American ECM LPs made of virgin vinyl?

I love Pat Metheny and because I like to compare pressings from different countries I bought a couple of his ECM LPs that were made in the US. I noticed by chance that they are all translucent just like (f.e.) old MFSL records. Did ECM actually use virgin vinyl for these LPs? I also assume that there must be other artists´ ECM records showing the same feature. Can anybody confirm this?

 

Whatever about the vinyl my US ECM pressings (Keith Jarrett Standards) have 'MASTERDISK RL' on them, they sound great.

JG

 

Virgin vinyl can be any color. It just means that the vinyl does not contain old records (IIRC, "re-grinds" was the term)
What you may be seeing is Quiex vinyl, which I believe Warner was using at that time, often on promo pressings.

Cody

 

ECM

ECM has always been known for its vinyl quality. I also like how they use quality inner sleeves similar to VRP sleeves so that you don't often find their LPs with the wear and rubs from paper inner sleeves.

Scott

 

That's interesting. How did you compare it with the German LPs?

 

The US ´As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls´ also has this writing in the deadwax. However, that doesn´t make it sound better than the German pressing.

The LPs in question are all regular issues, no promo pressings. They all show a brownish "tan" that is very similar to MFSL LPs when you hold them against the light. Hence my suspicion.

 

I have German ECM Lps but not a German and US of Keith Jarrett, I would love to hear a comparison.

JG

 

I have the double album sampler "Music For 58 Musicians" that features the translucent vinyl.

 

Thanks for your answer.

 

Thank you, James.
From my experience with some Japanese ECM CDs, a US ECM could sound (surprising) better than the German pressing if the mastering engineer could have the session master with pre-EQed.

Has anyone compared any?

 

Great collection

+++++++++++

I also bought this sampler but sending in an order form that was included in another ECM LP I bought.

This is an outstanding sampler of late 70s or so ECM releases.

Scott

 

Just checked my US Keith Jarrett and it is translucent!

JG

 

Which is better? The German?

 

Thank you, too.

Btw: ´As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls´ is one of my favorite LPs when it comes down to demonstrating to visitors what true analog sound is. I can hardly imagine a record sounding ´warmer´ and more ´analoguely´ than this one.

No, they´re virtually identical.

 

Thank you.

 

In my experience, while the US vinyl pressings are very good, the German copies are a touch better. Slightly thicker vinyl, flatter pressings, quieter playing surfaces, subjectively better dynamics. Some of the later US pressings were very thin I recall - there was a Kim Kashkashian which I had to change twice because it was slightly warped and off-centre. Never had to exchange any German pressing. A number of 1970s ECM pressings are amongst my most played records and they still outperform contemporary 'audiophile' vinyl pressings on a technical level. Faultless pressings.

 

Interesting James, I thought most ECMs were cut at SAE by Roger Seibel. Perhaps Im wrong here. Do any of your other ECM titles credit SAE?

 

Funny you should talk about this, I just sold a Keith Jarrett The Köln Concert ECM German 1st press in the classifieds.

 

I tend to agree!

 

IMO it is needless to say that the US ECM was inferior in terms of their vinyl quality, which is something and the sound quality itself is another matter, isn't it? I'm interested in whether an US vinyl, given a good mastering, sounds better than the German counterpart.

 

IME, the US Lps sound very good, most I've found have MASTERDISK RL on 'em.

But the German ones I've heard just seem to be sprinkled with a little extra "fairy dust." Magical sound...

 

To elaborate a bit, re-grinds weren't from "old records" like Grandma's Al Jolson records, but ones that did not pass the quality control and were tossed back in the hopper for recycling...

I only mention this because I've had a number of customers come in over the years and ask if they can give us scratched up old records for "recycling"

 

I've always been impressed by the consistent level of quality of the US pressings of my Metheny albums on the ECM label. I have a few titles that are German pressings and I can't really discern any difference between those and the US copies. So many of the Metheny LPs I've purchases looked unplayed, so they seemed like quite a bargain when I bought them.

 

I couldn´t have expressed that any better, although my above mentioned US ´As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls´ is really every bit as good as the German pressing.

Btw: Up to now the US version is the only one I have with MASTERDISK RL in the deadwax.

 

Correct. When Warners took over ECM distribution from Polydor around '78, they were using standard opaque vinyl. A few years later they switched to the Quiex formulation. I believe these were pressed at Wakefield in Phoenix. They sound great for the most part, but the German pressings have the edge IMO.