when it kicks in

Track One (The Song Remains the Same)

• Huge and rich and weighty
• Vocals are less veiled
• Richest, with the most extension high and low

Note that we played both a rocker as well as a quieter, more acoustic track. This is standard operating procedure. Both of these very different sounding songs have to sound their best.

Side two had a few problems which kept it from doing as well as side one.

Side Two 

Track One (Dancing Days)

• Clear and lively
• Has some weight but a little flat and veiled

Track Two (D’Yer Mak’er)

• Solid but not quite as huge
• Pretty tubey and weighty

If you had never heard a side one that sounded as amazing as this side one, how would you know the sound on side two was a little flat and veiled and not quite as huge?

You wouldn’t. That is precisely what shootouts are for, so that you can learn how good the sound can get in order to judge how good each side is relative to the others, on a curve, which is the only meaningful way it can be done.

Anyone hearing side two of this copy would be very likely be knocked out by it. But we know that side two can be even better sounding, because the copy below showed us sound that we simply could not find fault with.

Side Two

Track Two (D’Yer Mak’er)

• Tubey bass and drums
• 3-dimensional and jumping out
• Top detail

Track One (Dancing Days)

• Big and tubey
• Great bass

Note that side one of this copy earned less than the full Three Pluses, even though it has no shortcomings to speak of.

It was initially given a grade of “at least 2,” which was later changed to 2.5+ during the final round when only the top copies would be played.

Side one of the other copy must have revealed itself to be better when playing the two of them head to head, meaning this side one was not doing anything badly, or wrong. It was just not quite as good at all the things it was doing right.

Again, it could have won the shootout for side one if it had not been for a copy that was even better, and without plenty of pressings to play, that top copy would never have been found.

This is why we do shootouts, and why you must do them too, if being able to enjoy the sound of high quality pressings is important to you.

Fortunately for readers of this blog, our methods are explained in detail, free of charge.

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