I just bought my very first vinyl, and was excited to open it up, only to find it's super dusty, and covered in scuffs, finger prints, everything...it's exactly like the one you have here, paper sleeves with round edges and everything. What a huge shame :( I hope I can play it at least
I wish I could get a sense of how dramatic the difference is between the two cartridges. I can only hear that the Kiseki is providing a fuller bodied sound. The bass is plodding and laboured sounding in the intro of sound sample 1. In sound sample 1 with Kiseki, the bass is musical and "plucky", gone is the lumbering plodding. (You did tell us to listen to the high end, so the contrarian in me went right to the bass instead.😀) Thank you for the video/review.
Based on the blind test, the BNC sounds the warmest to me and closest to the original RVG, which is surprising because everyone said it was bright (and I have many other lean sounding records in the series). The Jap and AP45 weren’t bad either. All the others sounded brighter and more “audiophile” to me but seemed to have either a midrange suckout or lean bass. The MoFi especially is just weird.
Analogue Productions has done the best Core so far. I know this video is a few years old now... and for the most part I agree with you, except for the early 90s release like Nevermind and In Utero. To me those OG records are amazing.
What's interesting is that a lot of library music features great sounds and textures on them, even if they don't necessarily make great single songs. Perfect for library music, obviously.
I would argue there are some great songs but there is a lot of separating the wheat from the chaff. But what you do say in the beginning does ring true for many of the library records. That's what they're favorites for samplers.
Listen to any TAKRL bootleg of your favorite band. I dare you. Pipe Dream (Hendrix) Bedspring Symphony (Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor) ...would lead the list. I DARE you.
Mingus: Oh God! So painful! Your Atlantic original of Oh Yeah is vibrant, alive. It has depth, I can hear that the band were in a room spaced away from each other and waves of sound travelling. Brassy horns, deep, resonant piano Rich sound, rich recording. The speakers corner _deadened_ everything to a thud. Lord have mercy.
Albert King: The Stax reissue is better than the Speakers Corner. Why? The s.r. has all the musical parts (singer, horn section, etc) in better balance, all sections sound lively and important. Conversely, the s.c. suppresses the music and brings up the vocal, the effect is a dead sound. Yuck!
Thank you for the wrap up Paul, I am over a month behind in just watching videos and haven't made one in almost as long. it sounds like your 2023 was a good one, especially the travel. I dug the sound of that Mel Brown record, added it to the list, thanks.
Thanks Wes. I too am behind. It's really hard to find the time to make videos nowadays but part of my problem is I don't want to just shoot a straight up video. I would find myself really pretty boring if I did that.
I don’t have a huge amount of experience with Half-Speed mastering, but I’ve personally found that they’re quite good for improving the sound of albums that had questionable recording in the first place. The best one I’ve heard is the Abbey Road half-speed master pressing of Back to Black by Amy Winehouse. The recording sadly suffers from a fair bit of compression and distortion, and when I listened to my 2009 repress and half-speed master pressings back to back, the Abbey Road one had added a certain amount of dynamic range and toned down some of the flat loudness on the 2009, whilst also taking off some of the harshness of Amy’s voice in places. For albums that had good sound quality to begin with, I’m not particularly convinced that half speed mastering makes any noticeable difference for better or worse.
I guess I am not surprised by your comment and I think I have that same 2009 pressing of the record. I really dig Back to Black and at the time the record was dropped, vinyl never was the focus. Based on your comment, I will have to check out the half-speed edition. Thanks for the comment tom7979.
I'm using a korg ds dac 10r connected to the tape loop of my receiver. Very handy to be able to monitor the record through the speakers. Korg audiogate works well, but I want the simple declick filters shown here.
I am sure a Korg DAC will work well. Korg, in general, makes great stuff but for me the declick is why I picked this software up. As much as I clean my old records, it's hard to avoid the occasional pop or click.
I was a subscriber of yours a few years ago but deleted my account and recently made this one. It's good to see you still making videos. I got into Art Blakey because of you 😊
Thanks estella516! I am glad I was able to turn someone on to Blakey! I am still around and wish I had more time to make videos. I do have a few more planned for the year but getting the time is the new challenge.
I used to record all my vinyl to mini disc when I was in the Navy to take all my music underway. This was 1998-2004 and I was based out of Japan where mini discs were very available. That worked really well.
Love the Mini Disc comment! I had a couple I used for bootlegging concerts back in the same timeframe because a portable tape DAC was just too far out of my price range at the time.
Satirist/Voice Over Actor/Recoding Star Stan Freberg satirized audiophiles on his Radio Series all the way back in 1956! The guy was ahead of his time. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Xxz6_utUsZo.html
Laws of diminishing returns hit hard in this case. Technics SL-1200 is simply after all these years of existence, still pretty much untouchable and unfuckable, not to mention we are comparing a turntable that costs like a 4 bedroom house with a turntable with a tone arm whose design hasn't changed for over 45 years. Thank Paul for a truly insightful video and comparison. Makes me love my SL-1200 MK II even more.
I recommend that you check out Andre Cymone NEW singles " Funk is ALIVE" and " Hot Funk" on Bandcamp. He just put them out over a week ago and I would love to know your thoughts.....
With headphones on Grado rs1 with the blind test my favorite was the classic 45 lol the one I can't afford hahahaha. My second was the Acoustic sounds 45 then the srx. But at the end of the video with the Bernie grundman shootout the srx did have better top end extension and the bass sounded like an actual bass but I really liked the separation of instruments on the classic 45 had the widest Soundstage. The mofi was a bit of a disappointment i didnt like that one.
Yeah. Universally, the Mofi has been getting panned. I have yet to find a person that really likes that one the best. Here's hoping Chad Kassem could do Blue Note 45s in the future using Bernie's 45 rpm metal work. That's how he did the Miles Davis Kind Of Blue UHQR.
@BarakaPDub yea I have nothing against mofi I love mofi, their version of Charles Mingus- ah um is my favorite mofi (dsd step and all) it's excellent but their cannonball adderley didn't sound as good as the others in that shootout. I ended up buying a used copy of the Analogue productions 45rpm version and I love it!
Gabin ...what an astonishing record and wonderful experiences on your travels last year. Hope work schedules will allow more free time to showcase the wonderful sounds you seem so adept at discovering.
Thank you so much Baz63. Got slammed with work but I do have three videos in pre-production. The challenge is finding the time to edit them all together.
So many great things here to comment on, but Kevin Gray would take the cake for me. Truly a legend in the game and just being in that lab of his would give me goosebumps. Could only imagine the sound in that chamber. Love meeting VC members as well and spending time with Mazzy and crew I am sure is a highlight. Fantastic update, and hope you can get another out soon.
Thanks Tim and sorry for the delayed reply! The videos of us in Florida will wind up in a future video and likely in a similar style given my time anymore. Just got back from Boston and was hoping to hook up with Rob Paneeks but he was tied up :(
What an amazing experience to visit a sound studio and hang out w friends, been missing your video so glad you got sometime to share w us what you’ve been up to. When I was new to records I was traveling a lot and Vancouver surprised me of how many records stores they had, i always wanted to go back to really visits more . Ok, purges 300!! Haha wow. Great update, this video was a 10 ⭐️
Thank you so much Monica! I am hoping to get in another L.A. trip this year...or maybe the beginning of next. It would be fun to hook up with you and Gus if you're free and have the time. Yes, Vancouver was incredible and I wish I could have went on a dedicated shopping trip there.
@@BarakaPDub oh yes that sounds amazing to do a vc meet up here! There are some great vinyl collectors in the area too. Welcome anytime! Also I’d be fun to interview you!
Last year I blind bought a Psychedelic Porn Crumpet album and when I first put it on all I could say was what the hell was that. It has grown on me. I moved recently and did some purging to my local store. It was tough but I purged a couple of boxes and was able to get some great stuff in return. I now really look at albums and think do I really plan to listen to that again? If not purge it. Always a pleasure to see a video by you.
PPC's albums have always been a bit of a mixed bag for me. I remember your video where you picked one up and my impression of two of them in their catalog has been the same. Yeah, I am going through my records now thinking about if I will really get to again. Is a digital copy of the record better than owning the vinyl? I own far more CDs than vinyl and they take up less space. That purge for me was also difficult because it was the first purge I made. Thanks for watching Steve. Still working on my Colorado trip. The dates keep shifting due to product development.
Wow meeting Kevin Gray and spending time with him in his studio would certainly be an amazing experience. I’m sure this visit will last forever in your memories but getting to meet the great Norman Masloff now that’s epic and one to tell the grandchildren 😊. The record store you filmed in Gastown is “the” most expensive and over priced used record store in Vancouver. It’s actually the joke and source of many conversations with other store owners and customers. I live in the Vancouver area and never buy from there. We have a dozen nicer stores to spend our $$ in. Let me know next time you’re around and I’ll take you shopping. Oh and if work keeps getting in the way just quit, you have to know your priorities. 😅
Ha ha. It figures with it being a joke. I can see the rent in Gastown coming at a premium so I guess your remark doesn't surprise me at all. I do hope to get to Vancouver again. Loved the city! If I make it back that way, I am definitely going to take you up on the offer.
Great to see you pop into my notifications this morning, 2023! like a cows tail always behind 😂 Sounds like you had a great time. The weather here in the Yorkshire Dales has been terrible, temperatures in early June 12 deg! Anyway, tips from me so far this year, a year that I’ve found to be below par for good new releases. Try albums from ‘Snakes don’t belong in Alaska’, ‘Shay Hasan’ and Soma. Hope you have an equally great 2024..
Thanks Ron. I am glad there are still people hanging in there with me. I fear these heat domes anymore and here in Houston we're getting soaked. As for a tip, check out the Devils ;) It's been on constant rotation for the past couple of months. It's a little more ballsy with a female lead.
Yes I do. I have several but not really super deep. Oasis, Stone Roses, The Chemical Brothers and Elbow are the ones I can name off the top of my head.
@@BarakaPDub there's a band that never got signed and they should have done around in late 90s-2000 from Manchester. one of my favourite bands I'd lost them for years I couldn't think of the name and I found them again, there is some CDs out there never made a vinyl I don't think it's called karman breakdown the album, I think the only made the one but there is some more on you know sound ,c.... karman UK check it out!! the CD is not too bad quality if you can get one?
This like a cool hits package. The year in review. Loved it it was such a pleasure meeting you in person this past year, and twice ❤️🔥 until next time 🎸🎶
I couldn't agree more on the meet up. I am happy to be the Uber driver again the next time you hit Austin. BTW - Still no slabbed Fremer yet. They said 60 days tops but how busy can they really be???
Always good to see a new BarakaPDub vid. Great stuff, Paul. Very cool you got to see Kevin’s studio. Glad you and Mazzy got to hang out and saw Beck. I saw his 1st US tour at a club in the 90’s, and he was nowhere near the performer he is now. It was actually kind of awkward…I’m gonna make it to Seattle one of these days to hang out with Mazzy. Looks like you picked up some fantastic records, but those CD-R’s. Sorry to hear that. I’ve had a few of them with irreplaceable live shows that just disintegrated and the top layer just flew off in a thousand pieces. Excellent stuff as usual, Paul. Thanks. I’ve got some new music to look into now which is always appreciated.
Thanks Nick. I wish I could have seen Beck back in the 90s and like a lot of people, I immediately loved him after Mellow Gold was dropped. And yes, if there was something that grabbed you ear, give it a further sample. I love sharing the samples when I can to help sell the music.
Well...I have shot footage for a lot from this year. I hope to string it together in a video but I might have a dedicated one on the Austin Record Convention when I get a very special piece in the mail ;)
Nice recap video of your year👍 Not sure why you had to apologize for your Van Halen purchase? You then did a needle drop of yet another Jazz artist💤💤💤 and I guess a DJ "Mashup" album...🤷 Eddie and the boys deserved a needle drop...just my 2 cents.. Cheers
Ahh man. Glad there is a fellow VH fan. I have a lot friends that cringe when I throw on a VH record. Then again none of them really got into 80s hard rock or hair metal. I am a bit cautious of doing needle drops on bigger bands. I can't tell you how many times I've had videos blocked and had to redo them. I will have to see if I can't get by with a VH sample in the future.
Echoing orhers here, but with you, I get a pleasant chat, discover new music, and maybe get some hardware insights. All this, whenever and wherever I want. What's not to like. Thanks.
Hello Melinda. I think you would like this Groove Armada one. For whatever reason, I think they did three or four records for the Late Night Tales label. I think you will enjoy this one. Hope everything was okay with the move.
What a great video - so well done. I loved that Gabin needle drop. I'm going to explore that album. I'm glad you picked up the Van Halen One Step. I look forward to picking them all up. ♥️🤗 It's great to see you. Take care.
Yeah...I am eagerly awaiting for VH II to come out next month. I just got my Mofi summer flier in the mail today and it was advertising June. I also want to pick up the deluxe For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which should sound really good being put on three sides. Do give the Gabin album a little more of a listen online. It's pretty varied from track to track but you might like it. Thanks for watching Melinda.
