SonicAdventure
02-27-2018, 02:28 PM
A vinyl rip by SonicAdventure? Did Hell freeze over? No, it didn't. It's just that lately I have been obsessed with vinyls. Not for sonic reasons, are you kidding? I will always know that perfect sound comes from digital sources only. No exception. But vinyl... the artwork is bigger, the records can be colourful and there is something very soothing about handling it, putting it on the platter, moving the tonearm to the record and being able to actually see how the record is read.
In this case I wanted to see how Star Trek: The Motion Picture would A) sound on vinyl and B) how LaLaLand would treat it. First of all, the design of this record looks pretty nifty. The booklet (you can find excerpts within the archive) was expertly designed with help from Jim Titus (https://www.behance.net/jimtitus), the records look like some sort of blue-ish / white, splattered mess (probably to evoke memories of V'Ger). Even then the design is incomplete. The sleeves are plain white paper; couldn't they have used some colour there, too? At least the insides are lined with PVC in order to avoid paper dust accumulating on the discs' surface. The front cover could have been looking better as well. LaLaLand did in fact commission Jim Titus to help with the design. But he was erroneously thinking he would create all of it. Which is why he went ahead and created a gorgeous looking front cover only to find he wasn't commissioned to do so. Meaning, his fantastic design wasn't used. I included it nonetheless, I think it's superior than the decent but unimaginative final design.
The sound... is a wee bit of a problem. The set consists of 2 records, the first is the problematic one. It must've been pressed or cut while not being centered so it shows fairly audible wow & flutter. Simply because the needle keeps moving from left to right and back slightly. In my experience, this happens most often with records pressed in the US while almost never with records produced in Europe. Furthermore, the signal on both records is very soft which will lead to louder surface noise relative to the level of the music itself. You can also hear pre-echoes and a "soft" bass. This points towards a lacquered "mother" and not one made out of copper (Direct metal mastering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_metal_mastering)). Curious choice regarding the amount of music on each side (the first three contain around 25 minutes each), DMM discs are better suited for long running times.
To alleviate some of the problems typical for vinyl, I de-clicked it using iZotope RX. I also lowered the typical low frequency rumble. Regarding equalization, I boosted frequencies around 5250 Hz, those were problematic on the 2012-CD-set as well. Please be aware that this release apparently was derived from a digital source, you can see a cut-off at roughly 22 kHz.
Technical information:
Audio Technica AT120LP USB, AT95E with Paratrace Stylus, built-in RIAA amp
Recorded in 32 bit & 192 kHz
P.S.: contrary to what people will tell you, you don't need a fancy and ridiculously expensive belt-driven turntable and an equally expensive pickup using a stylus cut at moonlight or something. You also don't need a high priced tube-equipped amp. I have heard so many rips done on expensive, exotic or ancient turntables augmented by equally exotic equipment... and most of those rips suck.
Despite what some deluded audiophools will tell you, the AT120LP is perfectly capable of producing fantastic output. Yes, it was produced in China by Hanpin. Just like all those Omnitronics, Pioneers or Sonys. But why should it be bad because of that? It's well built and displays no wow & flutter (thanks to its quartz-controlled direct-drive). The arm could be better (it tends to resonate slightly) but I don't want to add rubber rings which would make the arm heavier than necessary. The platter could be better as well (while it's heavy it's still missing mass) but I solved this by buying a Technics 1210 rubber mat, it got rid of drive-induced rumble (before you could hear the motor).
But the biggest problem is the pickup. While the AT95 is decent for its price, especially the stylus (needle) leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore I exchanged it with a stylus by Paratrace (https://theaudiofiles.co.uk/95p-paratrace-stylus-for-at95e-cartridge/). They take the AT95E and equip it with a nude, directly bonded diamond that was cut to a 'line contact' profile (95P). This suppresses distortions while at the same time improving treble output. Yes, I've measured it - and the difference is spectacular. To put it mildly. It's still baffling to me that a different diamond attached differently (on the same pickup!) makes such a gigantic difference.
Why no fancy or tube-equipped pre-amp? The amp built into the turntable is a perfect electrical match for the AT95E and one of the rare cases where a pickup / amp combination does not produce the typical frequency error (high resonance around 15 kHz & dropped frequencies beyond). Whoever constructed the (probably cheap) amp inside the AT120LP knew exactly what he was doing. So why would I attempt to improve something that doesn't need improving, something that probably cannot be improved?
P.P.S.: 24/96 doesn't make any sense whatsoever when the source for a vinyl record was digital. Still, I opted to release it like this, simply because people seem to expect it that way. It doesn't sound better than the CD but I nonetheless thought I would offer another flavour :).
Tracklist:
A1 Overture 1:41
A2 Main Title/Klingon Battle 6:59
A3 Total Logic 3:54
A4 Floating Office 1:07
A5 The Enterprise 6:00
A6 Malfunction 1:29
A7 Goodbye Klingons/Goodbye Epsilon Nine/Pre-Launch 2:08
B1 Leaving Drydock 3:31
B2 TV Theme/Warp Point Eight 0:48
B3 No Goodbyes 0:53
B4 Spock’s Arrival 2:03
B5 TV Theme/Warp Point Nine 1:46
B6 Meet V’Ger 3:02
B7 The Cloud 5:02
B8 V’Ger Flyover 4:59
C1 The Force Field 4:15
C2 Micro Exam 1:13
C3 Games/Spock Walk 9:50
C4 System Inoperative 2:02
C5 Hidden Information 3:56
D1 Inner Workings 4:04
D2 V’Ger Speaks 4:03
D3 The Meld 5:35
D4 End Title 3:13
FLAC (24/96):
https://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/UJHMVXYZ/WarmAndImperfectCracklingFire.part1.rar_links
https://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/1OORTVMC/WarmAndImperfectCracklingFire.part2.rar_links
Rar-Password:
Pop&Crackle,VinylCackle