More info and my some of my thoughts from my trip to Mobile Fidelity
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2022
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I believe I'm done pontificating on this MOFI ordeal for a while. Commenting on this is getting turned into me supporting what happened and thats not the case. And that's all I have to say about that.
Mike you did good mate and listening to your words here I fully appreciate what you did. You need to take a rest from this as you have a business to run and a hobby you can tell you love. Let others take on the questions etc. All the very best from the Barry in the UK.
I think that is very fair. You did enough and if people can't appreciate your effort it's on them.
The glaring issue is that as a Mobile Fidelity dealer there is a conflict of interest regardless of how the interview went. I thought given this that Michael did a good job on the interview and he asked what he could. Mobile's marketing Music Direct have some damage control to handle on this one, however, they have yet to be 100% transparent about their products and customers are noticing. Any time there is a crossover for example, where AP offers the same title, especially when mastered by Kevin Grey like Marvin Gaye, One Step V AP issue, AP will sell more product because of this. Chad's feeling good these days. bTW, I have the later issue of Abraxas on 33 RPM, I bought in 2015, it sounds awesome. Krieg and Co are still some of the best mastering engineers out there regardless.
Mike - Did you ask them anything about their SACD mastering? Are they mastered from downsampled copies of the 4x DSD transfers created for the LP releases? Are the CD layers downsampled PCM conversions of the 4x DSD transfers or of a downsampled DSD copy?
You’re a legend. We all owe you a huge THANK YOU
Thanks Mike, you’re doing good work. I think you handled this situation so well. With a situation like this you’ll have people who say you could do things a different way, but nobody knows what it’s like to be in that room but you and those guys.
You made an excellent point about not throwing stones at them as employees.
Thanks again!
Knock it off dude......!!! Short story long...... Either we got str8 answers or we did not. ....?!? Mike got takin' in for a ride, with mediocre, non straight answers dude. The public can read between the lines, and now know the truth, with these arrogant pricks.
Much agreed. Mike did an excellent job in this video. He made the point, and drove it home, that his interview was with the engineers. Those men are not PR people or executives that are responsible for shaping the image of MOFI products for potential consumers. It sounds to me like Mike discovered what everyone inside the MOFI building knew about the use of digital steps/technology that has been used. Apparently the engineers have been told that MOFI will release the processes for each vinyl pressing MOFI has created over the years. Let’s hope those engineers were not misled and become the fall guys. Time will tell. Hopefully, there is some official company clarification on all this that’s about to be released to the public.
Here is the question: would they have sold as many units at as high of a price if this information was disclosed for each release? The answer is clearly no, which is why they did not disclose it. What else is there to discuss?
Just for the record, has MOFI or had MOFI ever specifically stated or marketed that "original master recordings" meant that the final vinyl products were ALL 100% ANALOG or "AAA", and NEVER went through any A to D coversion? Or was it just ASSUMED that OMR's never had a digital step in the process?
@@oldvideos6330 Yes they have. ua-cam.com/video/z-td3Uk5TIQ/v-deo.html They confirm at around 1:30 into the video. I also recommend the video on the subject by poetryonplastic („Did Mobile Fidelity lie??“)
MOFI did not want to use the "D" word (Digital) because they knew that would adversely affect their sales. Transferring to Digital is a step, and should have been noted on each record.
100% agree.
Amen.
Nailed it.
Mofi has a category on their website for digital releases. Doesn’t that indicate that the other releases on the website should be AAA? They are being very misleading.
It’s called a 1Step. We just didn’t know it was a digital 1Step. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me. They sound fantastic. Period. And no one can argue about that. We got fooled in a good way. Everyone needs to get over it. It is what it is. Now it’s the consumers choice to decide whether they wanna buy it or not. And I bet, they will still buy it. So at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter anymore.
Mike, thank you for the work you put in not only to running the store but in producing these videos and working to get info to collectors and record lovers. It is greatly appreciated.
You’ve really acquitted yourself with grace and aplomb during this whole affair Mike.
You’ve done the audiophile community a great service. Pat yourself on the back, mate.
The interview illuminated that as music enthusiasts, we don't know as much as we think about the complexities of dealing with these artifacts. It's not as simple as analogue vs digital, it is extremely nuanced. Having said that, mofi most certainly should have been honest about it all from day one.
So true.....
If the company you work for is misrepresenting the process you are using and your name is credited for remastering you should have a problem with it.
They ALL knew what they were doing. People like Kevin Gray, Bernie Grundman, and Fremer have been hinting at this for years.
And please…they don’t remember… Bernie Grundman is almost 80 years old and remembers any of the really important albums he cut. Not to mention he’s was cutting way way way more stuff then them.
MC, you beat me to MY very 1st thought immediately after the vid I was going to share to the VC community-- these guys clearly are the "tech guys at a firm" scenario that don't have the final sway to do what was right in hindsight. They are clearly employees....though they may have a Music Direct 401K or similar $ incentive beyond "great sound" 🤷♂️. As I've said a few times this past week in various comment sections, the obvious misdirected marketing to customers & resellers over the years and misleading provenance of their MoFi vinyl reissues, it's essentially beyond their pay grade. No excuses though.
Also, I've defended Mike on several sites for unfounded bullying (IMO) over the weeks but I will say.... his follow up vid. sentiment is certainly NOT the expected mood/theme I expected after confirmation of MoFi's digital step(s).
SO, Mike, the live stream follow up is PERFECT since I probably couldn't remember details & recall verbatim, on camera.
Do an InGroove live stream WITH Michael 45RPM = would be cool!!
@@dcrook232323 yes they are employees but it’s not like we are talking about some guy jJim from accounting, but we cant act like all 3 of them weren’t also benefiting from Mofi not mentioning they where using DSD to transfer masters.
@@ObsoleteMedia387 Yep, they knew, no question. Guilty.
They/MoFi were also bought out a handful of years ago by MD and I'd enjoy learning more about how the water cooler talk went inside the halls of the all-analogue mastering and reissue, once legendary vinyl MFGs.....
"I don't remember" means "let me check with the big boss man and see what I'm allowed to say, then it will get smoothed over by some PR hack to hopefully placate the folks we've suckered".
@@dietchapstick7890 Do the albums not sound as good as they did last week? They have an obligation to make the best sounding records, which they do They have no obligation to disclose their trade secrets, methods and sources.
Mike, I want to commend you on the work you did for this, you've done the vinyl community a service. I agree, it's clear these engineers are making great sounding records using this method, and I do trust their expertise in this technical area.
What bothers me though, is that we now have examples of these exact same engineers on record at various points throughout the last 10 years stating in unequivocal terms that these records are "cut from analog tape" AFTER they supposedly starting using the DSD method. The liner notes and website might be more vague, but they have given interviews both live and in print stating as much. The real questions now are, "why did you cover this up?", "who told you to do this/who's idea was it?", "what role did Music Direct play in this?" and "did you ever discuss opening up about the DSD process?"
I totally agree with you. Your own video on this issue was tremendous and it is clear Music Direct have been dishonest in their dealings with customers. I do think the three engineers in the In Groove video behaved in a shifty manner, cracking jokes and not answering some questions they were asked. There is more to all this than has been made clear at this point.
Ditto, great job Mike - you were professional, courteous and had great rapport with them. The damage is done for mofi as far as im concerned.
Exactly---they are totally complicit in the scheme.
👍POP, check out Mike at Hub Tunes' Thursday (today) video. Is as/more informative as this writing than Mike's herein.
When Mike at The InGroove does a live chat Friday, he too will fill in more info than this quick follow up vid today.
Absolutely, there are a whole bunch of questions that needed to be asked once they admitted they use dsd.
I haven't bought a 1-Step since The Nightfly release. In that box MOFI has a placard which shows the 1-Step process versus the traditional 5-Step process. The diagram is clear - Analog tapes to lacquer. No statement or icon for a digital insert between the two. If Mike is correct, and I have a deep suspicion he is, then MOFI has massive egg on their faces. It's a BIG deal guys. Thank you Mike!
You wouldn't have known if it wasn't pointed out to you. People buy MoFi because it sounds good, not because of a hypothetical guarantee that says no digitized information is ever used. I would argue that this is not a big deal and you do like mofi for the same reasons as you did a year ago.
Mike, great point about not blaming these three brilliant engineers. Our frustration needs to be directed to Audiophile Music Direct Inc.'s executive team. Past and present.
Absolute class act, Mike. Thanks for your advocacy and for taking the high road with all of this.
Mike you’ve done a great job through this whole thing. You’re trying to do the right thing despite the obvious pain this caused you.
I think thats the definition of a good man.
Can only echo the positive sentiment from all of those offering their appreciation. What a shame other’s in the so called community can’t bear to acknowledge that this was a job well done. Kudos to you Mike.
Thanks for the info Mike! I have learned a LOT from you since I started buying records again. Love your store and videos!
Excellent work Mike. Thank you so much for this.
Just want to say Thanks Mike for doing all of this and giving us the opportunity to learn and see more! You are much appreciated and can’t wait to continue to learn more.
Great job Yesterday Mike! Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this.
Mike, first of all: kudos for being a nice guy from many points. Secod, congrats for appreciating the engineers for what they are, and not for what conpany did! 👍
Bull... the engineers were just as much a part of it!
@@Licoricedisc I don't think you can defend that position.
@@glennsmusicchannel
In multiple different interviews they have said that ALL MoFi Lps are Analog... in other interviews they denied any digital ever is used if the original came from an analog master... when you RUN the mastering and have all the knowledge and then are lying and dishonest.. it is on them.. they are MoFi.
This video is an excellent look at how MoFi lied...look at the 2017 interview @ 32:05 time mark:
ua-cam.com/video/S6kFRQ9NTDw/v-deo.html
@Nicholas I agree that the babycrying is repugnant but nobody tells the mastering guys how to do their job. From the interview, its obvious that they make the best records they can using all of the tools at their disposal.
Thanks for making the trip, having the conversation, sharing the information, and providing the context. Very helpful and I appreciate the effort!!
Mike, thank you for how you’ve approached this, you’ve done your bit and well, and we’ll all be better for it going forwards. I admire your efforts.
Thanks for the follow-up Mike! This fills in some of the gaps that various people were talking about. I totally get not wanting to put the heat and anger towards them, because you never would have gotten as far as you did with them! Cheers
Mike, thank you for all you do and for how you have conducted yourself through this "controversy" and the others. You have behaved throughout as a stand-up man. You have not called out people but asked questions that resulted in your meeting with the Mofi team and ending with answers and, most importantly, RESULTS. I genuinely don't care the why, but I care about the result. To put blame solves nothing, but to get results solves everything. Thanks to you, moving forward, we will learn more about what we are buying, which helps us all. I thank you dearly for this. We all thank you!
Keep up the great work. Your videos, professionalism, and jokes make my wife, and I enjoy and look forward to all your videos. You have taught us a lot about this hobby we all love, and you have done it the right way. Kudos to you. Be proud.
BTW, we had the great pleasure of meeting you a few months ago. We are the couple who flew from Germany for a conference in Pheonix. But it was all planned so we could visit the The 'In' Groove. :) We then had the great thrill of meeting and chatting with you for a while. My wife still randomly says, with great joy, "We met, Mike!!!".
Keep up the great work!!! We are all the better due to you!
No need for any explanation, your visit got the points we needed. Ignore the negativity. Thank you.
Merci Mike…thank you for your commitment and reactivity !! Much appreciated from France
Thank you Mike for having sacrificed time and energy and money to try and clear things out for all of us. Even if it was not perfect we learned they do use digital in their mastering. And they didn’t tell us.
That’s all we needed to know.
The details will follow on their website.
Thank you again!
“One step” forward and two steps back.
Good job, Mike. You talked to guys you needed to talk to, and from my consumer perspective, you came up with the right answers. Bring on Thriller!
Exactly!
Hey Mike, thank you for taking the time and effort to do this digging. I absolutely love that you took it to the bitter end, and were persistent! Good stuff, and you have done a great service to everybody that is in the hobby
Mike thank you for all that you did,really appreciated,you’re very important to the vinyl community.
Thanks Mike for your commitment and drive to get answers. Ultimately, the end goal here is transparency for how the product was manufactured. MoFi responded to you and agreed to make this available for their past catalogue and for their future releases. I was also really pleased to hear from you that you spoke to Chad K. At Acoustic Sounds and he’s onboard with this too. Hopefully, this can become a standard for all the audiophile labels moving forward. The whole vinyl community needs to thank you for your effort for enabling this significant outcome. I still believe in letting my ears be the judge of what I think sounds good but having transparency in to how the records are made is an integral part of the product. Congrats.
You interviewed 3 guys who are experts in their field, technicians at the top of their game who take great care in what they do and who LOVE what they do. They are NOT "media trained", not marketing executives or bean counters. You managed to speak with the guys who create the best product possible to the highest standards possible with the skills and technical expertise, equipment and source material available. Those who are still being critical of the interview need to get some perspective in their lives. The world is full of "armchair experts" who know better than anyone else. Thanks again for the interview.
You've done a tremendous job with this. Thank you.
Thanks Mike, good job. I appreciate the time and effort you put into it. We got the answers we needed.
Great vid!
I think it's less that it's digital, but rather that we are not informed. Transparency goes a long way with picky customers.
Absolutely love this video for quite a few reasons. I appreciate that you took a trip at your own expense and successfully got to the bottom of a really difficult and complicated issue. I love the point that you made about those three engineers being the talent, not the decision makers who would be responsible for PR or how the products are marketed and packaged - there aren't the people to blame for the debacle. Also, it's not like you could go to MoFi, or any company, and start disrespectfully making accusations or demanding admissions of guilt and apologies. I also appreciate you taking the high road and not calling out, by name, two other very critical UA-camrs that were OVERLY critical of your sit-down with the MoFi employees. You implied them by your language, but didn't need to call them out and escalate that issue. Thanks, Mike. Keep up the great work. People were very quick to make videos about this issue, but nobody went as far as you did to get answers, and that's the bottom line.
Thanks Mike, excellent follow up impressions. You made the right decision in your interview approach, to let the engineers speak in their own words about their work, and have the awareness to separate out the issue of the products from the way they have been misrepresented by the marketing and PR people. It's been extremely valuable to have you bring this issue to light. Chapeau.
Mike you are a totally honorable guy with rare integrity. You really care and have a heart for the customer. You were willing to seek the truth even if it could hurt your income and the value of some of your records. Please do not be hard on yourself. Keep your love of music and your love of sharing it with others...do not let this ruin it for you.
Mike you did a great job and handled it with class. Whatever anyone else says makes no difference, they weren't there you were. I felt you asked all the right questions and they answered them as best as they could, Yes they did not disclose everything about how they make the record but they are still a fantastic product. Like you said - they are the engineers who know what's the best sound would be. Looking forward to the Thriller One Step now.
Great job on the interview,and great to hear we are going to get the info on these pressings,and as you say if a DSD transfer then mastering happens to be the best sounding version of a record i love and it beats the OG in spades i'll still be buying it , with the reassurance that i now know exactly what i'm getting
I assume, they begin with a "first generation" tape copy from their 4x DSD files. This copy is then beeing played back on their Tim de Paravicini modified Studer A80, feeding their restored Neumann VMS-70 to produce the lathe for the vinyl records. The DSD step in between is, regarding the nature of DSD, certainly more analogue like than any HiRes PCM step would be imho.
Thanks Mike! I really appreciate the effort and lengths you went to in getting to the bottom of this issue.
Great Job Mike. Glad you got home safely
Excellent follow up video! I think you did a really good job interviewing the MOFI engineers. So glad you interviewed them instead of Fremer!
amen, fremer wouldn't have gotten any good info out of them he'd be too busy yelling and making the whole thing about him. Mike's quickly becoming a better journalist than fremer has been in years.
I don't understand your trolling of Michael Fremer. There would be no vinyl to buy, only CD'S if not for all the work he and others did to keep vinyl at the forefront during the 90's and after...
@@seanberrodin801 Fremer would still be there talking lol
@@davidlg0478 the guy undoubtedly did good in the past but he’s gotten a little too grumpy and obtuse for his own good this past couple years. He needs to retire there are plenty of good and respectful people ready to continue the fight for vinyl.
@@seanberrodin801 yeah just minutes ago I was watching the introductory vid to his new channel and he is soooo self absorbed. He is the only expert and went through a bunch of mini capsule reviews he did for a Boston paper to prove this knowledge.... blech
It wasn’t just the marketers or Music Direct brass, MoFi’s engineers are on camera, years ago, saying point blank that it’s all analogue from the tape.
The period in the question that started ALL of this is from 2015 to now.
@@Groover71 ua-cam.com/video/z-td3Uk5TIQ/v-deo.html this is from 5 years ago, skip to 1:30
Thanks for the update. Good Job.
Thanks for all your doing. Keep it up.
Great stuff, Mike. That was all strong moves you made, despite the doubters. You got the answers. The community is gonna be mixed in their feeling. But you did this on your own dime FOR THE COMMUNITY. Big respect!
Mike , you got answers . Fremer is still butthurt about the Sharpiegate . I thought calling you a "fanboy" was unprofessional . He is slowly losing the respect of the VC . I don't think he really cares tbh . I always loved your channel cause you understand the VC to casual listener to Audiophile . You seek honesty , truth and fairness cause you too are passionate about music . IMO you broke the story about MOFI , you seeked the truth , you told your customers , you went to MOFI and you got answers for us on your own dime . That's someone who cares ! You still have my dollar and respect ! Thank you Mike !
covergate led to this, if it werent for covergate no one may have pressed for dsdgate.
Hi Mike, Thanks for all the updates and you have done a great job. We can all see the pain, you just keep do your thing!
Thanks Mike, great job! Keep up the great work !
They have been a little shady in not disclosing everything and being more up front, but I have no doubt that they are really trying to make the absolute best sounding albums they can. I'm a bit less shocked because I have heard amazing digital and don't believe all the analog hype. I do love vinyl but not exclusively.
A little shady?
@@solomonstewart1025 ? They're not burying bodies in the backyard as far as I know.
shady- "of doubtful honesty or legality."
You can’t get a little pregnant. You are or aren’t. Same for is it digital or analog. But no transparency equals complete fraud!
@@pnojazz actually I think you can get a "little pregnant" in this case. If it was either digital or analog we would not be deceived so easily.
It's interesting to consider. I've been a life long music collector, I have digital files, cd's, cassettes, and records. I've tried to compare cd's and tape and it's hard for me to be objective about it. If you have a good deck and a good system, the media starts to fade into the background as the music takes over.
Thank you for clearing some things up for me.
Thank You Mike for stepping up and representing all of us! Great Job 👏
Great job Mike. If you went into it with a chip on your shoulder, I think you wouldn't have got as much Information as you did. If they thought you were going to be like that, you never would have gotten the invite in the first place. Thanks for doing it!
You did just fine with you interview.
Thanks Mike I appreciate your work and passion for the hobby. It’s time to accept that experts in the field can use several options to work their craft.
Thanks Mike for bringing this matter to the light. Also, thank you for handling the whole situation with some class, perspective and fairness. I live in Ireland so I can't drop in to say this in person, but really - great job. One of the things I really appreciate about you is your transparency and fairness. We need more of that in the vinyl community. You should be proud of your contribution to our hobby!
So basically we've been listening to digital with the added noise of vinyl, right?
This was a solid wrap-up video. I appreciate the fact that you didn’t want to go in acting like a psycho and approached it in a more curious manner. I look forward to hearing Thriller. I just copped T. Rex’s mofi release. Excited to hear my first mofi record!
Thanks Mike, that to me was an important and informative supplement to your interview video. . . . and I have to admit I'm reevaluating somewhat my take aways from your interview because of your provided thoughts and supplementary information. I feel confident that every one that is interested in this subject is appreciative of your efforts and sincerity of purpose. Thank you.
Mike, thanks so much for your transparency in these matters. People like truth and in my opinion, it's you who went to great lengths to get this to us. Very much appreciated and received. Love the channel and all the information that comes with it. You care about your customers and have pride and honour in what you do. Thanks so much. I know none of this has been easy for you in the least bit. Very Professional Ambassador who cares....how refreshing.
Checkers speech time from Music Direct. Those folks do need to apologize for leading their customers believing one thing while they did something else.
So that’s good they believed their work is the best, so then they should have been proud of their work and explained it correctly. That DSD was an integral part of their process. That’s where Music Direct not these guys, screwed up.
Well said, Mazzy. I have harsher words than "screwed up". Bottom line, those who bought digital MoFi's are victims of premeditated fraud and deserve justice. I hope there is a class action lawsuit over the perpetration of this shameful fraud.👿
@@audiophileman7047 LOL people who bought records that they thought sounded great until learning digital was in the chain "deserve justice".
@@gordonshumway7465 LOL, Cut from the original master tapes is not equivalent to cut from a digital file. Cut from the original master tapes is much better.
"I am not a crook."
Thanks Mike! One way I use to “budget” my record buying is to at least try to limit my buying to pressings that are AAA when that is an option. Your work on an industry transparency standard is so helpful!
it means originals from the pre digital era are worth more again now ?
Chasing Ogs is a tough game. I’ve tried to focus on good repressings like Classic Records and older APs.
Good to buy crappier pressings simply because they say AAA.
You did great Mike! Thanks for being the vinyl warrior for the people!
Thanks Mike for going as far as you could with this. You didn't have to do any of this so thank you. You know your stuff and nobody could have done it better.
It's so ironic MOFI lists "transparency" in their mission statement....
Man, I think you did a good job. There’s nothing that can be said that will ever satisfy every single person with an interest in this controversy. Some folks will just have to feel the way they feel and that’s that.
Aloha Mike,
Thanks again for sharing your information on this subject.
MIke the interview you conducted was perfect. You asked the questions as a store owner and a vinly lover. You had a list of questions and they provided the answers.
Nice job Mike, I can't believe it fell to you to have to go get a straight answer out of them but I'm glad you did. Thanks for repping us. Regardless of opinions regarding analog vs digital, our collections, or just dealing with feeling deceived, this kind of story will ultimately help clean up and bring the hobby forward, and that's long overdue. And really, to any 'legit' journalist(s) who sat on this or didn't pursue for whatever reason, thanks a helluva lot for nothing, way to fail the community when you were needed the most...
C'mon man , Mike went on his own dime and got the interview with the engineers, if you don't like the answer they gave that's a different issue . You can just stop buying the records if you don't like the process . But Mike did a great job .
@@jerryandlisa27 think you replied to the wrong comment, I'm nothing but grateful that Mike got real answers and a commitment to transparency from them.
@@gopherstick..I understood what you said, gopher.
I think he may have just misread the comment ( something I do too often as well).
Despite what the other "experts" think, your interview was excellent. There is no shame in realising that a digital step in the mastering chain can still produce the best sounding records. A shoutout also to those 3 mastering engineers from Mobile Fidelity, who generously gave their time to explain the reasons for their mastering choices.
Agree we all know this, digital has capabilities that just does not exist in analogue. Sorry to say.
@@ralex3697 agreed. Very similar in the way that you can take an analog film photograph into a digital workspace by scanning it, and then editing it in a software like Photoshop. Some edits would be harder to achieve or even impossible by analog means
@@ralex3697 Heresy!!! Get behind me Satan!!!
You hit it out of the park, Mike. Nicely done.
Thank you for this info
Mike, some of these MOFI engineers have been lying and misleading their customers. There’s videos of them on UA-cam doing this. 1-9-2017 Shawn K Britton - “Well some people ask us questions like is it an all-analog mastering chain?” “It is”. 10-25-2019 Krieg Wunderlich “It’s definitely different than digital”.
Criticism is the best form of flattery
Glad to see you took the high road with your detractors
It isn’t about them
We appreciate your insights and addressing Mofi in a calm and tactful way
You did a superb job and let the engineers speak on their work
We were heartbroken too.
But I feel more comfortable knowing the process and those professionals behind it
Keep doing what you do and ignore the noise
“I’m not a fan boy, I am a fan boy of great sounding records”
We look forward to your reviews on those and ones that don’ measure up
Thanks Mike - appreciate all your efforts. Let’s see whether they deliver on the undertakings that they have given you.
Brilliant video Mike. Subscribed
Mike, you're to be commended for doing more than most to shed light on this issue. If your efforts result in something like an updated SPARS code (e.g. placed near the 'limited edition' number on the back cover of the record jacket) then it will have been well worth it.
Really hope that’s what happens
You did good, Mike. I think I’ll probably try to focus my dollars more towards AP and Blue Note for now. Not that I’m rushing to cancel my Mofi orders.
Maybe they could split their offerings and have a 4XDSD line and a AAA line. Could call one “HIFI” and the other “All-Natural”. It’s a work in progress.
Nice to see someone with so much passion sticking to their guns and seeing this whole thing through to the end, without chickening out. I wish some politicians in DC had as much balls as you do, Mike. Kudos .
I am glad that they are willing to share the process for each record. But you know that would never happen unless they were called out. So thanks for making that happen Mike!
I thank you for your videos about the MOFI issue.
The MOFI case is a mirror faced in front of the Audiophile community that reveals the replacement of the main goal of a common audiophile which is the desire for a maximum/best sound quality reproduction with a race after the isosteric hard to get more expensive all analogue process. This has occurred without us the community stop to ask ourself or even worse, when a digital step added to an audio process is ruled automatically to be bad for the whole cutting process even it enables a (no doubt about it) superior one step pressing. no one is evaluating the whole chain. the word digital has blocked the thinking process of the total result.
The question have to be asked why MOFI who undouble achieved a higher sound quality (as reported for the Abraxas release for example) had to be vague on the fact they are using a digital process in their updated sound reproduction process?
is it because they want to hide a fact they are selling a much easy to produce and inferior "CD on Vinyl" product (the statement is just for the sake of discussion) and continue collecting money with higher profit from the audiophile "suckers"?
or maybe is it because Audiophiles community, who their moto is judging a product sonic quality with their own ears will be too shocked to hear (Double meaning... 🙂 ) that digital process exists and add an advantage to the sound quality, in conflict with the community conception which automatically detach a "made from original master" when a step of a super high resolution digital copy is involved?
If MOFI would have used a 2nd generation analogue copy, done by MOFI from original master, and not a DSD process, would the Vinyl community have accepted this step because the All analogue purity has been maintained? we have to remember that MOFI have replace the "Father + Mother" steps with a 2nd generation copy so there is an important improvement added to the process together with that 2nd generation added step. Why nobody talks about the total results? why focus only on one (important) added step? why nobody evaluate the 2 choice between a DSD vs a 2nd generation Analogue copy which MOFI has done already for us?
So the vinyl community has to first identify if the latest MOFI "one step" process has a total improvement of sound or not, comparing to any process MOFI has presented over the years, and comparing with other companies audiophile releases, of course also with price tag comparison.
Last, I present you with the most shocking "Elephant in the room" which no one yet on all the MOFI videos so far has neglected to talk about:
In case MOFI "one step" process is found to be actually the best audio quality and efficient way to cut a vinyl from an original master then it means that within the chain of cutting process, The DSD step has the maximum and better sound quality source for the vinyl cut process, better than the vinyl product itself.
This has a huge impact on the vinyl industry, because the DSD (or other high res digital file format) can be sold and streamed with even a better quality than that of the best vinyl pressing there is.
This means that audiophile vinyl format becomes to be in the third place of the highest audio quality possible (the second place belongs to an exotic, expensive and very limited in quantities direct Reel to Reel studio quality copy of the original master Tape) and 1st audio quality possible to obtain at home would become to be a digital file.
This removes the carpet under the whole vinyl industry, or at least the audiophile vinyl industry, and this is in my opinion the real reason for MOFI ambiguity on the cutting process.
Well done Mike.... Great video, and well executed interview with MOFI. Just a quick question as I'm interested in your answer.... what is the source for AP's Hendrix UHQR releases??.. the Acoustic Sounds website stated MASTERED from the original tape, then lacquer cut by Bernie Grundman... doesn't say anything about cutting from tape.... MOFI clearly stated, and I think we all knew this anyway that a lot of the studios won't let the master tapes out of their sight, so how do AP get around this issue?
Excellent work Mike. Well stated. You should be celebrated for doing this. cheers!
This has been a fascinating discussion and Mike has done a great day of good to the vinyl community by bringing this conversation to the attention of vinyl fans. I have a lot of MOFI vinyl and SACDs. My one step B S & T is simply amazing. Whilst I disappointed to find out that some may not be pure analogue from the source, it still doesn't detract from the final sound. So a great job, Mike. Thanks dude for your efforts.
After hearing the interview, I totally agree they were the right people to discuss and make sense why they went the direction they did due to the master they receive. I like their approach and they were down to earth. I have no issue with the quality of their product and will continue to purchase and can not wait for Thriller. The only negative is the quality of the vinyl is not consistent, but most of the mastering is superb. Thanks for getting them in front of the camera, you did well. Cheers!
Does the thriller album use a digital source or is it all analog?
I would love to watch Mike do a blind test of Analog and digital vinyl as well as HD streamed. One should listen to what sounds best, regardless of the source.
Godamn, good for you. I walked into my favorite record store this morning, Glasshouse Records in Pomona, Ca., and the three young men - very knowledgeable about their favorite genre's, asked if I had watched your MOFI interview. I had and tried to explain what I thought I heard the engineers remark on. Interesting discussion on what the chain of transfer entailed. More transparency will be welcome as long as it's part of the jacket and not just on a hype sticker. Thank you again. I'm glad it was you and not Michael Freeman (sp?) that got the opportunity to ask these questions.
If the vinyl community had a Hall Of Fame you would be in it. Speaking for my family we appreciate and thank you.
Digital audio reproduction technology has been far superior (more accurate, transparent, faithful to the original signal) to analog for decades now. The revelation that these vinyl releases audiophiles have been loving, believing they were 100% analog every step of the way, have actually been digitized must really hurt those invested in the false notion that digital audio sounds worse than analog. But now you know, digital is not the audio boogeyman audiophiles thought it was.
BS!
Mike the following is part of the description that MoFi used in their website promoting the Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline:
“…Mastered on our world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, this restored 45RPM analog version zeroes in on the shocking purity and never-again-replicated croon of Dylan's vocals. Enhanced, too, are the images associated with the calmly strummed and picked acoustic guitars and decay connected to the fading notes…”
Could please explain how the inclusion of the word “analog” plays in this? when they go on to say “enhanced…” I got confused.
I saw this too. It’s 100% misleading and intentional. Mofi has been misleading its customers for years. They’ve been wanting us to think their releases are all analog, and their marketing (even the inserts included in the OneSteps) have been a big lie.
Again, thanks, Mike, for taking the time and spending the money to bring this very important issue to surface. Some people may carp and some may nitpick, but you have MOFI on the record stating that they use DSD in the mastering process. The engineers, who have done a lot of great work in the past, were appropriately treated respectfully. I think you are 100% right to move on to running your business and other things.
You are a hero and should have a medal Mike! Thanks.
Hey Mike,
I, like a lot of us here, really appreciate all you do. I really like how you went to get the "scoop" from these folks. Thank you very much !! P.S. Michael Fremer is such a arrogant SOB, don't give a rats butt what he thinks of you, or about anything, really. I recommend you to anyone who is getting into vinyl to check out your channel, and to buy LP's from you. I buy the vast majority of records from you. You've always done right by me. And I'm sure a lot of us feel that way. Your Rock !! JK
Yes, he has become such an asshole.
Mike fremer is a communist
Michael Fremer called you an amateur and questioned your visit to MoFi.
I say you are 100x the journalist Fremer is, and I thank you for what you did.
Bingo
You’re smoking crappy weed bro!
@@RF-lz9cd and you’re a 🤡
Fremer can be an old windbag and rude at best. His time has passed.
Thank you Mike!!
Ricki lake! Geraldo! I spit out my coffee lol thanks for the laugh great statement, appreciate you and all you do
This would be an excellent time for Analog Productions to start pumping out some authentic analog stuff, and, as others have pointed out, produce more classic rock, etc.
Major key is the persuasive ability of the execs to call into a label and get access.
Not easy.
Mike, I can't thank you enough for going. Bold move, and appreciated by us all. I think the frustrating point with them is, they seemed to sell their expensive titles with the assumption it was from the master tapes. (not digital) And they never said differently knowing it was false. So they sold thousands of records on that premise. Now we know, that's not the case. That's the issue here.
Why was Jim (owner) not at the meeting? He would have been the person that we want to hear from. The bucket stops with him. Did you speak to Jim?
The issue is not how good they sound. The issue is that they we're not forthcoming regarding the fact that these are digital records. Am I missing something?
@@joepiro4948 MD may be the "owner" but really I am betting it is more of a financial partnership.
You did great, thank you for doing that.
mike thank you ,that is what i say for many years, every type of source ,tape,records,red book cd,sacd,you name it gives me the joy to listen music, i am a big collector , when it comes to music i do not restrict myself how and what i listen to , i can tell you mike, because i know you hate digital music,,sometimes dsd or sacd or cd sounds better than the same title on record,
that is why i love all music formats.and i do not restrict any type of music,greetings from switzerland