Secret Vinyl Download #5
These are both pretty old rips. I was using the same basic equipment, a Technics SL-QD33 and my BBE Preamp though my Creative Labs X-Fi USB soundcard, but one was done with a Shure cartridge that isn't made any longer, and the other with an Audio Technica. These were also completely manually declicked, which is to say I didn't use iZotope RX like I usually do when cleaning up my rips. I use it pretty sparingly, with custom settings to remove obvious clicks and more noticeable surface noise, but even then things still get messed up sometimes so I have to be careful. I feel like I've gotten pretty good at vinyl ripping, but I'm still learning something every time I transfer a record, so while I have no issues with either of these rips, they don't represent how I usually transfer records these days. For instance, I recently ripped each US pressing of Paul's Boutique, and while I think they all sound pretty damn good, I heard a more recent rip of the original US issue that pbthal did, and it is really nice. That said, I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on high-end hardware, so while they might not compare to his work, I do think they're pretty damn good all the same. I also ripped the recent reissues of Quasimoto's first two albums, and apart from very selective declicking on a few obvious spots, I left those ones relatively untouched. Don't want to lose the genuine surface noise and crackle that Madlib left on the records.
The first one is a very dark record by a very purple artist. You might say there is none blacker than this album. Wish I still had this one, but I needed the money at one point or another, so... you know how it goes. Thankfully, things are better these days, and I still have an original 94 CD. I did this transfer on the aforementioned equipment above with the Shure cart on a laptop. I still have that laptop, and as beaten and underpowered as it is now, it was already showing it's age then. Now it's more of a mini desktop with no battery that sits in a sunroom, enjoying it's retirement under the bright summer days and not doing much. It did a good job when I used it. On a related note, I sent this record to pbthal and he told me couldn't rip it due to a tracking issue. Wish he would've done it all the same, as it would be a definitive rip most likely. Anyways...
The second one is an album the previously mentioned very purple artist created but released under another group's name with a singer other than himself. It's very popular in his family, and has one of his best known songs that he didn't release under his own name, at least not as a studio recording during his lifetime. For whatever reason, his estate hasn't gotten around to managing the reissues of these records, so despite it's praised status, it's not available on any streaming services. The first one isn't either, but I think that's for different reasons. Anyway, I ripped this for my buddy Tophee and manually edited it on my current desktop. This might have been done in 2012 or 2013, not sure, but it was a good while ago. Still sounds really good though.
I've got a few other items by the very purple artist that I may share in the near future, but there are other things to do first. His "new" album drops tomorrow, and while I'm not particularly in love with it, it's nice to have. I really miss him. Sometimes I don't think I appreciated him while he was still with us. That's probably because the returns had diminished, which is evidenced by the "new" album. His absence doesn't make me love his work that I didn't love any more now than I did then, but it does make me miss him and whatever he did do. Sometimes I feel like all my heroes are dead. That's not true, but they'll all be gone eventually. I don't generally sit around thinking about that, but it's hard with my purple friend. He was pretty special. Hope you enjoy these gems he dropped while he was still with us.
Comments
Post a Comment