We're Loyal to You, Masters
Re-Mastered
AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS
by Byron Laursen
King the door at Sweet Thunder and Vinyl yelps Later, Vinyl accepts a pat on the head and com
mences to chew Mr Duck.
Sweet Thunder is a new entrant in the half-speed re mastered audiophile disc business. All those
expensive albums that look like regular albums — but don't sound like regular albums. Vinyl is a
black cocker spaniel who lives in Sweet Thunder's Hollywood offices Mr Duck is a little yellow
rubber toy.
Company mavens Howard Lowell and Russell Palmer, after introducing a visitor to Vinyl, like to
point out a framed letter from Aaron Copland, whose recording of Billy the Kid and Statements for
Orchestra was among the first of Sweet Thunder’s projects. Copland, one of America's most distin
guished living composers, calls the record a true achievement in the sense that it represents
more realistically the composer’s thought." Citing The clarity and brilliance of sonic mixtures,
Copland concludes that the new recordings ' pack more of a whallop, and keep the separate lines
more distinct and more true to the live sound.”
Crucial to what Sweet Thunder and the slightly older Mobile Fidelity Labs and Nautilus Re
cordings companies do are two things virgin vinyl and half-speed mastering
The former, supplied either as JVC Supervinyl from Japan or Teldec Vinyl from West Germany, is
refined totally Anti pollution regulations prevent such thoroughgoing refinement in the United
States Half-speed mastering, a technique pioneered by the Japanese in the days of Quadrophinic,
means just what it would seem to mean The master disc is cut at half of its intended playing speed,
so the cutting heads have more time to respond to the signals sent them from the master tape. As a
result, the subtler sounds are more vividly drawn and the recording sounds more live" than a
conventional disc.
Though the field is relatively new (Mobile began in 1978, Nautilus in 1979 and Sweet Thunder in
1981!), expansion has been remarkable. Larger companies, already established in the record busi
ness, have come forward with their own competitive "audiophile" pressings. Some observers feel
\dvvru.semeru
■6 19M fWyGram Records tot.
The album for the
Animation Generation.
Stephen Dees/Bete Hewlett/Carlos Rios/Michael Shrieve
“The Animation Generation/' the new album
from Novo Combo.
ixjfydof,
»r>d M-v by
PofyGram Records*
that the giants are too mass-production conscious to ever equal the independents in quality, how
ever
Initially, a company must select an IP they think will perform well (sonically and commercially)
as a re mastered edition. Then they strike a business agreement with the company owning the
original, check the master recording for flaws and (if none are present) put the original through a
meticulous copying process, using the aforementioned virgin vinyl and half-speed mastering. The
results tend to be exquisite. They're also expensive Re mastered editions cost more than twice as
much as conventional discs They are for lovers—of a given piece of music or of their own stereo
systems—onlv
There are cither components to this better quality product — individual hand-checking of each
disc off the assembly line, magnetic filtration systems at the top of the vinyl delivery' hopper and
use of loose fitting wrap instead of platter-bending, strangulating shrink wrap.
Interestingly, nearly as many audiophile recordings are sold in stereo shops as in normal record
stores. Pan of the appeal seems to be wringing the most out of a top-of-the-line stereo system But,
as the audiophile record companies like to assert, any system will produce better music if it's
playing a better record.
Also, any music will sound better. Product availability in re mastered audiophile discs runs from
classics to Creedence Clearwater, from jazz to Joe Cocker, from funk to Peter Frampton.
The “Royal Treatment'
AUDIOPHILE CONTEST
1st prize:
2-3-4-5th:
The Keatles/The Collection from Mobile
Fidelity. 13 albums on 14 discs (because die
White Album was a double, of course). Retail
value about $325.
One album from Nautilus and one from Sweet
Thunder, to be chosen by the winners from
each company’s catalog. Retail value: $36-40.
A few years back, when the "audiophile record began to make big news in the music world, an
outfit called Mobile Fidelity. Sound l,ab had an idea so obvious it probably required genius to
figure it out: get licensing agreements for "classic" albums, refurbish them with top-grade vinyl and
reissue them in versions whose sound quality would put the big commercial outfits to shame
Their process necessitated prices several times those of the “regular" versions. But they have
sold respectably Other companies, from fledglings to giants like RCA, CBS and MCA, have rushed
into the audiophile market
.Now, Amperstuul asks the musical question "What LP would you most like to see get the royal
treatment?" VCh.it great, perhaps overlooked, record of the past (or present) would most please
you in an even greater version all the highs sweeter, the lows fuller and rounder and the
harmonic overtones clearer? To motivate response we re olfering some delicious prizes from the
vaults of the audiophile companies
Here, as an example, is one contributor s idea of a prime candidate:
Rhapsody
Lcof>old Stokowski: Music of' I.iszt, Fnesco & Smetana (RCA)
Hack in ilu* early Sixties, Stokie got togethet one ol his (Vritxlu gatherings ol New York
ht*e laiu t* musicians anti led them in leiuliiions ol lour pieces lhat audiences the world
over are sick to death ol I lie I iszt Hungttndn AVw/t\o</v No J. Knescb’s Rut turn ion
Rhapsody No I, and Smetana s //*,• Molrfou and Uortctvtl Untie overture .The orchestra
was duhlx\l the K(.A Vktot Symphony. the record was entitled A’/w/amw/v, and it re
ni.unetl in K(.As main catalogue lor nearly 20:years (it was recently reissued on their
(»t)ld Seal label), -primarily because the old master"conducted the tlarned thing as i! the
ink was still wet on the score
I he problem is that at least in recent pressings, the sound-, clean and well balanced in
soli passages, becomes impossibly ugly and distorted in the loud ones As far as l‘m
concerned, canonization is not go<hI enough l» »r the mastering engineer w ho can rescue
this one
Sol Louis Siegel
(*ot the idea' Am favorite album is Ian game* Ihe live most convincing and clever (also witty
intelligent, |x*tsuasive and grammatically cot reel wv didn't say it would be easy ) will lx.* published
in out I ebruarv issue, ami paid at the same generous rates that already cause freelance writers
round the globe to roll theii eves to heaven at the mention ol our name Hull's 12 cents a word. All
entries must be received by Novemlx*t is. IU82 Naturally, all entries Ixvome the property of
and w ill be judged by out fair, thoughtful anil only occasionally vicious editors Keep it
to a couple of double spaced paiagiaphs on a single page May the best music-maA Ampersand
readers w ild
Send vout entries to Koval treatment. c/o.\1680 North Vine, Suite 000, Hollywood, CA
<XX)28