Holy Steppenwolf, Steve!

[Sckott]

How the HELL did you get that sound for "Born to Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride"???

My GOD man, them Vintage MCAs are amazing. Thanks for the ride back! ;)

Ah, the different, less pongged stereo version of "Live For Today". Nice work.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Sckott
How the HELL did you get that sound for "Born to Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride"???

Eh...I thought Steve only did the first LP. Which, if memory serves, doesn't have Magic Carpet Ride.

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by lukpac


Eh...I thought Steve only did the first LP. Which, if memory serves, doesn't have Magic Carpet Ride.

"Magic Carpet Ride" is on the MCA compilation Vintage Music Vols. 9 & 10 which Steve handled.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Jimbo


"Magic Carpet Ride" is on the MCA compilation Vintage Music Vols. 9 & 10 which Steve handled.

Ahh...might have to pick that one up, then.

[BradOlson]

The Vintage Music series has long been out of print, but if you are able to find a used copy somewhere, pick the discs up (Volumes 1-10 are the Steve Hoffman volumes)

[Michael]

They are great! What a series... Correct me if I'm wrong, From what I remember (I don't have the CD handy) "Born To Be Wild" ends cold on one of the Vintage Music Series CDs.

[thxdave]

Could anybody scan or post a pic of the cover art so I know what the cover art of the MCA series looks like? Thanks.

dave

[Doug Hess Jr.]

Here you go. Sometimes you'll find them as only one volume per disc rather than a 2 fer...

[Doug Hess Jr.]

BAck of the book...which is the same as the back card in the jewel case.

[thxdave]

Many, many thanks Dough. I guess it's back to the used CD store Sunday. Do you know if the cover art is consistent throughout the entire series? It'll make flipping through the bins a lot easier.

dave
www.morrisonphotographics.com

[Doug Hess Jr.]

Yes. Both the single and double CD's have the same cover art.

Good luck!!

I know they've gotten a bad rap...and you do have to be careful, but I got some of the discs in the set from www.half.com

[Claus]

I think Mofi's Born To Be Wild is the best version... love it very much!

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by dough1981
Yes. Both the single and double CD's have the same cover art.

Good luck!!

I know they've gotten a bad rap...and you do have to be careful, but I got some of the discs in the set from www.half.com

The CDs do feature the same cover art, just different colors for each volume.

Be aware, though, that Steve only worked on Vols. 1-10. There was another batch of releases going up to Vol. 20 (I think), and there is an enormous drop off in sound quality.

P.S. Vol. 9 includes the only CD appearance of "Dawn of Correction" by The Spokesmen, a "conservative" answer record to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," which somehow managed to crack the Top 40 in 1965. Steve, thank you for resurrecting this forgotten nugget!

[Sckott]

Originally posted by Claus
I think Mofi's Born To Be Wild is the best version... love it very much!

I used to think so too. Not true. Really, there's a HUGE difference, and I'm not just sayin' it. Try it!

[Bob Lovely]

All,

My three favorite titles from the series mastered by Steve are:

Born To Be Wild
Magic Carpet Ride--both by Steppenwolf

and

Summertime--Billy Stewart

From listening, I always had the impression that Steve had either found the original masters versus production masters or had gone back to the original multi-tracks because there is much less compression and deeper low end on these tracks and that there is much less reverb on the Billy Stewart cut. Summertime is also the unedited full-length version.

Bob :)

[Dan]

"Summertime" was a big plus for me too! My eyes and ears lit up when I heard it on the CD. I had been looking for that song buy wasn't quite sure of the artist or title.

[Grant]

The cold ending of "Born To Be Wild" does it for me.

But Steve, where did you get that tape of Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me"? It doesn't sound like the 45. In fact, the master they use these days sounds much better and exactly like the 45, with reverb and all, except that it's in stereo. The one you used also seems to have a different stereo mix and the vocals are dry.

[Pat]

Re: Dough 1981
"Yes. Both the single and double CD's have the same cover art."

Actually, there is some confusion here!!!

For example: Volume 9 & 10 are on a SINGLE CD with 20 songs in total! It is NOT 2 CDs!

You can go into many Circuit City locations and find the "single" volume reissues with 10 songs on a single disc for a budget price. Check the various/oldies section to find these. I "believe" they still use the Steve Hoffman mastering from the 20 song sets!

The Cover Art on these 10 song CDs, that I've seen, is NOT the same as the original "bottle" design that were on the originals! Jimbo is right in that the first 10 volumes have different colors, with same art design. These (10 song discs) have a " drawing/old car scene" design!

Hope this clears things up!



:D

[Doug Hess Jr.]

Sorry about the confusion on the 20 song disc. However, MY 10 song ones which account for volumes 5, 6, 7 and 8 DO have the same cover art as my 20 song 1 & 2, 3 &4 and 9 & 10 versions.

[Sckott]

Originally posted by Grant
The cold ending of "Born To Be Wild" does it for me.

But Steve, where did you get that tape of Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me"? It doesn't sound like the 45. (snip) The one you used also seems to have a different stereo mix and the vocals are dry.

That 'taint the only difference, and in fact, I may be speaking out of turn, but I woulnd't be suprised if Steve didn't (re)mix those. The stereo version of "Live For Today" that I'm used to lets the lead vocal pan left to right (or vise versa) and Steve's version doesn't do those crazy things. I think the version of "Born to Be Wild" said it perfectly. I doin't think he used stereo 2-track masters. He mixed a few things from scratch to give everything a more natural sound. Stereo, yet not sounding like an overzelous mix-job. I say let Steve mix more!

The CD in whole is suprising to listen to, because of the really nice stereo job in each track. Very few engineers do a great job with mix AND mastering. When I thought I fell in love with the Steppenwolf MFSL, this just crushed it like a grape. Took me 6 seconds to be floored.

[thxdave]

Is Steve's mastering work being used for the MCA 20th Century Masters series that are on sale everywhere now?

dave

[Grant]

Sckott, I don't think Steve remixed anything in that CD. The ones on the Vintage 9&10 have tape hiss. In The case of "Rescue Me" the later versions don't have any hiss but sound exactly like the 45. In the case of "Live For Today" I think the common remix you hear on other CDs was done by Bill Inglot. Inglot also remixed "Midnight Confessions" but Steve used the original here.

FWIW, I think the remix of "Midnight Confessions" (my favorite Grass Roots track) sounds nice, with the vocals further back. But is it true to the 45? I heard the 45 on a crappy system with headphones once and I could not tell.

"Magic Carpet Ride" here sounds full. Later remasterings have more bass shaved off and the treble spiked a bit.

As much as I like the cold ending on "Born To Be Wild", I don't like the recessed midrange. I prefer the edgier, single mix.

[thxdave]

I heard "Magic Carpet Ride" on FM one day and it sounded outstanding!! No matter how loud I turned it up, it never started to fall apart or become harsh. I had never heard it with so much bass punch and dynamics. I have always tried to find the CD that sounded that good and I'm hoping that, after all these years, it might have been Steve's version. I'm hoping that it WASN'T just a brutally overcompressed, limited FM signal that fooled my ears.

dave

[Grant]

Many radio stations tend to use older CDs so, maybe it was Steve's work.

I think the compression on most radio stations would kill the bass and dynamics bigtime.

[thxdave]

Excellent news!! Which volume was "Magic..." on?
dave