Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan Available Now
A customer wrote us about his experience with Stevie Ray a while back:
There seems to be a threshold level for this record at which it sounds congested below, but which it comes alive above (and how).
I also noticed that my previous observations about the ratings of sides A and B were reversed at this volume level; there is more bass on side A, which was resulting in it sounding more congested at lower levels, but which is delicious when played loud; side B sounds a bit thin at louder volumes comparatively.
I guess this is more in line with what you heard when reviewing.
C
Conrad,
You hit the nail on the head with your newfound appreciation of the sound of the two sides at louder levels.
We don’t know what our records sound like at moderate levels.
This is true for the electric blues albums of Stevie Ray Vaughan, but just as true for rock, jazz and even classical.
We don’t play them at moderate levels, and we don’t want to hear them at moderate levels.
There are at least two very good reasons for our position:
The first one is the most obvious — we don’t think music played at unrealistically low levels is very enjoyable.
And two, lower levels interefere with our ability to properly judge the sound of the pressings we play in our shootouts.
Playing records quietly too often obscures their faults.
It also reduces their energy, as well as whatever dynamic contrasts they might have, their ability to play clean in the loudest climaxes or choruses, and on and on down the list.
Further Reading