Lionheart CD: The Distorion Chronicles

[gt4586c@prism.gatech.edu (WILLETT,THOMAS CARTER)]

Recently I had posted that my copy of the Lionheart CD contained alot of
distortion which appeared to be due to improperly EQ'd master tapes being
used.  A few comments were made about the quality of exported master tapes
and the generally poor quality of american CD production.

i am now happy to report that i have found a clean copy of the lionheart CD
after three tries at two different record stores.  as it turns out, my
original copy was pressed in West Germany way back in the days before all
albums were defiled by the UPC label.  The two bad copies I got from one
record store were US pressings from EMI-Capitol USA.  The finally good copy
is an EMI-Manhattan pressing.

In the early days of CD it was a very common error for the record companies
to master the CD with an old master tape which was EQ'd for LP production.
Because of the physics of playing vinly, the LP master tape was EQ'd to have
exaggerated high frequencies (so your needle could detect the wiggles) and
de-emphasized low frequencies (so your needle wouldn't have to track too far
side to side).  The phono input of your receiver has an equalization network
to restore the proper equalization so your record sounds normal when you
play it.  However, if you master a CD with the LP master tape, you not only
get a bad sound because there's no compensation in your CD input line, you
can also get distortion due to the overloading of the digital channels.  It
appears that the early releases of Lionheart suffered this fate but that it
has been corrected.  Of course the record companies don't offer to replace
your garbage CD with a good one nor do they even generally admit they screwed
up - they just quietly slip the new version into circulation with no change
in catalogue number to let you distinguish between the versions.  I guess the
moral of the story is to be wary buying used CDs of older albums.  Or if you
are a rabid LP fan, the moral is to stay away from CDs generally.


-- 
thomas willett 
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta  
gt4586c@prism.gatech.edu
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Salvor Hardin (Foundation)