ELO "Time" LP US & UK same mastering, different lacquers!!!

[kap'n krunch]

I finally got a decent NM UK version of my favorite ELO LP...
only to find on the deadwax that both have machine stamped "Mastered by Allan Zentz, Los Angeles, CA".

Now, the sound is almost exactly the same (The UK vinyl quality is better-and it sounds less compressed than the US pressing... I know, this LP was compressed as an "artistic" decision by Jeff himself...maybe he also foresaw the future "loudness wars"-but it's NOWHERE near as loud as "modern" releases are-that, and you can't brickwall an LP) , but the pressings have different hand etched numbers
and,
are obviously different cuts...
Correct me then:
The mastering engineer ONLY EQs the original mixdown tape to vinyl "limitations" standard, and then , we have the likes of "Porky", "Bilbo", etc, to make the lacquers out of these tapes...

Can anyone chime in?

I think it's curious that an album made in the UK is mastered in the US for both UK and US releases....

OTOH,
the "Xanadu" UK pressing states in the credits that it was mastered by Bernie Grundman, but the deadwax has "Strawberry" machine stamped, so no way it was mastered by Bernie....

 

[kap'n krunch]

Can anybody confirm this process is correct???
I know there are some gurus who know this....

 

[cupboy]

You may want to sign up at the SH forum. They'd know all about vinyl.

 

[kap'n krunch]

You may want to sign up at the SH forum. They'd know all about vinyl.

Personally, I find that forum as a "brown nosing" place , that , either you agree and sing the glories of SH's "masterings" or you're the enemy, no gray areas-and he is a very mean person with not a lot of good things to say.

A very hostile place that I'd rather not go to.....

Anyone???

 

[neil wilkes]

The Mastering Engineer is not the same person as the cutting engineer.
The cutting engineer is someone like George "Porky" Peckham - of "A Porky Prime Cut" fame, and this is the man who cuts the master.
The Mastering Engineer - as in Bernie Grundman - should properly be called the "Pre-Mastering Engineer" as he adjusts the actual sound prior to delivering (usually) a 1/2" or a 1/4" master mix tape - known as the Bin Master - to the pressing plant - usually one tape per side of the record.

 

[krkier]

The cutting engineer is someone like George "Porky" Peckham - of "A Porky Prime Cut" fame, and this is the man who cuts the master.

Now finally thanks to Neil I know what (or who) this "A Porky Prime Cut" is. I am collecting vinyl for more than thirty years now, and have many LPs with this scribbling in the dead wax area. But never knew who or what that is.

Here in Germany there is an independent cutting plant for vinyl called "Schallplatten Schneid Technik" (SST), which signature you may have seen a lot of times on german pressings.

And now I want to know who "PF" is, that you can see on many Warner Music releases made in Alsdorf, Germany.

-Kristian

 

[neil wilkes]

There are some often funny thingswritten in the Dead Wax areas.
I've seen stuff like "If things don't change - they'll stay as they are" and many more...

 

[rusinurbe]

Now this is an album i would love to have in Surround

 

[kap'n krunch]

The Mastering Engineer is not the same person as the cutting engineer.
The cutting engineer is someone like George "Porky" Peckham - of "A Porky Prime Cut" fame, and this is the man who cuts the master.
The Mastering Engineer - as in Bernie Grundman - should properly be called the "Pre-Mastering Engineer" as he adjusts the actual sound prior to delivering (usually) a 1/2" or a 1/4" master mix tape - known as the Bin Master - to the pressing plant - usually one tape per side of the record.

Thanks again, Neil,
that's what I suspected...

Yes, things got increasingly zany in the 80's with all kinds of weird stuff on the deadwax.

Soundwise, the DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) ones are the best, but by that time they were trying to shove CDs down our throats, so the vinyl quality is not as good.....

And regarding my "Xanadu" UK LP, it WAS probably mastered by Bernie, but cut at "Strawberry"(UK),

Cheers!

 

[kap'n krunch]

Now this is an album i would love to have in Surround

HECK YEAH!!!!
Especially ANWR, OOTB, ...even Discovery!!!!
But "Time" would be especially awesome in MCH!