That was great, your videos are going from strength to strength and the move from voice over is going so well I doubt you will be going back. I learnt a lot from this video which is useful as Japanese’s pressings just randomly appear and can be very affordable. Great intro and totally agree with your views on Michael from POP’s masterful long form video Decca overview. Your enthusiasm for the Berlioz was very infectious so I’ve got an affordable UK pressed version on the way now, will let you know what it sounds like. I agree with your overview about King Decca wide band/narrow band sound quality. Looking forward to the next instalment from your off piste classical collecting adventures far away from the safety of the TAS and Salvatore lists!
Haha! Thank you AnalogueAnorak. I might have to go back to voice with images for the next episode or two, it's just so time consuming and I do have some records I would like to review. I know you warned me video would take even more time to edit but I guess I needed to find out for myself :). I'm glad you picked up that Berlioz! I am quite curious as to the sound of a UK pressed Columbia, I'm sure it will be good. I used a translation app on my phone and received fairly useless results so I abandoned the effort. I recently tried Google translation on the text next the SX74 sound logo on the back of the Berlioz / Boulez album. The translation reads: "SX-74 sound is the world's first successful commercialization of the latest cutting head "SX-74" developed by West German company Neumann, a drive amplifier with a peak outputof 1KW, and the CBS/Sony engineering team. This is the ``Garandy mark of sound'' thatcan be seen on specially selected records made from carefully selected excellent recording sources through the combination of Direct Plating." So It looks like they did some kind of direct metal mastering on the Japanese Sony pressing.
@@VinylBliss Your voiceover videos are great too and with you trying out different approaches and deciding what works best I’m sure you will get the balance right. I’ve only got one classical Columbia Copland conducts Rodeo/Billy the Kid LSO UK pressing, incredibly transparent. It was from when I first started collecting classical and slavishly followed Salvatore’s list as gospel which he clearly specifies not to do! As a consequence I disregarded most classical Columbia despite absolutely loving Duke Ellingtons Columbia output from the 50s. The Japanese cutting technique may be a red herring as I’ve noticed the Boulez Berlioz was recorded by 2 of Columbia’s best engineers including one who also recorded most of Miles Davies legendary albums. So once it’s arrived and I’ve cleaned and played will let you know.
@@analogueanorak1904 the UK pressings might very well be some of the best pressing for Columbia from the 6 eye / 2 eye era? Most of the ones I hear that are domestically printed sound pretty decent but usually leave something to be desired on the loud parts and are mostly a bit too noisy. It is a shame because it feels like there is a lot more on the tapes to reveal and usually it seems like the recording philosophy was fairly natural in approach. If the UK plant used good cutter heads and pressed to better quality vinyl they might be the best ones to look out for. Looking forward to hearing your judgments on you copy in the mail, fingers crossed!
@@VinylBliss I’m only working from a small sample but I am getting an impression that the UK pressed classical Columbia records around the late 60’s and early 70’s seem to suffer more from variable quality than their pressings in other genres such as Jazz and Rock which I have nearly always found to be fantastic. The Boulez sounds good but not exceptional enough to overcome the limitations of the pressing so your initial video wondering whether the Japanese pressing is the best may be correct partly due to the unique cutting head approach used combined with better overall quality. I did notice the deadwax on my Columbia Copeland/Rodeo UK pressing which is fantastic was different from that on the Boulez/Berlioz and the Copeland/Appalacia which have issues with handwritten details rather than the usual stamped info. so I will keep this in mind when next time I give a Columbia UK classical pressing a go.
@@analogueanorak1904 This is interesting. I can say "almost" all US/CAN Columbia pressings that I have come across seem to suffer in some way, they are good but not quite the full package. Sometimes it is hard to say what exactly is missing but something seems to be lacking. For UK pressings I will say in the small few that I have The Deutsche Grammophons don't seem to be better than their German counterparts. the RCA red seal UK pressings for the few that I have sound quite good and I would say probably would be better than the US pressings and on thicker more quite vinyl.
Thanks so much for watching the video. I find record hunting in the wild to be much more enjoyable than ordering online, you find things you would never dream of buying otherwise.
good overview on these titles. Japan is a hidden treasure trove of great vinyl pressings for all types of music. For the Classical Japan market DG titles were pressed early on by Nippon Phonogram. After the Polygram buyout of DG, Philips and Decca, all of these labels were pressed by Polydor KK. All are very quiet pressings. For the DG titles, the EQ'd and compressed tapes to cut the lacquers were supplied by DG - Hanover. The Japan pressings have a very similar sound to the Hanover Germany DG pressings, or DG UK pressings but quieter vinyl. None have any dynamics or great imaging. Take a pass too on the Columbia records pressed by CBS/Sony Japan. Very quiet pressings but sonically not too good. For Classical titles available in Japan the titles to really seek out with excellent sonics are the London/Decca catalog titles pressed by King Records in Japan. They are equal to or in some cases superior sonically to their Decca UK counterparts. For true sonic blockbusters, look for the King Laboratory Standard series titles. King Records cut these lacquers from the Decca master tapes with all compression and EQ removed from the signal chain. There were 40 or 45 of these Laboratory standard titles released by King in Japan. All I have heard are sonic blockbusters. The Beethoven 9th mentioned early on is not too good. No matter who cut and pressed it getting the whole 9th on one LP is asking for poor sonics (not really enough room on one LP to fit the whole 9th on it). The grooves have to be highly compressed to make room for the extra recording time. Toshiba Musical Industries (later to become Toshiba-EMI after the giant British firm bought an interest in the Toshiba) also issued almost the complete EMI catalog. These are normally pretty good. But the EMI titles to really watch for are the special runs Toshiba-EMI made for the DAM club (Daiichi Audio Members club) in Japan. DAM was a national audiophile group in Japan who contracted with the major labels to make audiophile lacquer cuts and pressing runs on a number of titles from the EMI catalog. Almost all of these were made with lacquers cut at 45 RPM, so are 2 disc sets. Sonically all of these are superb. For the Philips label, early on these were pressed by Victor Music. Later the pressing contract went to Nippon Phonogram. The Nippon Phonogram pressings are really good. More so if a person US cleans them.
@mcgjohn22 Thank you for the wealth of information on this fairly elusive section of classical records. I will look out for King Laboratory Standard series titles. I have read in a thread somewhere about the mystical "Daiichi Audio Members club" and will keep a keen eye out for any of those. Thanks again for these nuggets of knowledge!!
@@VinylBliss NP. I lived over in Japan for > 1.5 years so my eyes were opened to what was available over there. King did some blockbuster titles on their Laboratory series. These completely blow away any Decca UK pressing of the same title. A few that come to mind are the Beethoven 7 with Solti /CSO, a few Ansermet/OSR Stravinsky pieces and the Brahms Piano Con. 1 with Metha and Rubinstein. Look for GXP catalog number prefixes. A bit beyond the scope of classical on vinyl but East Wind (Jazz label in JPN) recorded a number of titles in the US at famous jazz clubs and issued them under the East Wind label in Japan. Many were cut at 45 RPM. A few were cut direct to disc. Sonically these are all spectacular. All were pressed by Nippon Phonogram on super quiet vinyl.
i have a great number of DG pressings, especially large tulip, i have very few problems with them sonically except some of the later ones can be a little crackly sometimes, which is why Classjcal music fans led the charge for CD back then.
I find the large tulips to sound the best overall also. some are really great but I have a hard time finding ones in flawless condition. Yes digital was inevitable also even on vinyl digital pressings from the standpoint of providing regional pressings with a truely 1 to 1 duplication.
Excellent and practical reviews. It is great to have an open mind and evaluate rather than have a preconceived notion about Labels, Pressings and performers. Where do you live ?/
Hi JoeFoo thank you for checking out the video. I'm staying anonymous location wise for the time being, I am new to being viewable on the internet. Please do not take offense, I would tell you if I saw you in person.
23:42 just wondering what is your system the audiophile in Japan tend to to use compressor drive（CD） with bass combo. Depends on the CD you might be too hot. The only compsrable high mid in morden system in term of precieve sound frequenct might be atc, but it might be too articulate like morden syst3ms
@TheSagitis I am using Either Planar Headphones (What I use to judge the records in these videos) or a normal speaker/transducer combo for casual listening: 6 speakers with 2 subs and 2 transducers) but really I feel like the speaker system is too forgiving in terms of judging the absolute quality of vinyl, and pressing it sounds pretty and all but everything sounds pretty decent on speakers so I use the headphones to get a more accurate view, for me anyway. It might very well be the Japanese hifi systems in the 70's were bass heavy to begin with. I have read that the Japanese pressings have less bass to enable listeners to not disturb their neighbors but I don't really believe that. They still madesome excellent balanced records, some f the RCA's, and sonys sound very balanced to me.
@eliasmodernell3348 Lol what do you mean? The digital version is only better when they mess up the pressing or use inferior vinyl. A Good vinyl version is always better sounding than a digital reproduction if the original source was recorded in analog.
That was great, your videos are going from strength to strength and the move from voice over is going so well I doubt you will be going back. I learnt a lot from this video which is useful as Japanese’s pressings just randomly appear and can be very affordable. Great intro and totally agree with your views on Michael from POP’s masterful long form video Decca overview. Your enthusiasm for the Berlioz was very infectious so I’ve got an affordable UK pressed version on the way now, will let you know what it sounds like. I agree with your overview about King Decca wide band/narrow band sound quality. Looking forward to the next instalment from your off piste classical collecting adventures far away from the safety of the TAS and Salvatore lists!
Haha! Thank you AnalogueAnorak. I might have to go back to voice with images for the next episode or two, it's just so time consuming and I do have some records I would like to review. I know you warned me video would take even more time to edit but I guess I needed to find out for myself :). I'm glad you picked up that Berlioz! I am quite curious as to the sound of a UK pressed Columbia, I'm sure it will be good. I used a translation app on my phone and received fairly useless results so I abandoned the effort. I recently tried Google translation on the text next the SX74 sound logo on the back of the Berlioz / Boulez album. The translation reads: "SX-74 sound is the world's first successful commercialization of the latest cutting head "SX-74" developed by West German company Neumann, a drive amplifier with a peak outputof 1KW, and the CBS/Sony engineering team. This is the ``Garandy mark of sound'' thatcan be seen on specially selected records made from carefully selected excellent recording sources through the combination of Direct Plating."
So It looks like they did some kind of direct metal mastering on the Japanese Sony pressing.
@@VinylBliss Your voiceover videos are great too and with you trying out different approaches and deciding what works best I’m sure you will get the balance right. I’ve only got one classical Columbia Copland conducts Rodeo/Billy the Kid LSO UK pressing, incredibly transparent. It was from when I first started collecting classical and slavishly followed Salvatore’s list as gospel which he clearly specifies not to do! As a consequence I disregarded most classical Columbia despite absolutely loving Duke Ellingtons Columbia output from the 50s. The Japanese cutting technique may be a red herring as I’ve noticed the Boulez Berlioz was recorded by 2 of Columbia’s best engineers including one who also recorded most of Miles Davies legendary albums. So once it’s arrived and I’ve cleaned and played will let you know.
@@analogueanorak1904 the UK pressings might very well be some of the best pressing for Columbia from the 6 eye / 2 eye era? Most of the ones I hear that are domestically printed sound pretty decent but usually leave something to be desired on the loud parts and are mostly a bit too noisy. It is a shame because it feels like there is a lot more on the tapes to reveal and usually it seems like the recording philosophy was fairly natural in approach. If the UK plant used good cutter heads and pressed to better quality vinyl they might be the best ones to look out for. Looking forward to hearing your judgments on you copy in the mail, fingers crossed!
@@VinylBliss I’m only working from a small sample but I am getting an impression that the UK pressed classical Columbia records around the late 60’s and early 70’s seem to suffer more from variable quality than their pressings in other genres such as Jazz and Rock which I have nearly always found to be fantastic. The Boulez sounds good but not exceptional enough to overcome the limitations of the pressing so your initial video wondering whether the Japanese pressing is the best may be correct partly due to the unique cutting head approach used combined with better overall quality. I did notice the deadwax on my Columbia Copeland/Rodeo UK pressing which is fantastic was different from that on the Boulez/Berlioz and the Copeland/Appalacia which have issues with handwritten details rather than the usual stamped info. so I will keep this in mind when next time I give a Columbia UK classical pressing a go.
@@analogueanorak1904 This is interesting. I can say "almost" all US/CAN Columbia pressings that I have come across seem to suffer in some way, they are good but not quite the full package. Sometimes it is hard to say what exactly is missing but something seems to be lacking. For UK pressings I will say in the small few that I have The Deutsche Grammophons don't seem to be better than their German counterparts. the RCA red seal UK pressings for the few that I have sound quite good and I would say probably would be better than the US pressings and on thicker more quite vinyl.
Your videos keep getting better - keep going! Will definer keep an eye out for that Bylsma record.
Thank you for the encouragement! Absolutely if you find that Leo / Bylsma record I'm very confident you will not be disappointed!
Fantastic Reviews I love record hunting and this gives me some new things to look forward to!
Thanks so much for watching the video. I find record hunting in the wild to be much more enjoyable than ordering online, you find things you would never dream of buying otherwise.
good overview on these titles. Japan is a hidden treasure trove of great vinyl pressings for all types of music. For the Classical Japan market DG titles were pressed early on by Nippon Phonogram. After the Polygram buyout of DG, Philips and Decca, all of these labels were pressed by Polydor KK. All are very quiet pressings. For the DG titles, the EQ'd and compressed tapes to cut the lacquers were supplied by DG - Hanover. The Japan pressings have a very similar sound to the Hanover Germany DG pressings, or DG UK pressings but quieter vinyl. None have any dynamics or great imaging. Take a pass too on the Columbia records pressed by CBS/Sony Japan. Very quiet pressings but sonically not too good. For Classical titles available in Japan the titles to really seek out with excellent sonics are the London/Decca catalog titles pressed by King Records in Japan. They are equal to or in some cases superior sonically to their Decca UK counterparts. For true sonic blockbusters, look for the King Laboratory Standard series titles. King Records cut these lacquers from the Decca master tapes with all compression and EQ removed from the signal chain. There were 40 or 45 of these Laboratory standard titles released by King in Japan. All I have heard are sonic blockbusters. The Beethoven 9th mentioned early on is not too good. No matter who cut and pressed it getting the whole 9th on one LP is asking for poor sonics (not really enough room on one LP to fit the whole 9th on it). The grooves have to be highly compressed to make room for the extra recording time. Toshiba Musical Industries (later to become Toshiba-EMI after the giant British firm bought an interest in the Toshiba) also issued almost the complete EMI catalog. These are normally pretty good. But the EMI titles to really watch for are the special runs Toshiba-EMI made for the DAM club (Daiichi Audio Members club) in Japan. DAM was a national audiophile group in Japan who contracted with the major labels to make audiophile lacquer cuts and pressing runs on a number of titles from the EMI catalog. Almost all of these were made with lacquers cut at 45 RPM, so are 2 disc sets. Sonically all of these are superb. For the Philips label, early on these were pressed by Victor Music. Later the pressing contract went to Nippon Phonogram. The Nippon Phonogram pressings are really good. More so if a person US cleans them.
@mcgjohn22 Thank you for the wealth of information on this fairly elusive section of classical records. I will look out for King Laboratory Standard series titles. I have read in a thread somewhere about the mystical "Daiichi Audio Members club" and will keep a keen eye out for any of those. Thanks again for these nuggets of knowledge!!
@@VinylBliss NP. I lived over in Japan for > 1.5 years so my eyes were opened to what was available over there. King did some blockbuster titles on their Laboratory series. These completely blow away any Decca UK pressing of the same title. A few that come to mind are the Beethoven 7 with Solti /CSO, a few Ansermet/OSR Stravinsky pieces and the Brahms Piano Con. 1 with Metha and Rubinstein. Look for GXP catalog number prefixes. A bit beyond the scope of classical on vinyl but East Wind (Jazz label in JPN) recorded a number of titles in the US at famous jazz clubs and issued them under the East Wind label in Japan. Many were cut at 45 RPM. A few were cut direct to disc. Sonically these are all spectacular. All were pressed by Nippon Phonogram on super quiet vinyl.
@@mcgjohn22Thank you! I will absolutely look out for those laboratory series, amazing!
i have a great number of DG pressings, especially large tulip, i have very few problems with them sonically except some of the later ones can be a little crackly sometimes, which is why Classjcal music fans led the charge for CD back then.
I find the large tulips to sound the best overall also. some are really great but I have a hard time finding ones in flawless condition. Yes digital was inevitable also even on vinyl digital pressings from the standpoint of providing regional pressings with a truely 1 to 1 duplication.
Nice collection ‼️
That was fun. Keep on!
Thank you I will !
Enjoyed the video. Thanks
Thank you for watching it !!!
Great video
Thank you, #1 Subscriber !!
Great video!
thank you!
Excellent and practical reviews. It is great to have an open mind and evaluate rather than have a preconceived notion about Labels, Pressings and
performers. Where do you live ?/
Hi JoeFoo thank you for checking out the video. I'm staying anonymous location wise for the time being, I am new to being viewable on the internet. Please do not take offense, I would tell you if I saw you in person.
23:42 just wondering what is your system the audiophile in Japan tend to to use compressor drive（CD） with bass combo. Depends on the CD you might be too hot.
The only compsrable high mid in morden system in term of precieve sound frequenct might be atc, but it might be too articulate like morden syst3ms
@TheSagitis I am using Either Planar Headphones (What I use to judge the records in these videos) or a normal speaker/transducer combo for casual listening: 6 speakers with 2 subs and 2 transducers) but really I feel like the speaker system is too forgiving in terms of judging the absolute quality of vinyl, and pressing it sounds pretty and all but everything sounds pretty decent on speakers so I use the headphones to get a more accurate view, for me anyway. It might very well be the Japanese hifi systems in the 70's were bass heavy to begin with. I have read that the Japanese pressings have less bass to enable listeners to not disturb their neighbors but I don't really believe that. They still madesome excellent balanced records, some f the RCA's, and sonys sound very balanced to me.
God! How I love when vinyl junks have to give it grudgingly to digital
@eliasmodernell3348 Lol what do you mean? The digital version is only better when they mess up the pressing or use inferior vinyl. A Good vinyl version is always better sounding than a digital reproduction if the original source was recorded in analog.