Sold Date:
September 26, 2015
Start Date:
June 4, 2015
Final Price:
$33.00
(USD)
Seller Feedback:
3286
Buyer Feedback:
0
SD 7203 – David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name... Classic Records 200 gram LP reissue on Quiex SVP Vinyl* STILL SEALED
David Crosby's first
solo album is remarkable even by today's standards. His bright high lonesome
California sound is evident on all tracks of this opus featuring contributions
by Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and members of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful
Dead, and Santana. The original 30
ips ¼” analog masters were sourced from Stephen Barncard, the original session
engineer and used for the first time to cut this musical and sonic gem for
vinyl. The texture on the album
jacket is so authentic you might be fooled into thinking you got a sealed
original from 1971.
*Background on Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile
In 2003, Classic Records launched
its now famous Signature Blue Note Mono reissue series. As part of that
series Classic developed an "authentic" 200 gram LP profile that
replicated that of an original Blue Note record from the 1950's.
Comparing a test pressing on the new profile versus the same title on
the normal 180 gram pressing it was discovered that the 200 gram version
sounded significantly better. The 200 gram pressing sounded louder,
with more definition and solidity of notes across all frequencies and
there was more detail - particularly low level detail like room or hall
sounds, pages being turned, musicians whispering and automobile sounds
outside the studio all became easier to identify. At first it was
speculated inside Classic Records that the extra weight resulted in the
better performance as no one could come up with a better answer given
that the stampers were the same as well as the vinyl pellets used on
both 180g and 200g pressings. One day, Michael Hobson, the founder of
Classic Records was discussing this unexplainable sonic discovery with
the Legendary Mastering Engineer and Sheffield Records founder, Doug Sax
when Doug, without hesitation stated "Ah Michael you've discovered the
difference in a flat versus conventional profile". Puzzled, Hobson
asked for an explanation which Sax described as going all the way back
to 1950's mono pressings and what happened when stereo records came out
in the early 1960's. Sax explained that in the 1950's when mono records
had no vertical modulation (only lateral), pressing PolyVinylChloride
PVC (plastic) records were more easily pressed on "Flat Profile" dies
fitted to the pressing machines since the grooves on the mono stampers
were all the same height (no vertical modulation). The molten vinyl was
able to flow evenly across the stampers and fill properly during the
molding (pressing) of the record. The problems started when stereo
record cutting came into vogue producing stampers that had variable
height grooves sticking up across the diameter of each stamper. Using
the older mono pressing dies resulted in tremendous problems getting the
areas between grooves of different heights to fill properly - a groove
that is in front of another taller one often got passed over by the
flowing molten vinyl resulting in "non-fill" which was audible and thus a
"defective" record. Pressing plants don't like to press defective
records and are always looking for high pressing yields or a s few
rejects as possible.
To solve the problem, the engineers
developed a new pressing die profile which tapers from the center of the
die, flattens in the middle of the diameter and then tapers again
toward the outside of the die. The new profile was "concave" rather than
flat. When you put a flat stampers onto the concave dies the stampers
distort and are no longer flat - the grooves are no longer perpendicular
across the stamper and by association across a finished vinyl
pressing. This new die profile created "back pressure" on the flowing
vinyl and solved the "non-fill" problem with stereo pressings and
resulted in higher yields which was great for pressing plants and good
for record companies who wanted good prices on pressings. The problem
was and still is that the new profile records don't sound as good as
they could because they are not flat across their profile. Using a
micrometer across the diameter of a 1950's mono records reveals that the
thickness is virtually the same across the record's diameter from
center label to outer edge but not so for a newer stereo profile
pressing which is convex across its diameter resulting from the concave
profile dies / distorted stampers. This is the dirty little secret that
Classic had rediscovered was known to old school experts like Doug Sax
who founded Sheffield Labs in the 1970's. After the discovery, Classic
Records never looked back and all of its releases and re-pressings after
2003 were on the new 200 gram Flat Profile dies that were specially
made for Classic. Some years later Classic discovered that the very
same profile was used by JVC in Japan to produce the legendary UHQR
pressings for Mobile Fidelity which are well known to sound better than
the conventional Mobile Fidelity pressings of the same titles - it all
makes sense now. The long and the short of this is that Classic 200g
Super Vinyl Profile (Flat Profile) pressings are as good as it gets for
proper playback without groove distortion from non-flat pressings -
Period.
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