MoFi v/s UHQR

@cleeds: The information regarding the Dolby issue came from Bernie Grundman, Chad Kassem, and Michael Fremer. Fremer posted a video on his Analog Corner website telling the story, which was subsequently further discussed with Grundman in another video.

A number of years back Fremer got a call from Grundman, informing him of the situation. The Tea For The Tillerman tape boxes were marked indicating that Dolby noise reduction had NOT been used in the recording of the album, so Bernie mastered the LP for release by Chad Kassem on his Analogue Productions record label without the Dolby playback circuit engaged. He told Fremer that when so mastered, the resulting sound was very bright, far brighter than the Island copy of the LP Fremer had supplied him with for a reference (comparing a new remaster with the original is very common in high end mastering).

Grundman sent Fremer a test pressing, asking him if he thought the remaster should be made with the high frequencies decreased somewhat, as he didn’t think audiophiles would like the sound of the LP mastered "flat". Fremer said no, to cut the lacquer flat, brightness and all. Hearing that first lacquer is when Fremer realized the characteristic sound of the Ovation guitar used on the album was muted, lacking it’s inherent "bite". As I said above, I heard the high frequency sheen of the drumset cymbals missing, along with the overtones of the snare drum, toms, and bass drum.

The first pressing "pink label" Island LP had been on Harry Pearson’s Super Disc list for years, and I assumed the problem I heard with my copy of the LP was a result of it being a later "sunray" Island label pressing. Nope, the Island LP (as well as the U.S.A. pressing) had been incorrectly mastered with the Dolby noise reduction circuit engaged, reducing the frequency response with a declining slope as frequency rose.

The Analogue Productions pressing of Tea For The Tillerman album is THE Version to own. By the way, it was also Grundman who discovered the mistake made in the mastering of the Kind Of Blue album, for it’s entire history! That topic was also discussed by Grundman, Fremer, and Kassem in a long YouTube video.

Thanks, @bdp24. I haven't been able to find that video but I'll keep looking.

bdp24

The information regarding the Dolby issue came from Bernie Grundman, Chad Kassem, and Michael Fremer. Fremer posted a video on his Analog Corner website telling the story, which was subsequently further discussed with Grundman in another video.

I couldn't find the video, but I did find this:

“Both albums [Jakon and Tillerman] were recorded onto 3M or Studer machines on 16-track two-inch tape at 15 inches per second,” Samwell-Smith explained in the liner notes to the 2008 2CD “Deluxe” edition of Tillerman, “with Dolby noise reduction and mixed onto quarter-inch tape at 15 IPS with Dolby [noise reduction]. “ According to Sound on Sound’s Joe Matera, Samwell-Smith “played with the Dolby system during mastering to add compression and treble to the entire mix.” (Exactly how he did this isn’t clear, though producer/engineer André Perry has speculated that Samwell-Smith didn’t decode the Dolby noise reduction in order to create “a very present, dynamic, bright sound.”)

I also found this:

“The tapes are in still excellent condition, the Dolby A encoded BASF tape used has held up very well compared with other formulations used in the mid 70’s and later. The tapes sound excellent. I’ve done no limiting or compression on these files at all. Playback was done on an Ampex ATR100, and the A/D converter was a prototype MSB unit that David Chesky was good enough to loan us.” — Ted Jensen, Sterling Sound

Perhaps the truth here is lost to time.

@cleeds: It wouldn’t surprise me if Fremer also covered the Tea For The Tillerman subject in his Stereophile column. This would have been quite a few years back now, but may be available in the mag’s archives.

I have a lot of Harmonia Mundi LP’s (my favorite Classical label), and just about all the original Sheffield’s (I’m a big fan of direct-2-disk LP’s). Only a few Windham Hill’s (I don’t care for Stan Rickter’s mastering. He applied the "smile" equalization to his MoFi records), a lot of RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence LP’s, but no ERC’s (silly pricing, variable quality). Another great label is Bear Family Records, a German company.

When I speak of the quality of an LP pressing, that is not the same as the sound quality of any given title.