About the new LSC reissues by Analogue Productions

Well at 30.00 bucks a pop with the possibility some yrs from now the prices doubling on EBay...You might want to load up on them in the hopes of making a fair profit on your investment. The Classic and Chesky reissues of these old war horses should be more than enough to put these recordings to rest?

It's a pretty good bet that one of the reasons Sterling Sound is doing the mastering is that they're the only studio RCA trusts with the original 3 track tapes. The Chesky releases were variable. Some LPs were cut from the original three track masters and others off a safety eg.those mastered by Tim de Paravini.

There was a discussion about them somewhere else and the reactions are mixed. I am not sure but didn't MF wrote they are made from digital copy ? anyway, CR and Chesky had the masters (or the best close to it), CR bought and restored the old Ampex machines and wilkinson was hired to supervise the mastering with his written recording datas. In a way it was as close as possible (Chesky did something different in some of their cuts but that is a different story).
Tapes won't get better over the years, they will have drop outs and a loss of information, mainly in the higher frequencies. No matter what is done, it has to be different. An original is an original, the CR were the closest way to them and others are different. Isn't it great you can choose now between 180fr, 200gr., 200gr flat profile, 45 in 180gr,, 45 in 200gr, and some in white vinyl and now again those from AP..
Overall, that makes any LSC original quite cheap :-)
Original (and in a way CR) are unique, at that time the conductor and Artist did listen to the masterings and said "ok" or "not ok", in a way it is authentic. With the reissues everyone can create whatever he wants. Everything today does not get measured by any standard. Good is whatever one likes ...

While I'm sure Acoustic Sounds will do a good job on these reissues, I think I have enough originals and CR reissues to satisfy me for what's left of my lifetime. Don't see why we need a new set of reissues of this series at this point.

I can tell you personally having been there for many of the Chesky remastering sessions that the LPs aren't digital. Now the genius's at RCA did at one time suggest to David that he just release a digital copy on vinyl since the buyers wouldn't know the difference. Right! Brilliant!

David's reissues BTW were remastered using an Ampex 350 IIRC (it was covered in my TAS piece many years ago) that was highly modified by Larry Smith of Perfectionist Audio Components. Everything in the deck was selected/replaced down to the Tektronix 576 Curvetracer NOS Telefunken matched tubes (and back then the Teles were real NOS).

If I had to criticize one thing about the Chesky reissues, it was that David could have done a better job mixing the middle channel into the two track mix. (not to mention he only cut one lacquer from the tape and assumed that was the best.)

And even taking into account some tape degradation over the years and having heard these tapes in the studio, (depending a lot upon how the tape was stored), I really think that having heard these tapes that Chesky and CR just didn't do the recordings justice. Hopefully Chad will take even more care and get us closer to the wonderful music and sound still on those original tapes!

Thanks for your insights.
I will still get the ones that i missed or those never reissued by either CR nor by chesky
like
LSC 2111 DEBUSSY LA MER (THE SEA) & IBERT PORTS OF CALL
LSC 2367 GERSHWIN AN AMERICAN IN PARIS & RHAPSODY IN BLUE
LSC 2395 PROKOFIEV ALEXANDER NEVSKY
LSC 2456 LALO SYMPHONIE ESPAGNOLE
Avi

For the most part I felt Classic did a good job on their LSC reissues. Some of the early ones didn't sound as sweet as the originals, such as LSC 1806, but even then they had a better bass foundation and slam. Which one I preferred depended on the music and how it matched up with the strength of the original or the Classic reissue. As an example, on LSC 1806 I preferred the original, but on LSC 2225 I preferred the Classic. The sweet strings on the original of LSC 1806 are more important to me than the better dynamics of the Classic. But on Witches Brew, I prefer the Classic.

Around the time of the reissue of Spain, LSC 2230 if I remember correctly, I felt Classic really hit their stride. Their reissues from that point on were outstanding.

The one truly terrible Classic reissue is Venice, LSC 2313. I don't know if AP has access to the RCA European recordings, but if they do LSC 2313 would be my first choice.

As is Avi242, I'm looking forward to the two that have never been reissued, LSC 2111 and LSC 2395.