Noah Howard's "space dimension" vinyl sound?

[Homefromtheforest]

Hi everyone,

I've had two copies of this lp and both have pretty horrible distortion on side two and I can't tell whether it's inherent in the recording or a problem with the pressing? Does anyone else own this lp and have a similiar problem?

[Head Man]

I have a CD copy of this album so I'm not quite sure what tracks you say are distorted on your "side 2". However the quality of the recording for the track "Church Number Nine" is certainly well below that of the other tracks. It even has a drop-out of about 10 seconds at the beginning, just before the chanting/howling starts. It states in the notes that this track has a different drummer (Muhammad Ali instead of Art Taylor) so it was likely to have been recorded at a different time/place.

[Homefromtheforest]

Hi,

Yes I know about the dropout..it's on my lp as well. However, on side two there is a noticeable drop in sound quality and there is a unpleasant "in the red" sort of distortion sound that sort of blends with the drum cymbals and at times it's hard to tell if it's a pressing problem or a recording/microphone screw up...

Do the 2 tracks at the end of your cd sound equal quality wise to the first few tracks?

Thanks...

[Head Man]

Do the 2 tracks at the end of your cd sound equal quality wise to the first few tracks?

Yes, apart from track 3 the quality is decent enough for a recording of this vintage (1970). "America" label pressings were never known for their high fidelity, I'm afraid.

[clifford_thornton]

Hi everyone,

I've had two copies of this lp and both have pretty horrible distortion on side two and I can't tell whether it's inherent in the recording or a problem with the pressing? Does anyone else own this lp and have a similiar problem?

I've also had two otherwise M- copies of this record that have the same level of distortion. I'm willing to bet that they're all like this. To me it seems like the grooves weren't cut right. It's one of the rarest on the label and was probably only pressed once.

I have every America Records "avant-garde" LP and a bunch of their Fantasy/Debut titles, and this is the only one I've encountered that has significant pressing issues. Sure, some of the recordings aren't top-grade but the wax and pressings are generally fine. Space Dimension is an outlier in this regard, which is unfortunate because it's a good session otherwise.

Edited April 18, 2013 by clifford_thornton

[Homefromtheforest]

Thanks for the info/confirmation! Glad to hear I just haven't been super unlucky in getting bad copies...it is a shame because it's such a great album. Too bad it wasn't reissued as part of that America cd reissue campaign from years back...I have many other America lps too and they all sound relatively fine. I can hardly even get myself to play side two of this record as the distortion bothers me so much...

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, agreed. It could have been paired with Uhuru Na Umoja distortion free. Oh well.

[Pim]

A vinyl reissue is on its way!

 

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/918918?cat=jazz&incl_cs=1&no_incl_in=1&sort_order=release_date

[clifford_thornton]

cool -- I now have the Japanese pressing on Columbia, which sounds a bit better than the French America pressing.

Edited May 23, 2019 by clifford_thornton

[Jay]

Anyone know anything about this label - SeriE.WOC - that is doing this?  I assume this is from some sort of digital, possibly even 16/44.1?

I often wonder the source material for these pricey LP issues from Europe that are more or less CDs pressed to vinyl.  I emailed Everland from Austria about their reissue of Mutima and sources and never heard back.  At least labels like Pure Pleasure are using the master tapes and in the case of the Tribe issues, obtaining permission from Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison.

[clifford_thornton]

probably, yeah. I have heard that they are legitimate but I don't know what the sources are.