C-Side releases: poor pressings?

[Si the Sigh]

I don't know if it's just unlucky me, but I was digging back through my records and the older C-Side releases (Paul Mac's label) and I noticed that the pressings are really muddy sounding, and the tracks sound like they need to be brightened up big time.

It's a real shame as some of the tracks are superb, but sound awful in the mix. Really muffled, needing loads of gain and serious tweeking of the top end and mid.

Anyone else noticed this on the following: Vol. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7?

I remember hearing clips online and loving the tracks, ordering them and them arriving and being disapointed when they turned up.

Are any of the ones I mentioned above available as downloads?

[Jay Pace]

My copy of "work it" is barely playable. Was gutted when I got it, been after it for ages then found the pressing to be bad beyond belief.

A real shame, because that track kicks ass when I've heard him play it live.

Amazing producer and rubbish pressings. Infuriating.

[Si the Sigh]

Yep, thinking about it, there's been a couple of other Paul Mac tracks I've got that the ideas been awesome, and the mastering / pressing piss poor and ruined the whole thing. Possibly on Stimulas if I remember rightly.

[Si the Sigh]

My copy of "work it" is barely playable. Was gutted when I got it, been after it for ages then found the pressing to be bad beyond belief.

A real shame, because that track kicks ass when I've heard him play it live.

Amazing producer and rubbish pressings. Infuriating.

I'm glad someone else has noticed this and it's not just me! :ohdear:

[herman]

More to do with my shoddy production than pressing to be honest thats why there not available as downloads and probably never will be.

[Jay Pace]

Plenty of paul mac stuff available on beatport, production is top quality.
When he plays his tracks live from a laptop they sound top quality.

So the fact that the vinyl doesn't sound great seems to point towards dodgy vinyl mastering and pressing, not shoddy production.

[herman]

Plenty of paul mac stuff available on beatport, production is top quality.
When he plays his tracks live from a laptop they sound top quality.

So the fact that the vinyl doesn't sound great seems to point towards dodgy vinyl mastering and pressing, not shoddy production.

Most of the the stuff on Beatport etc is much newer stuff though I really can't blame those records on Mastering (apart from my own at the time) or pressing.

There basically a definitive example of over compression to the point of destroying dynamics as pointed out by someone in another thread certainly C-Side 2,3,3,5,6 and the Stimulus releases I made around the same time suffer badly from it Im rather embarrassed to admit, It's not something I did deliberately just the unfortunate result of learning your trade whilst making records.

[Jay Pace]

:ohdear:
hehe - didn't spot the "my" in your last post.

Class tracks anyway man. Always thought "work it" sounded amazing live...

[t-dj]

Overcompression kills techno.
No dynamics, no transients, the entire track becomes a bassy "woooh"
http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/content/view/8/29
If you plan to make a vinyl cut, leave the "loudness" part to the cutting guy...
If you make a digital release, its possible with something like the UAD card plug ins, but it should always be the last and final step because it will seal/ glue the sounds together.
RMS levels of 7-9 dB don't work in clubs, these levels are for screaming radio jingles or advertisement (I'm sure everyone noticed how ads are always louder on TV), sonically that is a mess.

[MARK ANXIOUS]

you know paul, that's what i liked about your earlier releases. sure the tracks weren't bright, they didn't have alot of space in the mix, but damn they let the imagination run wild. i remember having to be very careful where i dropped your stuff - i couldn't do it when the anthems were on cause alot of the time, as si pointed out, they just wouldn't cut through in the mix, but if i built up with them at the beginniing or just before the culling, then wow they would pound. really love the way paul's productiion has got better though, to the point that most of his releases are a dead cert for me now.

to true - it's about learning the craft and it's nice to hear a producer come clean and admit it. fair play to you paul.

[Si the Sigh]

Yea, I agree with you there Mark. :)

[Si the Sigh]

Bah! Not to do with Paul Mac, but bad seriously bad mastering...

I was going through the Wet Musik back cat last night, and same as with the C-Side releases, really really bad mastering ruining some class tracks.

[DannyBlack]

i got a carl max record a while back on 'compound' and the pressing is appauling. it sounds duller then hell.

[Si the Sigh]

The first 2 Open Source releases were the same.