Direct Metal Mastering...good or bad?

[Beagle]

DMM was initially hyped as being an improvement, a great innovation in LP mastering. Supposedly you could more accurately cut longer LP sides without the usual losses in bass and overall level. Yet I hear negative comments about it, without stating why or what is wrong about it.

I hear a brighter overall sound in my DMM LP's (mostly late 80's) but I am not sure if I can attribute that to DMM or the general overall brightness of the recordings of that era.

Any comments or experiences on DMM and why it is a good or bad thing?

[Sckott]

DMM's aren't necessarilly bad, but a lot of people don't like it...True.

I can't knock my US pressing of Peter Gabriel's "So" or Steve Winwood's "Roll With It", using them as examples on my mind.

If it sounds like music, then it doesn't necessarilly matter. You CAN find horrible 1st pressings and then, surprisingly, the reissue (4-5 years later) will sound great! DMMs will sound brighter overall, but a lot of records OF the day were cut like that. The brightness you hear is a mix of both things; sound of the day and the DMM cutting process. DMM was a convenience, not necessarilly an improvement in a lot of cases.

[Steve Hoffman]

Good or bad?

Bad IMO.

Takes too much power to cut on metal.

The reason it was invented originally was to bypass the lacquer cutting and plating process. But, DMM never really worked, it just takes too much power to cut onto metal. Not enough subtle tones, and too many slam tones. Get me?

[Gary]

Sorry, I don't get it. :o

Too much power / too many slam tones as in loud mastering? Or they have to play really loud or cut it really loud and thus the process cannot pick up soft tones?

:confused:

[Steve Hoffman]

Too much power in a cutting amp is needed.

Just like too much power in a stereo. 500 watts a channel. Lots of power, right? Well, why do tube amps with 10 watts sound more musical?

150 watts for a cutting head is about right for full orchestral music.

Think of all that is needed to cut through metal, maintaining life like musical tonality. Why bother?

[pjrashid]

I don't know if we are talking about the Reference Recordings Direct-to-Cd recording process or not??
:confused:

[SVL]

One of the reasons for the generally negative attitude towards DMM may be that it appeared around the same time when digital recording began to be widely used as a source for LPs. Some people may have well thought that DMM was to blame for brightness, while in fact digital was the culprit.

[ArneW]

Hm,

I noticed that all of my DMM records are pressed on very "soft" vinyl and begin to show horrible amounts of clicks and pops (especially true for TelDec and Chesky releases). Perhaps they had to use some other vinyl because they had to use a very soft metal master which would allow "cutting" at all?

Arne

[Bob Lovely]

All,

I have the Beatles "Red" and "Blue" Lps on DMMs that were pressed in Germany. They have always sounded different than the original LPs and CDs in one distinct way--lots of low-end, especially on the later recorded material. I have always assumed that this was result of the DMM process. I have not played them in years!

Is anyone familar with these pressings and why they sound the way they do?

Bob :)

[Beagle]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
Too much power in a cutting amp is needed.

Just like too much power in a stereo. 500 watts a channel. Lots of power, right? Well, why do tube amps with 10 watts sound more musical?

150 watts for a cutting head is about right for full orchestral music.

Think of all that is needed to cut through metal, maintaining life like musical tonality. Why bother? Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like an example of "less is more". I did detect something non-musical about DMM but was never sure what the cause of it was. I guess the classic example was Paul Simon's "Graceland".

[John Carsell]

Originally posted by Bob Lovely
All,

I have the Beatles "Red" and "Blue" Lps on DMMs that were pressed in Germany. They have always sounded different than the original LPs and CDs in one distinct way--lots of low-end, especially on the later recorded material. I have always assumed that this was result of the DMM process. I have not played them in years!

Is anyone familar with these pressings and why they sound the way they do?

Bob :)

Bob, It seems as though someone tampered with the tapes before these Lp's were mastered.

You'll notice a narrower stereo image throughout all of these.

And of course that's not a good thing.:mad:

[Bob Lovely]

John,

Thanks, for the insight. They sound very different that is for sure.

Bob

[ericpeters]

So what about 1/2 speed mastering? The theory looks good to me but you don't see them anymore.

[Chris Desjardin]

I have the red and blue Beatles sets, as well as the DMM white vinyl White Album. I always (and still do!) thought the sound on them was superb. I have a cd-r of them and play them more than the official CD's. I could swear at one time Steve said that version of the White Album was the best sounding version of that LP? Steve, did you say that, or is my memory failing?

[Steve Hoffman]

No, Chris.

I liked the British White vinyl pressings the best. Never heard any DMM Beatles.

[Chris Desjardin]

Damn! I got my white vinyl's mixed up! And I searched for a long time to find a sealed copy, too. Now I'll have to look for the british version.