Better Records vs MoFi

For those who care, not all MoFi titles have gone through digital conversion. But as @slaw correctly pointed out, just as with almost all original pressings and reissues, the lacquers of the all-analogue MoFi LP’s are cut not from the master tape, but from a "safety" (aka "production") copy. One notable exception is the Analogue Productions Kind Of Blue album, for which Bernie Grundman used the original 3-track master tape to cut his lacquer, way back in 1997 (for Classic Records). Numerous guys have compared original 1950’s pressings of KOB with the versions of MoFi, Classic Records, and Analogue Productions. Guess which version came out on top? ;-)

MoFi is of the opinion that their digital step produces a better sounding product than does using an analogue safety tape as the source. But there are other considerations. Just as with the making of all lacquers, equalization may or may not be used. Some of the dissatisfaction with MoFi LP’s---even by those who like many of their titles---is due to equalization choices made by the MoFi engineers.

LOL this is just nut spending that much for an LP. Just another audio product that smacks of conspicuous consumption. But hey if you got the coin to spend and yourself indulgent go chase the windmill.

2 recent acquisitions sound astonishingly good  relative to other copies I own:  A re-mixed 2 disc 45RPM of "The Band" (Brown Album) from the boxed set, and a recent remastered "Waltz For Debbie" vinyl that Fremer was all excited about. 

Not sure if it was pointed out that Better Records offers no-questions-asked, full refunds, if you are not happy with what you received for your money - just pack it up well and send it back - so it's not like you're spending all that money on a gamble. 

Good one (The Band) wolf_garcia. Even the original pressing is pretty good (I have a U.S. and a U.K.), as is the MoFi. The 45RPM format allowed Robert Ludwig (mastering) and Chris Bellman (lacquer cutting) to maximize the potential of the simple recordings John Simon made back in 1969. Plus the album is one of the greatest Rock ’n’ Roll records ever made (imo of course).

Though LP pressings are too variable copy-to-copy to say definitively, @minkwelder’s praise for an original Capitol pressing of Music From Big Pink surprised me. It is well known that the original mix and mastering severely rolled off the bass frequencies contained in the master tapes, greatly emasculating Rick Danko’s Fender bass and Levon Helm’s Gretsch kick drum. That’s true no matter how "hot" your pressing is. Another problem with original Capitol pressings is the vinyl they were using: some of the noisiest of the time (late-60’s). For some reason MFBP is generally noisier than is the brown album.

I hope @minkwelder knows MoFi did two versions of MFBP. The first (MFSL 1-039) is not good, though the vinyl is excellent (JVC’s Super Vinyl). The second (1-346, pressed at RTI)) is better. He mentions half-speed mastering, which leads me to believe it was 1-039 he heard. It was mastered at half-speed, 1-346 wasn’t. Again, a fantastic album of music, though to some people less accessible than the brown album.

By the way ya'll, the boxset containing all The Band albums on LP was pressed at QRP (Quality Record Pressing), the manufacturing arm of Analogue Productions. The box is a great value.