The Direct to Disc thread

Ron Resnick

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Thelma Houston’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (Sheffield Lab LAB-2) is one of my standard “test” tracks. I played it tonight at a friend’s house on his new YG Sonja XV Jr. system. “I’ve Got the Music in Me” is the first track on the record.

When people have asked me “so how is the rest of the album?” I always reply “there’s nothing good after the first track.” I always said this because I have listened to the second track, and I decided I did not like the second track.

Tonight the needle glided into the third track as we continued to talk after we listened to the first track.

Well, it turns out that THE THIRD TRACK IS GREAT!!!

So all of you who have this album go listen to the third track, and tell me what you think.
 
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jadis

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Thelma Houston’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (Sheffield Lab LAB-2) is one of my standard “test” tracks. I played it tonight at a friend’s house on his new YG Sonja XV Jr. system. “I’ve Got the Music in Me” is the first track on the record.

When people have asked me “so how is the rest of the album?” I always reply “there’s nothing good after the first track.” I always said this because I have listened to the second track, and I decided I did not like the second track.

Tonight the needle glided into the third track as we continued to talk after we listened to the first track.

Well, it turns out that THE THIRD TRACK IS GREAT!!!

So all of you who have this album go listen to the third track, and tell me what you think.

Guilty here. Always used the first track, and it was told to me that it was Mark Levinson's favorite test track. Will listen to the rest some more later.
 

PeterA

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Thelma Houston’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (Sheffield Lab LAB-2) is one of my standard “test” tracks. I played it tonight at a friend’s house on his new YG Sonja XV Jr. system. “I’ve Got the Music in Me” is the first track on the record.

When people have asked me “so how is the rest of the album?” I always reply “there’s nothing good after the first track.” I always said this because I have listened to the second track, and I decided I did not like the second track.

Tonight the needle glided into the third track as we continued to talk after we listened to the first track.

Well, it turns out that THE THIRD TRACK IS GREAT!!!

So all of you who have this album go listen to the third track, and tell me what you think.

I love the third track and I think I suggested that you should pay attention to it for quite a long time. I happen to like the whole album but the first and third tracks are fantastic and I also like the fourth.

One never knows what he might discover if he simply sits through the whole side of an album. Generally, if I love the first track, I eagerly look forward to hearing what is on the rest of the recording.
 
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jadis

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Actually, I can play through ALL the tracks. And Side 2's first track is nice too, with her voice standing out with lesser blare of the horns. :) The last track of Side 2 is also nice.
 

audio.bill

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Actually, I can play through ALL the tracks. And Side 2's first track is nice too, with her voice standing out with lesser blare of the horns. :)
That's actually my favorite track on the entire album, first track on the second side titled "Don't Misunderstand". Check it out!!!
 
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Hi-FiGuy

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Thelma Houston’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (Sheffield Lab LAB-2) is one of my standard “test” tracks. I played it tonight at a friend’s house on his new YG Sonja XV Jr. system. “I’ve Got the Music in Me” is the first track on the record.

When people have asked me “so how is the rest of the album?” I always reply “there’s nothing good after the first track.” I always said this because I have listened to the second track, and I decided I did not like the second track.

Tonight the needle glided into the third track as we continued to talk after we listened to the first track.

Well, it turns out that THE THIRD TRACK IS GREAT!!!

So all of you who have this album go listen to the third track, and tell me what you think.
There are a couple good ones in there one or two on the other side also.
I feel the same way about the King James album.
 

PeterA

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Thelma Houston’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (Sheffield Lab LAB-2) is one of my standard “test” tracks. I played it tonight at a friend’s house on his new YG Sonja XV Jr. system. “I’ve Got the Music in Me” is the first track on the record.

When people have asked me “so how is the rest of the album?” I always reply “there’s nothing good after the first track.” I always said this because I have listened to the second track, and I decided I did not like the second track.

Tonight the needle glided into the third track as we continued to talk after we listened to the first track.

Well, it turns out that THE THIRD TRACK IS GREAT!!!

So all of you who have this album go listen to the third track, and tell me what you think.

Ron, I had some friends over last night. After dinner, they wanted to hear some music. They are not audiophiles in any sense, but they love music and were very curious about my vinyl system. They had never been to my house before, so I played a variety of stuff: big band, Beethoven's Ninth, choral music, Musakala's Coal Train. Husband and wife hearing perhaps a high end system for the first time, sitting in the dark. The husband requested Led Zeppelin II. Another guy wanted LZ 4, and they both wanted it blasted. They actually commented about how some recordings were better than others and even though they had not heard Zeppelin reproduced like that, they did not love the recording quality. Three hours later, after midnight, these previous recordings were all just a preview for what we ended with: This very one and only D2D Thelma Houston LP.

I asked them if they knew Whitney Houston. They said of course they did. Well, I told them, this is her mother. I played the first and then third tracks. Very loud. They clapped when it was over. I explained that it was a direct to disk and that it was one of my better sounding records. They were stunned at how realistic it sounded and on their way out said that they preferred that experience to hearing such music live because they thought it was so clean, so pure, so immediate a sound. No trumpet blasting in their left ears, no voice coming out of a monitor on the ceiling, they could hear all the instruments clearly. I found those comments interesting.

It made quite an impression on them. I guess the three bottles of wine must have helped also. I have you to thank for bringing this LP to my attention and I guess for indirectly leaving this music listening impression on my two friends.
 
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John Dyson

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About Thelma and Whitney -- oddly, they are NOT related!!! Strange, huh? BTW, I used to have the vinyl back some 40+yrs ago, but the CD is pure DolbyA, and shreaks...

John
 

Ron Resnick

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From Neil Gader's interview with Bill Schnee
The Absolute Sound
December 29, 2020

Q&A with Bill Schnee​

In a career filled with so many achievements, what do you think was one of your greatest moments personally and artistically?

"One that I would hope speaks to your audience is the Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker direct-to-disc album (I’ve Got The Music In Me, 1975). That’s the album that brought direct-to-disc back in the modern era. Shortly before he died, I was proud when Doug Sax told me it was the most exciting record Sheffield ever made."
 

jadis

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From Neil Gader's interview with Bill Schnee
The Absolute Sound
December 29, 2020

Q&A with Bill Schnee​

In a career filled with so many achievements, what do you think was one of your greatest moments personally and artistically?

"One that I would hope speaks to your audience is the Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker direct-to-disc album (I’ve Got The Music In Me, 1975). That’s the album that brought direct-to-disc back in the modern era. Shortly before he died, I was proud when Doug Sax told me it was the most exciting record Sheffield ever made."
With that quote of Bill re Doug Sax, I took another listen to this album telling myself I will not skip tracks, and this time starting at Side 2; to my surprise, I found ALL tracks to be fantastic and I liked them so much I played the side again and again. I told myself I will reserve Side 1 for another day. :D The soundstage is just fabulous on this recording. It's like you can 'see' the instruments, and they don't jump into you despite the horns having a tendency to be aggressive. There is stability in the music, very well balanced, and it does a perfect 'disappearing act'. :)
 

Ron Resnick

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Bill Schnee:

"Doug on his deathbed literally said to me: 'Bill, the most exciting record we ever made was Thelma Houston.'"

At 16:14 on this podcast . . .

 
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jadis

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Bill Schnee:

"Doug on his deathbed literally said to me: 'Bill, the most exciting record we ever made was Thelma Houston.'"

At 16:14 on this podcast . . .

Nice one, Ron. Indeed the word is 'exciting'. And Bill quoted Doug to say the best record he ever made was James Newton Howard. I had that LP from day 1 and later on I even stumbled on an CES Preview pressing with a white cover of the same album.
 
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jadis

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Was searching for a 4 Seasons D2D LP and I found this last month.
viber_image_2021-10-04_21-01-23-970.jpg

viber_image_2021-10-04_21-01-24-592.jpg viber_image_2021-10-04_21-43-24-832.jpg

From a small label called Chasing the Dragons. Sounds good.
 

Tango

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Was searching for a 4 Seasons D2D LP and I found this last month.
View attachment 82537

View attachment 82538 View attachment 82539

From a small label called Chasing the Dragons. Sounds good.
Chasing the Dragons also has this recording below that is very entertaining. I dont know if it is a true dtd but it captures the essence of the live concert well enough to fool me thinking I was there. I particularly like the Martin Marais ~ Les folies d'Espagne. This one is in 45. The record runs very quiet even with the vdh which is not excellent at doing quiet thing.

CB70406A-F4E1-4267-9540-A8C6EA5A76C7.jpeg
 

Addicted to hifi

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Chasing the Dragons also has this recording below that is very entertaining. I dont know if it is a true dtd but it captures the essence of the live concert well enough to fool me thinking I was there. I particularly like the Martin Marais ~ Les folies d'Espagne. This one is in 45. The record runs very quiet even with the vdh which is not excellent at doing quiet thing.

View attachment 82540
I got this lp and it is excellent.got a few others on the same label as well.
 
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Stu

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I just stumbled upon this thread, and thought I would add a few of my comments and observations re. Sheffield Labs:

* I went to UC Santa Barbara (undergrad) during the mid 1980s and worked pt for a computer equipment store in Santa Barbara. One of our customers at that time was Sheffield Labs. At the time, I didn't realize how significant their work was, but it was that encounter that led me on my stereo journey.

* The Sheffield Labs studio was located on Sheffield Drive, Montecito, CA just a bit South of downtown Santa Barbara, CA. It was a bit rural, and subsequently became very expensive ...like Woodside in the Bay Area with home "compounds".

* On some of the albums and covers you will see a bell tower; I could be wrong but I think that was a reference to the UC Santa Barbara bell tower, Stork Tower.

* I drove on Sheffield Drive about 5 years ago, almost 38 years later; it was difficult to tell from memory the exact location but the homes in that area are now walled compounds...but I am pretty sure I know the former physical location, plus or minus one or two houses either way.

* The computer system I installed/configured was used for the back office, and they gave me a tour of the "house" studio but did not allow me into the recording room or onto the floor stage. There were windows into the recording room and the "floor". The house, I think, was on a steep drop off, so the "floor" was down stairs. Not a big floor....maybe a large "parlor room". I never got to see the famous direct to disc lathe that Sax engineered / used. The photographs in the first three Lincoln Mayorga's and Distinguished Colleagues album covers typically show all the musicians really close together....that was a relatively small space to put all those musicians to sit and play in...especially Mayorga's studio musician lineup.

* When I listen to Mayorga's first three albums and listen to the layered musical staging depth and separation, I think about what I saw from upstairs; the musicians were really close for the aforementioned reason...but the layers of musicians front to back and side to side is quite revealing, to me, given that room size.

* My wife plays violin (although she is a physician) she used to teach violin and was first chair; she subsequently taught at the elementary school to help out and still plays; I practice and play piano (Steinway O) jazz and classical daily, and still take piano lessons; younger son plays tenor Yamaha sax and piano; older son used to play marimba (we had a full size Yamaha marimba in our music room during Covid19 while he was in high school), xylophone, chimes, bells, tympani, and various other percussion drum instruments. All of this gear was/is in our music room along with our stereo gear; this was by design so that we can hear songs played and then be able to practice to the style, expressiveness, memorization work, timing, dynamics, etc. My kids and wife are definitely not audiophiles....spotify on an iphone is about as good as it gets for my wife and the kids normal music consumption (I do not consider myself an audiophile A/B testing gear, but I do have reasonable tube gear and albums ). As a result, we all agree that when we hear the aforementioned Sheffield Lab music...especially from Mayorga's first 3 albums ...these generally sound materially better, in our system and to our ears, relative to other recordings that I have; YMMV. Mayorga's America "West Side Story" is a real favorite for us because of the numerous instruments played that we play as well (the triangles played in this song are the most accurate reproduction relative to the actual triangles we had in our music room. Sheffield's percussion album, which I also have, is also the best reproduction of these instruments in our system and to our ears. We feel like we are in the studio listening to this set; of course the dynamics will never be as good as being at Yoshi's in Oakland of course (I have taken the entire family to many jazz concerts at Yoshi's...such as Joey Alexander pre Covid...so the family all know what a smaller venue should sound like and what instruments should sound like from a room acoustics perspective.

* Sheffield gave me several albums (Discovered Again! and James Newton Howard and Friends were a few of these given to me) and a few of the first released CDs (which just came out during that time). Since college, I continued collecting the Sheffield library of albums and CDs.

I guess this is more nostalgic perspective, but IMHO, when I sit at the piano listening to Sheffield produced works, this music reveals much better reproduced notes, chords, expressiveness, decay, etc. to my ears and my system, relative to other higher end recordings that I have collected. Sadly, these songs make me realize just how bad a player I am. Thankfully my day job does not rely upon my poor music chops.
 
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MikeHorns

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Great story Stu, always enjoy hearing other people's audio experiences.

The first CD I ever bought, was James Newton Howard and Friends(Toto members) back in 1984. I bought it before I can even afford a CD player and still have it today.

I also have a T-shirt from that period.

IMG_1224.JPG
IMG_1225.JPG
 
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Stu

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The Toto "Porcaro brothers" moved on a 'higher" plane. I always go back to that album, Mike, because of all the intricate percussion patterns embedded on that album; blows me away. I could be wrong, but I think that album was commissioned by Yamaha to showcase the latest piano synthesizers.
 
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jadis

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The Toto "Porcaro brothers" moved on a 'higher" plane. I always go back to that album, Mike, because of all the intricate percussion patterns embedded on that album; blows me away. I could be wrong, but I think that album was commissioned by Yamaha to showcase the latest piano synthesizers.
This album is a favorite of mine. I even have the white cover CES Preview Edition and some of the tracks have different titles than the commercial pressing.
 
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