Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Neil Young Available Now
Many copies we played would work for the heavy songs and then fall short on the quieter tracks. Others had gorgeous sound on the country-tinged numbers but couldn’t deliver much whomp* for the rockers.
Only a select group of copies could hold their own in all of the styles and engage us from start to finish. We’re pleased to present those exceptional pressings as the Hot Stamper copies of Harvest that so many of you have been begging for.
Side One
Out on the Weekend
We love the sound of the drums on Neil Young records — think of the punchy kick drum on After The Gold Rush and the punchy thwack of the snare on Zuma. On the best copies, this song should have the kind of BIG, BOLD Neil Young drum sound we audiophiles have been in love with since the album first came out.
The pedal steel guitar also sounds out of this world on the best copies.
Harvest
A Man Needs a Maid
This song features the London Symphony Orchestra. The strings at the end of the track are a great test for harmonics and rosiny texture.
Heart of Gold
We love this song, but it never has the kind of Demo Disc sound that you’ll find on some of the other tracks.
Are You Ready for the Country?
Side Two
Old Man
On the best copies, you’ll be able to appreciate the tremendous depth of the soundfield. The pedal steel guitar should come from the back of room, with Neil front and center.
There’s a World
Alabama
Grungy guitar rock a la Southern Man from After The Gold Rush or much of Zuma. Neil’s guitar has to be meaty with lots of texture for this song to really rock.
The Needle and the Damage Done
This live track can sound amazing — warm, sweet, and intimate with startling immediacy to Neil’s vocal.
Words (Between the Lines of Age)
*Whomp Factor
A kick drum, for example, may tell you about your system’s ability to reproduce some of the lower octaves, but we prize a little something called whomp factor here at Better Records every bit as much. It’s the weight and power you sense happening down below that translates into whomp factor.
For whomp factor, the formula goes like this: deep bass + mid bass + speed + dynamics + energy = whomp factor.
This is the frequency area that screens, small speakers and even bigger box speakers with smaller drivers have the most trouble with. You need to be able to move lots of air under about 250 cycles to give the music a sense of power, energy and drive down low. (You can find more speaker advice here.)
With our vintage Legacy Focus speakers, there’s always tons of bass being produced when you have three 12″ woofers firing away, but getting the bass out of the corners and into the center of the room is one of the toughest tricks in all of audio.
If you’ve seen the video of our studio in the award-winning article Geoff Edgers wrote for the Washington Post, at least some of the room treatments you see evolved to do just that.
Ah, bliss.