2. music
  3. 1365087540

Mythologies on MoFi - Something wrong? ?

Patricia Barber's Mythologies is one of my favorite albums from a unique and talented artist. The cd is nothing short of brilliant, both musically and sonically. Unfortunately, the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs vinyl is very poorly mastered, so that the level is far too low to be satisfying. I own several thousand lp's and cd's and I have no axe to grind. In fact, I generally love all of MoFi's releases. This time, however, they blew it. I have contacted them, and they will not acknowledge the problem, notwithstanding that I know others who have had the same experience. It is not just that this album was recorded at a low level - it is apparent that the vinyl was mastered improperly, so that the level is WAY too low to be played back at ordinary listening volume. As a result, it lacks dynamics and is dull, lifeless and boring. The cd suffers none of these problems.

Anyone else have the same experience?
128x128strat1117

Showing 1 response by wrm57

wrm57
629 posts
 
My copy of Mythologies (#611) sounds a touch dull at low volume but I wouldn't call it compressed. Its dynamic range sounds natural. OTOH, my copy of Sinatra's Only the Lonely does sound a bit dull and compressed.

It's my second copy of Mythologies. The first one had a lot of right-channel surface noise so I returned it. This one's much quieter but still a little noisy. Great record.

Like Hevac1, I find many MFSL releases need turning up to really come to life. Milt Jackson's Invitation is a gorgeous exception. That record sounds phenomenal at any volume.
More to discover