Living Stereo SACD Releases

Yeah, Eldartford, but the magic of tubes used throughout the entire recording chain, classic vintage microphones, and a simple 2 or 3 channel mix creates an experience just not found on today's recordings.

Although I have not taken the plunge into SACD, the DCC Gold CD (standard redbook) of "THE SUMMIT" (Frank, Deano, and Sammy) has a magical quality that is quite unique when compared to the later solid state, multi-tracked, compressed/limited, and otherwise electronically manipulated recording chain. The original recording tapes were made in 1962, and still stand the test of time!

Eldartford, a very insightful response to my post. Your facts are correct, but I must ad clarifications. We must assume that a good copy of the master tape exists at 30 i.p.s., and has not physically broken down over the years. A 7-1/2 i.p.s. copy is a poor substitute!

There are also TWO mastering procedures. The first takes place in the studio; the second takes place at the vinyl or digital medium pressing plant. Mastering for vinyl is modern alchemy, part science, part art, and part "hunch". Further audio processing (read that degradation of fidelity!) was necessary to cut a commercial vinyl record. Again, were not talking about a special pressing like a 45 RPM single-sided 12" disc(s). There are many less constraints when using the original old studio master tape (assuming a good state of preservation), and doing a MODERN digital pressing master, especially if tubes are used in the chain, as Steve Hoffman of DCC does.