Steve, any thought on 1/2 speed mastering

[KLM]

I don't recall if this was ever touched upon in the old DCC Forum but was curious what the pros and cons are of 1/2 speed mastering an lp? I've noticed that none of the audiophile labels use this technique anymore and wondered why? I would love to hear from an engineer's perspective (from the BIG GUY) and oh yeah the rest of you "forum Folk" can chime in as well. Thanks

[Beagle]

Don't you lose your extreme bottom end, because it drops off the map when you go 1/2 speed? I thought I had read something to this effect, maybe from Doug Sax, I'm not sure..

[JohnnyK]

I have a small number of MFSL 1/2 speed master LP's that sound great, especially Days of Future Past.

[Steve Hoffman]

I'm not a fan of the process. Stan The Man perfected it, so it can work in his hands, but in other hands, watch out ears!

[Sckott]

True. 1/2 speed mastering to vinyl takes a careful aim at the way the sound is transferred to vinyl. You can't just take a master tape and reduce it and your cutter to 1/2. CBS, when they did the "Half Speed Mastersound" series found out the hard way. They did it without watching their product. You have to reduce certain frequencies, or else you'll get shrill and high-end blister. Not good. :( Especially when you can't listen to your product as it's cut. It leaves a lot to the unknown, unless you're as good a' marksman as Stan. I suppose he's trained himself to listen to a master tape as 1/2, and can judge what he's hearing as it's cut. It's crazy, man!

You have to be hitting the mark before you cut. And you think Steve is losing his mind cutting at normal speed... Whew!

Not even sure if Stan would continue doing 1/2's. Woulnd't be suprised if he's scrapped that idea.... Not that the MFSLs didn't sound superb!

Also, The J Geils "Freeze Frame" Lp originally was mastered at 3/4 speed. Still, Capitol didn't reduce the higher frequencies there either, and that's why that LP sounds waaay to hot in the higher frequenices. There's more to it than just this though. I'm just pulling an example out of my head....

[Steve Hoffman]

That's right, Sckott. And to actually reduce and adjust those freq's that need adjusting, you have to do some RADICAL EQ'ing that can't be done with a Sontec. All sorts of phase problems and weird stuff can happen.

I like the pure and "simple" approach, cutting wise. Sounds more like music, less like "Hi-Fi".

[Sckott]

I'll give everyone just a litle example, although I don't own the original MFSL vinyl, the Fabulous Sound Labs Japan bootlegs that have been around that are HDCD reveal something interesting on the title track to "Please Please Me", because those discs are needle drops of the MFSL box. The harmonica parts don't just sound bad on that track, they're distorted beyond listenability. Just like that article someone posted said (about the CBS'ers), it sounds like watermelon seeds flying out of the speakers! Ah, one of the little pitfalls of trying to master at 1/2 and get away with sonic weirdness which would be no problem Eqing and cutting at normal speeds. Yeah, everything in the sonic spectrum, to get correct, goes almost beyond control. It's hard trying to flatten the recording at 1/2! What cha' gonna do, bring it to a PC as correction as a 2nd step in the chain? Makes things even more complex instead of LESS.

I'm sure Stan and MFSL didn't anticipate that little sonic problem, but it ended up on the finished product. Yes, the rest of the song and record is fine, but the frequency response of just -that part- threw everything off keister. How ya going to work around *that*? Definately the Excedrin bottle at the cutter becomes 1/2 empty, as apposed to 1/2 full! :eek:

My 1/2 cent. Just an example that even the mighty MFSL had interesting pitfalls doing 1/2's. :(

[Pinknik]

Not even sure if Stan would continue doing 1/2's. Woulnd't be suprised if he's scrapped that idea.... Not that the MFSLs didn't sound superb!

Last I heard (in the past year) Stan is still cutting half-speed, not only analog, but digital as well. He's devoted to the process. I think this info was in enjoythemusic.com's interview with Stan, if it's still available there.