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Blue Note reissues

I became a serious vinyl convert less than a year ago and ever since have been buying records regularly to enlarge my collection. I listen almost exclusively to jazz and buy new reissues of jazz releases, most of them on Blue Note, but also Prestige, Riverside and Columbia.

To say that I am disappointed by the quality of the vinyl is an understatement. Virtually every record is warped, which I can live with, reluctantly. A bigger problem is the distortion that becomes more and more prevalent on reissues. It's a short buzzing sound, which sounds kind of like the sound of lost airwaves on the radio but higher in pitch. I know it's not my cart as I have records that sound perfect, and it's in the the same spot on faulty records so it must be a quality issue with transfer and manufacture.
I also own quite a few used original pressings or old reissues and none of them have a similar defect, which leads me to believe that it is a current problem with quality control. It is extremely frustrating as I've spent thousands of dollars on my rig and record cleaning machine only to spin warped records that sound distorted.

I know this topic has been discussed many times here on A-gon but I would actually like to do something about it. I know many designers and manufacturers read the forum, but it seems not record companies' reps as it's not getting any better. As a community of many thousands who pay a lot of money to indulge in our hobby and passion, I think we should be able to exert some level of pressure on companies like Blue Note to release products of high quality. I'm open to ideas and suggestions. Where I could, I emailed the record company, but Blue Note for example has not contact info at all. Also, I'm afraid single emails won't do much.
actusreus
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Actusreus,

I've no experience with the cheapie Blue Note reissues, but the sound you described is consistent with pressing voids, which are caused when the vinyl plug and mold are not up to temperature when pressed. The vinyl can't flow into all the groove modulations and literally leaves a void (gap) between vinyl and stamper wall. It sounds exactly as you described:
It's a short buzzing sound, which sounds kind of like the sound of lost airwaves on the radio but higher in pitch.
Pressing voids occur more often on the L channel (inner groove wall) than the R (outer), but can occur in either.

Typical flaw resulting from a rushed manufacturing process.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
I've bought those cheap ($10-12) Blue Note reissues, said to be Scorpios, and have never encountered any buzzing sounds or other anomalies. In fact, I've been generally pleased with them -- not expecting much to begin with -- and have collected about a dozen of them. Are they sonically close to the 45 rpm reissues? No. But they're not bad IME and the ones I've bought have been perfectly flat, looked very good, and the covers are beautiful.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
I've bought those cheap ($10-12) Blue Note reissues, said to be Scorpios, and have never encountered any buzzing sounds or other anomalies. In fact, I've been generally pleased with them -- not expecting much to begin with -- and have collected about a dozen of them. Are they sonically close to the 45 rpm reissues? No. But they're not bad IME and the ones I've bought have been perfectly flat, looked very good, and the covers are beautiful.
br3098
994 posts
 
Actusreus said:
and it's in the the same spot on faulty records so it must be a quality issue with transfer and manufacture

If you are experiencing this problem repeatedly at the same point of on these LPs I would suspect that it's either a problem with your cartridge or (more likely) an issue with your cartridge mounting geometry. I know that you said that you do not have this problem with other LPs, but it pis ossible that your cartridge is just not a good compatible with the grooves cut by the particular cutting head used to produce these products. Have you tested with a different cartridge?
jdaniel13
129 posts
 
Ah, the short "buzzing sound," inner groove damage, mis-tracking and incomplete vinyl fill. Having upgraded to a Dynavector XX2, there's very little which doesn't track, but the amount of inner groove distortion in used lp's from previous improper playback can be disheartening.
As opposed to my earlier Dyna 20xL, the XX2 delivers the distortion on a silver platter--the "buzz" is so separate and clear from the musical info.

IMHO, incomplete vinyl fill is more prevalent in "recent" pressings from '83 onwards. I love Lp's but have gone back to CD's/SACD's for solo piano, and some chamber music. I went through five copies of the TAS listed Ashkenazy Rachmaninoff Preludes (London/Decca) including a sealed copy, but still mis-tracked during certain explosive upper-octave piano chords.

Doesn't always need to be a loud passage to invite tracking damage; I've found "buzzing" associated with even a solo flute passage.

Some of the original Bluenotes and Riversides, mono vocals/opera can sound better with the mono switch on, or folded down to mono via cables. The 45's in my experience don't seem to present tracking issues
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