The Legacy Master Cut-to-Disc Sound - A Very Special 'Brand of Audio'.
The Legacy Master Cut-to-Disc Sound - A Very Special 'Brand of Audio'.
"Do you believe that rescuing, preserving and protecting a legacy recording from just its master tape is (or should be) all that is necessary when performing professional digital conversions"?
“Should the mainstream re-issue labels and producers be looking at what we can do here to market this incredibly versatile and powerful ‘new-old sound’ as its own ‘brand of sound’ for the legacy audio industry?”
“Hear the Room!”
“You won’t believe
your EARS!”
Coming Soon! - ‘The Reference Transfer Station 2.0’ featuring the ‘laboratory-grade instrument’, the Technics SL-1000RE-S turntable.
“It all starts here. Because it has to.”
LegacyVMP Studio wants to lay the ground work by capturing a very unique and vitally important (and potentially powerful) legacy analog sound and then process and prepare it so that it can be handed over to the big studios to have its full potential realized. The audio samples here represent a culmination of the studio’s work to date and yet, it has only scratched the surface.
It’s so important that we first recognize this special ‘brand of analog sound’, the master cut-to-disc analog sound, and then take advantage by utilizing the capabilities of our modern day, digital audio technology tools to exploit and help prepare it for reaching its full potential. And its also equally important that we recognize the powerful and positive impact it can have on the mainstream legacy audio industry by just simply making it readily accessible to our incredible analog mastering engineers.
And so the audio samples represent not only a culmination of our efforts to date but also why we believe so strongly in the sound and its potential to literally help ‘transform and re-energize’ an entire mainstream audio market. And we think you’ll agree once you’ve heard.
“In order to fully experience the total impact of the sound as originally intended from the selections on this page…the music has to be heard(digitally) from the legacy vinyl master disc cut source, because the impact will get lost in the translation coming off master tape.”
“And so Listen to the Difference between master tape sourced digital versus master cut-to-disc sourced digital and Pay close Attention in particular to the low-end embellishments, along with the high-end percussive energy, with all its sizzle and sparkle, that gets translated on these selections.”
“Also, just as important, I want you to notice the ‘sound energy dispersion’ of both - in other words, the overall sound presentation and stereo image, and then compare them. In some instances, you will find the master tape digital derivative leaving a very wide variance in terms of where the energy gets concentrated, leading to a somewhat ‘wonky’ sound presentation, unbalanced and lacking cohesion with the stereo image and adversely affecting the overall stereo separation which can leave your ears pulled to one side or the other unintentionally and thus, at the mercy of subsequent premature ear fatigue.”
“However, not the case, generally speaking, with the master cut-to-disc digital derivative which usually comes with a nicely balanced and cohesive stereo image presentation and an ‘even-sound-energy-dispersion’ that is ‘natural and unassuming’ to our human ears. And all of it attributed by default to the very controlled environment of the grooved disc source by its own nature.”
“And so, I think in the end, it really amounts to restoring those critical subtleties and nuances of the analog sound and making sure they don’t get lost in the translation when carried over to the final digital product. But it is that powerful part of the sound that you discover are “contained within”, so to speak, and that you find are part of so many of these very rich and defining analog master disc cuts, when you listen to them.... it is the hardest part of what we do and is what makes it the highly specialized craft that it has become. “
”So drawing those very critical distinctions in the sound between what we can accomplish here and what you find already out there in the mainstream sector of the legacy audio market is very important. And the value-add it can bring can serve the legacy audio industry quite well in the years to come.”
Sony Legacy
Merlin - Orchard Legacy
Universal Legacy
BMG Legacy
Warner/Rhino Legacy
“It’s authentic to its master source - the master disc cut - which, by in large, is a more artfully presented sound, richly textured and impactful by default and more natural sounding to the human ear that brings with it this additional layer of realism to the sound that sometimes can be elusive. And that’s pretty powerful stuff.”
“You haven’t heard it quite like this before.”
The Audio Demonstration CD
Brand New 2024 Digital Renderings - Professionally and Authentically Produced
Presented in Full Fidelity
Audio Treatments: Jeff Brown (jeff@legacyvmp.com)
Vocal Treatments: Ferran Melero (ferran.melero.goterris@gmail.com)
“Delicately refined at 44.1kHz 16 bit using the finest in modern digital audio technology and packaged for today’s mainstream market.”
Looking for a marketing strategy for our special digital renderings?
“I don’t think we should ever lose sight of the CD and what it has meant to the music industry for distribution as a format. The convenience of it, the wonderful portability of it. That and remember the mini-CD? And so I’d love to see what we do here get ported over as a marketable tool for the reissue labels to put our special ‘brand of legacy audio’, if you will, to the CD and mini-CD format to be directly targeted for the mainstream market. For example, any of the digital renderings that have been put to CD for testing purposes so far, have achieved more than acceptable results, in my opinion. And so when you visit the Audio Portfolio page, you will see a large section devoted to our Audio Demonstration CD’s designed to give you an idea of their sound.
The high end market should own the vinyl format, as far as I’m concerned, for their wonderful high resolution products they put out, as well as their SACD and FLAC downloadable content. What LegacyVMP Studio can produce here was never meant to compete with them and I don’t want this to get confused with any of the high resolution or audiophile audio products. What those folks do is incredible work. And so I think there is room for all of these ‘legacy audio brands’ to find their way in the free market.
Finally, I’d love to see what we do establish a foothold in the re-emerging Cassette format as another mainstream solution for the legacy audio industry, in addition. I think that would also be a good fit and make perfect sense and again, our ‘brand of sound’ should transition well to that format and be a good fit.”