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Better Records White Hot Stampers: Now the Story Can Be Told!

Just got shipping notification, so now the story can be told!

  Better-Records.com is a small, incredibly valuable yet little known company run out of Thousand Oaks, CA by Tom Port. The business started out many years ago when Tom Port noticed no two records sound quite the same. Evidently Tom is a sound quality fanatic on a scale maybe even higher than mine, and he started getting together with some of his audio buds doing shoot-outs in a friendly competition to see who has the best sounding copy.   

Over time this evolved into Better-Records.com, where the best of the best of these shoot-outs can be bought by regular guys like me who live for the sound, but just don't have the time or the drive to go through all the work of finding these rare gems.

The difference in quality between your average pressing and a White Hot Stamper is truly incredible. If you don't have the system or the ears of course you may never notice. If you do though then nothing else comes even close.   

Tom will say things like only one in twenty copies is Hot Stamper worthy. This doesn't even come close to conveying the magnitude. Last night for example, wife and I were listening to our White Hot Stamper of Tchaikovsky 1812. Then we played another White Hot Tchaikovsky. Then we played the Tchaikovsky tracks from my copy of Clair deLune.  

Without hearing a White Hot you would think Clair de Lune is about as good as it gets. After two sides of Tom's wonders it was flat, dull, mid-fi. Not even in the same ball park. And yet this is quite honestly a very good record. How many of these he has to clean, play, and compare to find the rare few magical sounding copies, I don't even know!  

Copies of Hot Stamper quality being so hard to find means of course they are not always available. This is not like going to the record store. There are not 50 copies of Year of the Cat just sitting around. Most of the time there are no copies at all. When there are, they get snapped up fast. Especially the popular titles. Fleetwood Mac Rumours, Tom Petty Southern Accents, whole bunch of em like this get sold pretty fast even in spite of the astronomically outrageous prices they command. Then again, since people pay - and fast - maybe not so outrageous after all.   

So I spent months looking, hoping for Year of the Cat to show up. When it did, YES! Click on it and.... Sorry, this copy is SOLD! What the...? It was only up a day! If that!  

Well now this puts me in a bit of a spot. Because, see, besides loving music and being obsessed with sound quality, I'm also enthusiastic about sharing this with others. With most things, no problem. Eric makes an endless supply of Tekton Moabs. Talking up Tekton or Townshend or whatever has no effect on my ability to get mine. With Better-records.com however the supply is so limited the last thing I need is more competition. Bit of a bind.   

Even so, can't keep my big mouth shut. Been telling everyone how great these are. One day someone buys one based on my recommendation, Tom finds out, next thing you know I'm a Good Customer. What does that mean? Well is there anything you're looking for? Year of the Cat. That's a hard one. Tell me about it. Might take a while. Take all the time you need. Just get me one. Please. Okay.  

That was months ago. Other day, hey we're doing a shoot-out. No guarantees but should be able to find you one. So for the last few days I was all Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And now finally, like I said, shipped!  

So now I have my Grail, and the story can be told. Got a nice little collection of Hot Stampers, and will be adding more, but this for me is The One. Might not be for you, but that is the beauty of it all. Many of us have that one special record we love. If you do too, and you want to hear it like listening to the master tape, this is the way to go.
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Showing 6 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
The Kind Of Blue speed error (side one only) was discovered by Bernie Grundman when he did the remastering of the album for Classic Records in 1997. The speed error was very small, resulting in only a 1/4-tone shift in pitch. By the way, the metal plates created by Grundman in ’97 are the exact same ones he used when doing the new Analogue Productions UHQR mastering.

Those plates were created using the original 3-track masters as the source, NOT a 2-track mixdown tape. Doing it thusly allowed two generations of tape copying to be avoided! It is routine to make a 2-track final mix tape from the multi-track, then from that a number of "production" master tapes (sometimes called "safety" tapes) from which the mothers/stampers/etc. are made. When Grundman was given the 3-track masters in ’97, it was the first time they had been out of the Columbia vault since 1959! He said they were in pristine condition, no sign of aging whatsoever.



The Townshend Rock turntable was the end result of a research project at the Cransfield Technical Institute in England. Max Townshend recognized and appreciated the significance of the design, and bought the rights to manufacture and market a turntable employing the design.

Townshend has produced seven iterations of the Rock, some full-blown SOTA models, some made to a price point. The initial version was a very complex industrial design, not looking like a product made for domestic use. It wasn’t until Townshend introduced the Rock Elite (Mk.2) in the late-80’s that the Rock found a mass audience, including myself. It features not just the patented damping trough (its main claim to fame), but also a plinth fabricated of an upside-down metal "baking pan" filled with bitumen damping pads and plaster-of-Paris---absolutely non-resonant!, an inverted bearing, a platter made of Delrin---my favorite platter material (also used by Harry Weisfeld in his Aries 1 and TNT 1-though-5 models), and three Sorbothane spheres as isolation feet.

The Mk.3 was the one Max introduced while he was operating out of Texas (late-90’s), and was an attempt at a budget model. It has a frosted acrylic platter (blech), and a Seismic Sink (two metal frames separated by an inner tube) built in for isolation. That model I would avoid, unless it’s real cheap (say under $500).

The Mk.5 is a marvel to behold, and is the Rock I dearly lust for. They occasionally show up for $6000-$8000. The Rock Elite Mk.2 comes up for sale once in a while, and sells for under a grand. What a deal! The last available version---the Mk.7---is very cool. A very skeletal frame, with Seismic Pods as feet! There is one on ebay as I speak, priced at just under $2800. I don’t know if the motor needs to be changed for N. American usage. Audiogon member slaw owns a Mk.7.

By the way, Townshend offered the Damping Trough as a separate item, to be installed on non-Rock turntables. I’ve never seen one come up for sale, and I have plans for mine. ;-)
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
Both I and Michael Fremer have compared our original UK Island Tea For The Tillermann LP’s with the Analogue Productions LP of same, as well as with U.S. A & M pressings (the Island is considerably better than the A & M, by the way). I had long wondered why the Island LP was held in such high regard (including by Harry Pearson, who included it in his Super Disc list), myself finding the sound, while excellent in many regards, odd in others (especially the upper harmonics of the guitar strings and cymbals---both Zildjian and Paiste, the sound of which I am very familiar). Fremer has long cited the LP as one of the best Pop albums he has ever heard.

While the original recording is not the best I have ever heard, that is not the point. The question is: what LP pressing of TFTT sounds "the best". The best may mean different things to different people, but to Chad Kassem---owner of Analogue Productions, Acoustic Sounds, and QRP (Quality Record Pressing, acknowledged in the industry as one of the three best LP pressing plants in the world)---it means which LP sounds closest to the master tape, which he had in his hands.

It was in listening to the master tape that Kassem realized what no one before had: the album was recorded without Dolby noise reduction, and the Island and A & M LP’s were mastered assuming it had. Dolby decoding was engaged in the original mastering process! Try to correct that huge blunder with a White Hot Stamper LP. ;-)

I don’t know anything about whomever/whatever MDS is, or anything about "on the record", so can’t respond to anything related to those two entities. I can tell you what I already did: the Analogue Productions Tea For The Tillerman LP is, by a wide margin, "better" sounding to me than either the U.K. Island or U.S. A & M LP’s.

Michael Fremer was contacted by Chad Kassem after the latter heard the master tape, Chad telling Fremer that he wasn’t so sure audiophiles---long used to the sound of the legendary Island pressing---would like an LP containing the true sound of the recordings. Perhaps it is that to which MDS and ontherecord are reacting. Not to be rude, but I couldn’t care less.

A related matter: Some turntables are made to as-closely-as-possible reproduce the information contained in the LP groove (each LP side has not grooves, but one long, uninterrupted groove), some are designed to "sound good".. My Townshend Audio Rock Elite is amongst the former.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
@benjie: You’re wasting your time. The Better Records groupies will never admit there is a single LP made by Classic Records, Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Intervention, or---God forbid!---Mobile Fidelity that is as good---let alone better---than a BR WHS. All they do is continue to cite examples of old Mobile Fidelity’s (made in the last century) which don’t sound good, a fact that has been known for decades.

Let it go, man, you’ll be happier ;-) As to them: The old phrase "Ignorance is bliss" comes to mind. Go ahead, cite modern examples of superior remasters by any of the above companies (as have I); you will be ignored. Return the sentiment---ignore them.

The best example I know of a reissue being beyond any question superior to any and all other pressings, including a WHS, is Analogue Productions’ Tea For The Tillerman. ALL other TFTT LP’s were made using a master cut with Dolby noise reduction applied. TFTT was NOT recorded using Dolby noise reduction! Analogue Productions discovered that fact, and issued TFTT in the best sound---by far---it has ever enjoyed. Watch for this example to be ignored. ;-)
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
Expensive reissues? Analogue Productions single LP’s are $35. So are those from MoFi, Speaker’s Corner, Intervention Records, and many more audiophile reissue labels.

Try and find a "white hot stamper" copy of Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, or Wild Honey. You wont, ’cause there aren’t any. The Capitol Records’ issues of those three albums are about the worst sounding LP’s in my collection (which is a cryin’ shame; the music is beyond wonderful.). AP has DRASTICALLY reduced the extreme veiling present in Capitol pressings, as well as restore some semblance of full-range frequency response (the Capitol LP’s sound like a car radio. Seriously.). The AP reissue of those three Beach Boys’ albums (and about a dozen more), $35 each.

As for MoFi, no matter how many times it’s said, it just gets ignored (’cause it contradicts the narrative?): Yes, the MoFi LP’s from the Brad Miller/Herb Belkin (MoFi owners/producers.) era (ending in 1999) are mostly not good. Everybody knows that, it’s not news (to those who have been buying LP’s long enough, and paying attention.). Stan Ricker and Jack Hunt were not masters of the art and science of mastering.

The LP’s and SACD’s released since Music Direct relaunched the label in 2001 are a very different story. Many really good reissues, major improvements over original-label copies, as well as first-era MoFi LP’s. The Band’s Music From Big Pink was issued twice by MoFi---originally during the first-era, then again in the 20teens. If you are on the hunt for the out-of print MFBP, look for one with catalog number MFSL 1-346 (the second version.). Though the original MoFi is decidedly better than any Capitol Records pressing (the bass was for some reason noticeably missing. Rick Danko was not happy!), the second version is substantially better. 

If someone has a white stamper and a modern-era MoFi of the same title, let’s hear about the shoot-out!
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
Every LP is of course the end product of a number of separate manufacturing steps. And the term "master tape" has a couple of equally valid definitions: since the introduction of first the 3-track machine---then the 4-track, 8-track, 16-track, etc---there is both the multi-track master and the final 2-track mixdown master.

Every piece of gear used to make an LP has an effect upon the PVC disc you place on your turntable. The recording microphones and their related electronics (mic pre-amps, etc.), the multi-track recorder, the 2-track mixdown deck, the recording and mixing consoles, the outboard gear (limiters, equalizers, etc.)---everything. Then the lacquer-cutting machine and it’s electronics, the talent of the mastering engineer, the quality of the "fathers" and then "mothers" created from the lacquer, the plating of the mothers, the quality of the stampers (each mother is used to make a certain number of stampers, and each stamper a certain number of LP’s, those numbers a reflection of the quality standards of all involved), the quality of the PVC used to make the LP, and on and on.

The matter of original pressings vs. "audiophile" reissues has been raised. When Music Direct bought MoFi, they hired Tim de Paravicini (EAR Yoshino, Luxman) to design a perfectionist mastering chain. Kavi Alexander had previously hired Tim to design electronics for the recorder he uses to make his incredible Water Lily label recordings. The electronics employed in the making of mass-produced LP’s (whether White Hot Stamper or otherwise) vary in quality, but it is quite safe to assume that none approach the quality of that found in the LP-producing equipment found at Mofi’s RTI pressing plant, Analogue Productions’ QRP, and Pallas in Germany. It is like comparing a mass-market budget surround-sound receiver to a high-end pre-amp and power amp (such as made by EAR Yoshino and Luxman). And the 180 gram PVC pellets those plants use to make their LP’s is vastly better than was the vinyl used in the 60’s/70’s/80, etc.

When Kevin Gray and Ryan K. Smith create a new production master tape for an audiophile reissue, they spend a lot of time and money finding the original 3, 4, 8, or 16-track master (whether 1/2", 1", or 2"), the 1st-generation 2-track midown tape (either 1/4" or 1/2"), or both. They then use high a high quality system of electronics and recorders to create that new master tape. The newly-created master is used to cut a new lacquer, a new father and mother, and new stampers, all done to the highest standards. If you think mass-produced LP’s (routinely made from 2nd or 3rd-generation "safety" tapes) were ever made with this degree of care, you are free to try to find a few "good" ones.

It is arguable that every audiophile-quality LP is a White Hot Stamper disc, as the reissue companies press a very low number of LP’s from each stamper, all copies therefore being far more alike that dissimilar. The question then becomes: Does the passage of time from the making of the recording have more of a deleterious effect on the sound of the master tape than do all the factors covered above, or visa versa? For a good test, compare an original UK "pink" label Island Tea For The Tillerman to the current Analogue Productions LP. I have my answer.

Not even mentioned are the compromises made in mastering and LP production in the old days. Bass was routinely rolled off below 100Hz (or summed to mono---or both), and compression was applied to reduce dynamic range, and that’s just to name two. The best LP’s ever made are those being made now, by far.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 
A "Cut-Out" is NOT synonymous with a "Promotional" LP. Yes, some of the LP's sent to radio stations and product buyers at record stores in advance of street date had one corner of the cover clipped off, but many didn't, having instead a white label (which is why those are referred to as "White Label Promos" amongst record collectors) in place of the colorful one found on commercial copies, or sometimes just a "Promotional Copy" stamp on the cover (with a commercial label on the LP).

The term "Cut-Out" refers not to the clipped cover, but the album being cut-out of the label's catalog, discontinued. When an album was discontinued, all copies remaining in stock at the record company's warehouse had a corner of the cover clipped off, and sold for peanuts to distributors specializing in "remainders".

When Stereo became big in the last 60's, all the mono Kinks, Beach Boys, etc. LP's could be found in drug stores and other general-interest retailers for 59 cents! Since the "stereo" copies of many LP's were not true stereo but instead "Monaural recordings electronically reprocessed for Stereo" (the worst sounding records ever made), we collectors scoured the markets for the Mono cut-outs. Some of my Mono Kinks album covers have not a clipped corner, but instead a small metal rivet installed. 

So non-Promo cut-outs are generally not the first LP's of any given album pressed, but in fact the last. Some labels (WEA---Warner/Elektra/Asylum---for one) would plaster a sticker on the shrinkwrap identifying the LP as a budget-priced LP (WEA used the term "Super Saver Series", CBS "Nice Price"). These LP's were no different from those shipped before the titles became budget-priced, the sticker just having been applied after the fact.
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