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[Vinyl] Half-Speed Mastering and Why Does It Matter?
interesting stuff from the discogs.com blog from Jeffrey Lee Puckett posted November 19, 2020
source: https://blog.discogs.com/en/what-is-...ist_2020_11_19
Half-speed mastering is very similar at its core but there is one crucial difference, which then creates a host of issues that need addressing. That difference is that the master lacquer is made with the signal source and cutting lathe both running at — wait for it — half-speed. So 16.65 rpm instead of 33.3 and, as an example, 15 IPS instead of 30 IPS when using tape. If a digital file is the source, the DAC being used in the chain has its clock run at 48kHz vs 96kHz.
But it’s not quite as simple as that, as we’ll learn later.
Why are some good and others bad?
It’s no different from normal mastering: If the source tape or digital file is poorly recorded or mixed, or if the vinyl is ultimately pressed incompetently, then the mastering process is handcuffed. And whatever process is used, it doesn’t matter if it’s used poorly. Columbia Records hit the losing exacta with 1980’s half-speed reissue of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, for example, as their engineers didn’t know what they were doing and they had chosen an album with famously compromised master tapes.
read the full story here: https://blog.discogs.com/en/what-is-...ist_2020_11_19
source: https://blog.discogs.com/en/what-is-...ist_2020_11_19
Half-speed mastering is very similar at its core but there is one crucial difference, which then creates a host of issues that need addressing. That difference is that the master lacquer is made with the signal source and cutting lathe both running at — wait for it — half-speed. So 16.65 rpm instead of 33.3 and, as an example, 15 IPS instead of 30 IPS when using tape. If a digital file is the source, the DAC being used in the chain has its clock run at 48kHz vs 96kHz.
But it’s not quite as simple as that, as we’ll learn later.
Why are some good and others bad?
It’s no different from normal mastering: If the source tape or digital file is poorly recorded or mixed, or if the vinyl is ultimately pressed incompetently, then the mastering process is handcuffed. And whatever process is used, it doesn’t matter if it’s used poorly. Columbia Records hit the losing exacta with 1980’s half-speed reissue of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, for example, as their engineers didn’t know what they were doing and they had chosen an album with famously compromised master tapes.
read the full story here: https://blog.discogs.com/en/what-is-...ist_2020_11_19
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