Physical Graffiti CD version question

Mine is the original fat boy Atlantic Barry D ... it has the cough.

 

Not completely accurate, actually ... I bought the cd the first day it was released back around 1985 it was a JVC Japan pressing but it was a domestic release in the fat boy case .. it was quickly corrected. I actually returned it as a defective disc and eventually bought a corrected copy. This was a hot topic back in the ICE magazine CD Watchdog days! Unfortunately I traded it in (and the other original Zep discs) when the REMASTERS came out... Now I need to reacquire them all.... At least I held on to my red target LZ IV...

 

Hi ledsox,

This isn't likely as I distinctly remember having a laugh -that being the first time I'd heard the album (!)- the first time I heard the cough and Plant singing "Cough".

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

OK, so who's going to be the hero who sends Barry his copy?

Having said that... sorry, Barry, but you can't have mine... Bought it on the day of release and have loved it ever since.

By the way... no cough.

 

I was lucky,er smart. When the remasters came out in the early 90s I gave my son all the originals. When I got to this forum and read all the comments I decided to relisten to them and asked to "borrow" them back. Funny thing is I used to tell him that they were not the best sounding versions and he kept telling me that they sounded fine. I guess I can trust his ears. Sorry I ever doubted you Barry
Still, this confounded cough issue is nagging at me.

 

Barry, another testament to the quality of your work on these Zeppelin CDs is that I've noticed the waveforms from needledrops I do of Bernie Grundman's Classic vinyl remasters and those from your CDs are very close, not only in sound but in overall shape and dynamics.

 

Barry, Is it possible that there were seperate masterings done?
I got my no cough version on day of release or very soon after.

Rob

 

Woohoo! Just went to Ebay and found an original Barry cd.. I jumped on it! Buy It Now was $18.99, which is well worth it. The seller actually stated in detail the 'early pressing' details, how it was in a 'fatboy' case, and not compressed or eq'd like most modern cd remasters...perhaps he is a member here?? He referred to himself as an audiophile and collector...
Anyway, there is another one out there on Ebay...ya'll knock yourselves out ...good luck!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Led-Zeppelin-Ph...goryZ307QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

I'll agree with this as far as the sound goes. The ones I've compared (Zep I, PG) sound very similar.

 

My copy was made in Japan for the USA

"Manufactured by Victor Company of Japan. LTD. Made in Japan"

Matrix CD 1: 200-2-1-V2E14
Matrix CD 2: 200X-2-2-V4E12

No cough
Mastered by Barry Diament

Sounds great!

 

Hi Rob,

Apparently, someone somewhere created a master with the cough deleted.
I don't know if they started with the master I made, cloned it and cut out the cough or if it is a different mastering.

Has anyone compared both to try and figure this out?

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Hi pitro,

It is possible that another master was created by someone else but the art department left my name on the artwork.

This has happened with other CDs -I just found out from a friend who took out an old Slayer re-master. It is compressed to the point of having a flat topped wave form (clearly NOT my work, since I don't use compression), yet the artwork still has my name on it.

The only way to know for sure would be for me to hear both or for someone here to compare the waveforms and see if they null. If they null, someone edited a copy of my work. If they don't null, the no-cough is not from a master I created.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

I'm almost positive it was just a mistaken edit ... the 'corrected version' with the cough came out a few weeks later, and sounded the same to me. I believe Disc 2 was identical, not changed in any way....

 

So after a master is created for a CD who would have the authority to make a change like this? Wouldn't it still be in the mastering room? Or maybe I should ask, after a tape had been mastered how many more steps are in the chain where content can be altered before the actual cd is pressed?

 

Hi Rob,

There should be zero steps after the mastering room. The master should just go to the replication facility.

Those memory cells left town so long ago, I wish I could remember if studio management issued some sort of edict. The strange thing is that in those days, I was the CD mastering department at Atlantic. They did farm some projects out of house but it wasn't until later on (after I'd left to form BDA in '87) that they had a few other engineers creating CD masters.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Thanks Barry

I think it must be your mastering too because it sounds very good

As member RTurner suggests in another post it could be an edit mistake.

 

I prefer the sound of the Marino, but as for the Diament, there were two releases: the first without the cough, the second with the cough.

 

Someone post a lossless clip of the no-cough version. I can compare it to my "with cough" CD.

(P.S. Didn't someone on this forum already do this years ago?)

 

The first CD issue was all no-cough. Then someone complained to ICE magazine, and afterwards the CD was rereleased with the cough intact. This was all well before the box sets started appearing.

 

Is it possible that someone in the WEA "quality control" department took a listen to Barry's mastering, with the cough, and thought, "Wait a minute, that clearly shouldn't be on there," and had it removed, before the glass masters were cut?

I'm not entirely sure what the process is for creating CDs once the digital master tape is handed over, but isn't it feasible that someone mistakenly thought it was left on in error, and made a subsequent digital copy of Barry's work, and simply faded it out early?

 

Can't be a forum member. He's ditching a Barry mastered PG because he bought the box! (The seller stated this in his auction)

 

So if the two version didn't go out simultaneously I'm betting there was an edict (or consensus) to remove the cough originally.
When placing the cough back in would the recording have to be mastered again or would the confounded cough just be dropped in?

Barry, I know this happened way too long ago to request minute details but I'm just wondering in general how a fix like this would happen as far as mastering goes.

Rob

 

For those still needing a copy, markl just put a copy up for sale here. Dunno if it's with/without-cough, though...

 

Hi Rob,

I can only remember creating a master with the cough.

Masters generally went from my desk to the pressing plant.

The no cough version *could* have been cloned from my master and the cough deleted. Wish I could remember more.

It is also possible someone put something in my tea and had *me* do the clone and delete. But if they did, it erased any memory of the event. (Hmm. My dentist has something like this.)

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

As others have pointed out, this is not true, I too have US WEA Manufacturing Inc. made fat-boy versions without the cough and with (RE-1 matrix on Disc 1).
Both these copies have a light bluey-green background surrounding the cover photo.

As for are they the same mastering? EAC shows all the levels to be identical, and the five unchanged tracks have exactly the same size. So, I would say, yes!