CBS Mastersound Gold CD's

I have avoided the CBS Mastersound CD's ever since reading the July 2001 interview with Gregg Schnitzer (formerly of MFSL) where he said that CBS cut their Mastersound LP's at half-speed, but "didn't adjust their EQ or Dolby systems down an octave" and instead used "their real time mastering notes for processing." He said "it sounded like watermelon seeds shooting out the speakers."

I did a search on this subject, but couldn't find if it was ever determined or agreed that this problem was corrected for the Mastersound Gold CD titles. Is it safe to buy these? Any recommendations on the "better" mastered ones?

 

I still think the CBS Mastersound gold CD of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' sounds better than the common 94 EMI remaster, despite them both being mastered by Doug Sax. it MIGHT be my imagination or it might not.

too bad the packaging is so cruddy, though.

 

Our own SH says in an old thread that this is the best version of the album. I'm not sure if he has heard the 1998 remaster though.

Maybe he'll post his thoughts here.

 

Yep, that's the version of WYWH to get, the gold mastersound. That's the only one that I remember as being done correctly.

 

"Blonde on Blonde" practically made my ears bleed.

 

I listened to it just last night...smooooooooth!

 

Same with B,S&T's "Child Is Father To The Man"...painful.

 

Yup...that is the one to get, one of my favorite cd's.

 

I like Sly & The Family Stone - STAND in this series.

 

I Like Bridge Over Troubled Water. I have the longbox, Japanese made version.

If you search through the archive, I think you'll find that this is usually one of the more well regarded Mastersounds.

 

The self-titled Boston gold Mastersound disc is another ear-bleeder. Much too bright.

 

Hi,

I also like the Van Morrison.

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

Gotta make sure the dogs have plenty of chew toys!

 

House Hippie,

To answer your original question, Mastersound LPs and Mastersound CDs are apples and oranges. Many of the CDs do sound crappy (as some of the replies point out), but the LPs (out least the first pressings) sounded bad for an entirely different reason. I'm no engineer, but I'll see if I can explain:

OK, the Mastersound LP mastering engineers cued up the tape and EQ'ed things until it all sounded just right and then cut a lacquer. The only problem is that in mimicing MoFi's half-speed mastering, they forgot to take into account the fact that the EQ was set for full speed but applied to the signal at half speed. The effect was that the resulting LPs sounded nothing like what the engineers intended (EQ moves all moved up an octave).

What I can't understand is how the test pressings got approved. You'd think someone would have noticed.

Making CDs is completely different. You can still make bad EQ choices, but not inadvertently the way those early Mastersound LPs did. Springsteen's Born to Run was one of the resulting "masterpieces," and the copy I have sounds terrible. Imagine a murky, shrill recording treated to random EQ. It's a soundtrack the Devil himself might choose to pump through the sound system in Hell.

 

Another vote for the Van Morrison!

 

I have Bridge Over Troubled Water. Sounds great to me

 

how is the Springsteen Born On The Run? I spotted it recently but didnt grab it.

 

IMNSHO I do not agree with the Pink Floyd WYWH being the best. It falls short when compared against the Japanese first pressing, but it is the 2nd best version that I've heard with much consistency.

The good ones that I've found that are the best in their fields are as follows, but also keep in mind that I haven't heard the 1st pressings of these, except for Journey. FWIW I've heard almost everyone of these Mastersounds except for around 8 of them.

Roger Waters: Amused To Death
Journey: Infinity
Van Morrison: Blowin' Your Mind

There are others that stand up fairly well...until you compare against their 1st pressing counterparts.

 

Haven't heard the Mastersound CD but this is one I have on MasterSound vinyl and it was not impressive. I'd avoid it.

 

Hi Dave...

Is the disc that your referring to the Japanese pressing on Harvest # CDP 7 46035 2
Black Label with silver writing and the CD booklet is black with a 4 triangle drawing in the middle? That's the one that I have and I think it sounds pretty darn smooth too!

Chris C

 

I've not done extensive comparisons, but I've always been content with the Mastersound Gold Santana (1st album).

I've done the comparisons with Jeff Beck Blow by Blow... to me MS Gold sounds the best of the 2-ch choices (old vinyl, half-speed vinyl, Japanese vinyl, original CD, current remaster (which is pretty good))... the clarity on the SACD surpasses all others, but the mix is funny (old Quad, I guess)... I'd kill to hear the master tapes of this album... it's one of those works whose full production potential never seems fully realized.

Case-by-case assessment as usual, it would seem.