1st impressions of the JPN 2-Track, 35DP-4 (Wish You Were Here)

I just got to hear the early JPN disc of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here--the two-track mastering normally identified by the matrix 35DP-4. I've been listening back and forth between this and the Mastersound Gold remaster, to see if I could sort out the differences.

I can see why some say that the 35DP-4 is very "clean" sounding...playback is certainly very smooth, and it is a "comfortable" listening experience. You can crank it pretty loudly and still enjoy it, which is not done so easily with the Mastersound. It's seems like a job well done with the tape source that was at available.

But I feel that there is a downside to this too. When comparing the 35DP-4 to the Mastersound Gold, you can hear that some of the detail at the very high end on the MS has essentially vanished into tape hiss on the 35DP-4, and there is some thickness at the bottom end on the MS that is basically not present on the 35DP-4. If I wasn't sure before that the MS was sourced from the "first generation master tapes" (as it says on the liner notes) I certainly have no reason to doubt it now. The 35DP-4 just sounds like it's a couple of gens away from the source, by comparison. If you already enjoy the Mastersound Gold, or even think it's a little harsh, then you may expect to get that "something is missing" feeling when you first hear the 35DP-4.

What the Mastersound Gold has going against it, for me, is that it sounds a little fierce at times, kind of "hard" sounding. We can easily blame it on someone tweaking or EQ, but maybe that's just the way the OMT sounded? I think it's a little compressed, but not stupidly compressed like some of the discs we complain about here. There were two very large peaks shaved off, but I don't think either of them contained music (i.e. such as the sound of that space-age elevator door shutting at the end of "Welcome To The Machine"). Despite all that, the Mastersound disc is still more detailed, more well-defined and dynamic than any other CD release I've heard, even though the old two-track has it's good points as well.

I'm not knocking the old 35DP-4--I thoroughly enjoyed it--I'm just saying that I wouldn't sell my Mastersound Gold to fund the purchase of one. It's still head-and-shoulders above the DADC pressing I have, that's for sure. Just something to consider if you're planning to spend a couple hundred on Ebay for the revered 2-track mastering.

 

Thank you for your impressions Greg. They are certainly much appreciated!

I've actually been searching for a copy of 35DP-4 for some time to complement my MS release on eBay. While there have been a few close calls, no luck yet. Sometimes I wondered whether the rarity of this particular CD was part of the appeal. Now I know.

 

I'm willing to give up some high end in exchange for the tape hiss. Hisssssss. Mmmmmmm.

 

I am just curious but if you don't mind, could you say where you managed to obtain this. Was it eBay? If you'd rather not say - that ok.

Regards

 

How often does this come up for sale? I haven't seen a copy listed anywhere for a while now.

Regards

 

The original Japanese release with catalog number 35DP 4 shows up on eBay once in a while -- maybe a half-dozen times a year. I haven't seen a copy up for auction in awhile. Furthermore, I practically never see copies of Wish You Were Here with catalog number CK 33453 advertised as the two-track Japanese pressing. To find one on eBay, you might have to poll sellers of CK 33453 discs with generic listings to determine which particular pressings they have. One might have a diamond in the rough!

 

I have the Mastersound, purchased new when it came out. Never listen to it because I hate the sound of the SONY SBM encoding. Too lacking in detail and processed sounding for my taste.

 

Thats true IMHO. There is a certain SBM-sound. I have a couple of SBM-CDs and I think they sound kind of artifical.

 

If you can find the 35DP-4, buy it. It's worth the price...to me especially.

 

On the contrary, I think the MasterSound WYWH has great detail.
Probably one of the richest in detail remasters I've heard.
My opinion, of course

 

Have browsed thru probably over a million used discs. Have never seen ANY disc with the early Japaneese 35 codes, yet alone WYWH.

 

I know a lot of people like to go to music stores and look through the bins there, but I only look online.

I scour ebay and have found a couple Japanese first press recordings that I knew from here were the consensus best sounding. The 35DP-4 WYWH that I found was oddly enough through this site after a member found an "unknown" 35DP-4 that the seller didn't know was a 35DP-4. The member from here already one, so the one he owned he put up on ebay. That's the one I have.

Just keep looking because some people on ebay sell cds that they don't know what it is. That's when you get what you want for a great price. Look online and eventually it pays off. I had been looking for almost a year before I found one. They're out there.

 

Ditto - at one point in time I was actually maxing out the 'Ask The Seller A Question' function on eBay for weeks in a row! How many of you guys knew you could even do that?!

 

I had to borrow that disc for comparison. I have not yet come across one at an affordable price.

I'd say it's worth a reasonable price for the audio...unless you're a collector, willing to pay much more for it's rarity.

 

I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to post a photo of the disc showing the matrix code on the inner ring? It would be a help when dealing with selllers.

Kind Regards

 

Of course, the 35DP discs were issued in Japan, so one would expect them to be scarce in the bins in the U.S. That said, I've found a few here and there, including a few from the related 38DP and 35 8P series. It's rare, but it happens.

 

Here ya go - it's something I picked up some time ago. It's the best I have and while does not have the matrix codes visible, should be useful to you.



Happy hunting!

 

That's reallly kind of you, thanks.
Much appreciated.

Regards

 

Looks like one of my scans. Few others scan their discs in the trays for some reason.

 

Keith, it probably is - I apologise if you did not want that scan up. I saved it from this site a long long time ago while I was still lurking, and forgot to credit my source. My bad!

 

I don't think I've ever scanned a disc in the tray before. Great idea because it's a pain getting the disc off the scanner by itself.

 

This is the exact reason I originally switched to the 35DP pressing. Mastersound = Right source, wrong mastering method.

35DP = Compromised source, right mastering. Choose your poison wisely.

 

I believe this is the one you requested Fumi? I suspect you have a greater chance of finding the other original Japan disc than the japan for USA one.

 

In post #35 of this thread about WYWH, dbz posted some more pictures of the US two track. I could have sworn I did that disc scan but I can't confirm it at all. It looks like the one I did.

BTW, I am fairly certain that the Japanese CD and the US CD are from the same press runs. They have the same the same matrix codes, just different paint jobs. The Japanese CD looks gold, but it's just paint. The CD is regular Aluminum. It doesn't make sense to make a separate press run to make the same CD with different artwork. The pressing/plating areas are separate from the artwork area. Pressing & plating are clean room operations. The artwork area is not.

Kevin