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Recording Quality and Different Studios

Hi Everyone,

Are there any artists / studios that you gravitate to because of recording quality standards?  I hear alot of discussion on certain pressings for a particular artist (i.e. needle in a haystack), but I'm wondering if there is a label out there that focus on putting out good quality high fidelity vinyl.  I want to avoid some of the hipster pressings (i.e. only pressed on vinyl to jump on the train), and focus on better quality.  Thoughts?
128x128martinman
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
Certain artists are known to care a great deal about the sound quality of their recordings. Ry Cooder, for example, works very hard at getting good tone out of his guitars and amps (and succeeding magnificently!), and did the first digital Pop album (Bop Till You Drop), but hated the sound of his guitar on that album. When he heard a Water Lily album, he was stunned, and has been on a few WL albums. Recorded sound quality is not reliably recording studio related, but more recording engineer related. One studio in which a fair number of good soundings albums have been recorded, however, is Ocean Way in Santa Monica, California.
martinman's avatar
martinman OP
43 posts
 
Is acoustic sounds related to music direct at all?  They have the same holiday discount code...  just seems odd.  

I looked through ACs site - i'll be ordering next from them.  Really good stuff.  Thanks for the suggestions.  

@bdp24 - is there an easy way to look through an Ocean Way catalog?  

 
gpgr4blu
810 posts
 
Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds are direct competitors, each with a associated record company wholly owned by the company or its principal. Music Direct  (principal-Jim Davis) owns Mobile Fidelity and its assets including mastering chain.
Chad Kassem owns Acoustic Sounds as well as Analogue Productions/Quality Record Pressing and is making an all out assault to be engaged in every aspect of record production from mastering to pressing the biscuits to printing the record jackets to selling the final product.
There are also Soundstagedirect, Elusive Disc and others. For getting my records delivered without bends, folds, dents, etc--Acoustic Sounds and Soundstagedirect are the best.
They all compete so when one has a holiday sale, the others often follow.  
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 

martinman---Hey, does "martin" refer to your acoustic guitar? I have a few friends with Martin's---great guitar!

Ocean Way is a recording STUDIO, not a label. Recordings made there appear on many different labels. I haven't looked, but Ocean Way most likely has a website, where there may be a client list. Mike Fremer often mentions the studio a recording was made at in his LP reviews---maybe a search on Analog Planet will provide you with a list of recordings done at Ocean Way. I know Ry Cooder has recorded there (as has Elvis Costello and many others), and liked the results.

fourwnds's avatar
fourwnds
261 posts
 
SpeakersCorner, GrooveNote are a couple other companies I have gotten excellent records from. The whole recording chain though is as important. Pretty much anything Daniel Lanois as a producer(or musician(BlackDub)touched floated my boat, for example. Pallas is a great pressing plant and can be a good sign. The Zappa reissues cut at Pallas remastered from Original tape and mastered by Grundman pretty much blow my mind. MusicMatters is another label that seems worth checking out but no personal experience. 
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