This Hong Kong Shop Has the World’s Rarest Records
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Inside an ordinary building on an ordinary street in Hong Kong is one of the world’s most valuable record collections.
James Tang has spent the past five decades collecting rare vinyl, cassettes, and CDs. He has over 20,000 records, including original master recordings of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Nat King Cole.
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Producers: Gavin Huang and Tiffany Ip
Videographer: Nicholas Ko
Editor: Hanley Chu
Mastering: Victor Peña
Music: Audio Network
#hongkong #vinyl #records
The Beatles master tapes are in a climate controlled vault at Abbey Road Studios.
so james' are fakes?
@@jonandersen6512 No. Just production masters. Every record plant that pressed Beatles vinyl between 1962 and 1987 had them. They show up on eBay from time to time.
@@jonandersen6512 - Most likely. Note the absence of ANY marking of EMI on them. And, that tape speed is a crawl, compared to where it should be. This guy is definitely a pigeon collector being dragged by his wallet by fast dealers and marketers.
*Abbey Road might have copies of those tapes but they don't own the masters so they wouldn't have the unless like i said they had made copies at the time. All of those original masters are at Capitol in Hollywood*
Yes exactly.
Its humbling to see that even with the one of the best vinyl collections in the world and in such an intimate setting that you still end up having piles
absolutely!!!!😁
I too grew up in Hong Kong in the 60's, formed a band, etc. Love this man, when we are allowed to fly again, I need to go find him. My Cantonese is well rusty, but we will somehow reach back to the old days I'm sure
he's obviously a beatlemaniac; showing off his fab four-related artifacts at every opportunity.
more like rare pressing of records everybody and they momma know
Well said Ludwig... Seeing that the mono versions were re cut only a few years ago and ALL of the original master tapes are in the UK....
This is so cool
This guy is amazing, the amount of details... insane.
*Rare vinyl ,never vinyls.
This man is inspiring
Cloned Beatles from hair: 110% Master Tape Quality
Wonder if he would give me thousands of dollars for my Chinese Rickenbacker copy guitar if I told him that its a Beatles original guitar.
I also wonder if he ever asked if those so called "master tapes" came with any documentation the real originals would have never been let out of EMI's hands and are probably locked in a highly guarded bank vault in climate controlled conditions far underground.
110th like
he cloned them and had them chained up the the basement and have them play 110% quality music on demand
@@djgaryowens The 2008 Universal Studios fire that destroyed tons of priceless master tapes should tell you that these companies don't protect their stuff as well as we think.
He’s one step away from owning the original band members to play in the room for him. “Ahh yes, vinyl wasn’t pure enough… nor were the master recordings… so here I have Paul… he’s gonna play for us today.- Don’t screw this up Paul. I want clear notes ringing out.”
and here is John back from the death, so that he could resume beating his wife again!
Lol
the people that ask this guy "why is he preserving MY culture" are stupid. It's music. It's a kind of language, it's a kind of love, it's an art. It transcends culture. Music is not just for one culture. it is for human kind. People should appreciate this passion. The collector is very impressive.
they do. They're making edgy comments to point out how cringe it looks when some one who is not Asian is saving up Asian culture. You see their point now...
@M D - Well put.
:-)
I hope those comments aren’t real because 90% of the time these losers end up listening to music from other cultures anyway.
@@gbioabngd they do. see the comments about it's not the "actual master". Granted it's not the actual master. but i think it's still a way of preserving good music in his own way.
Unlikely. The only one saying that is his wife when she "humble brags" to strangers.
Wonder if this guy really thinks he has the ‘Yesterday’ master tape. Or was it just a misinterpretation by the journalist.
I really hope that’s the case. He’s deluded if he thinks that.
he has a copy a fake copy
Just a production master
It's a production master, the journalist didn't grasp the whole idea.
I think its a copy tape, or production master tape, likely used for records pressed in Japan. I am sure that it is very good, and in some cases, where master tapes are worn, the production masters in other countries can actually be in better condition. But, either way, he doesn't have the original master tapes. It's almost silly of the journalist to believe that.
I 100% guarantee he does NOT have a master tape. Those are locked in a vault at EMI and are priceless. What he probably has is a production master that was used to create the vinyl pressings. They can sound amazing especially if you use them to make half-speed copies like Mobile Fidelity. Still, a very cool collection.
Yeah, just consider all the re-releases of classic albums that are from "The original masters" or "Remastered". You're talking tens of millions of pounds/dollars worth of material, per album. The original master of Yesterday.... that is a priceless artifact.
Well the narrator said “vinyls” so we already can’t trust him
@@StealthyAssassin007 thats the term people use nowadays. Get used to it and be happy vinyl is popular among the youth :)
I'm more interested in his audio set up. What speakers, amps and pre amps is he playing this through? it makes a massive difference (if you can afford it).
Those "production masters" were sent all over the world to pressing plants and show up for auction frequently. They're a nice collectible but still a few generations off any mixdown master.
"See if you can hear the difference?" Total joke saying that, listening on RUclips then going through your 35 cent Dac chip in your phone or computer. LOL
So you can't here a difference in the two playbacks?
There is a difference in the two tracks but it's not like you need amazing equipment to tell, it was just mixed/produced differently (at least for audio they played in the video). The vocals in the first track has a some reverb and the guitar is panned a bit more to the right whereas in the "master" there's almost no reverb on the vocal and the guitar is panned more left.
@@ThisIsNotVincent so that means it's more like the original recording rather than the mixed/mastered version?
@@ogplr5914 The guy interprets it as the "original" because he says in the video that that's how the band wanted it to sound like but whoever was producing the band decided to mix it differently. Not sure about the actual history in the recordings but I was just pointing out that there are definitely audible differences between the two.
@@ogplr5914 no, he compared the original master to a remaster from 2003. It’s the final version of yesterday from 1966, not an unmixed version.
I visited his museum back in 2019.. spent about 1 hour chatting with him, in English.. his english is actually quite good..
hongkong people can speak english very well compare to most asian. maybe the best especially in 80,90's where most other countries still undeveloped/
Love the part when the narrator called them "vinyls"
Ha ha ha, it is a weird language-development!
:-)
I feel like we "the people who properly say vinyl not vinyls " are losing the war .it's crazy how many people keep saying vinyls
@@ironclaw79 it's crazy how people call it vinyl and not records.
@@steventurous9000 or LP, EP, 12" single, 7"...
“Vinyls” = hipster.
“What I’d Say?” Narrator using the word “vinyls?” Confusing lower quality production masters for holy grail studio masters (which are not for sale and locked away at Abbey Road)? And his ridiculous sound quality comparisons? Sloppy unprofessional amateur reporting.
100%. It is entirely possible he has production masters or safety copies, but that would still be incredibly unlikely - chances are it’s one of many fakes being sold in underground tape-dubbing circles. Likely just recorded off a CD. Go figure.
yeah.... Cassettes having better sound quality capacity than LP's was a bit too much too
The taper could be the master tape copy for the Japan release
@@MrRom92DAW Or recorded from the Bluray disc he hates 🤣
This guy is a typical Chinese guy that has stuff but doesn't really know what he's talking about. If someone told him to his face he'd just ignore you and keep talking his BS. Many such cases.
Damn, so many pretentious ppl in the comments judging this dude and being negative af. Just got into vinyl last year and damn, didn't know it was full of such weirdos, pathetic, let the dude enjoy the music his way tf
oh yeah, any kind of collectable attracts weirdo's...
He's misrepresenting his collection is the problem. Those aren't "master tapes" and that 45 What I'd Say is some BS
I don't know about master tape but I once heard vinyl through a high end Linn system and it literally took my breath away. I couldn't believe how detailed and real the sound was.
Playback gear makes a difference, but especially when it comes to vinyl. My local audio shop carries Linn and I must admit it is outstanding stuff. But at $32,000 I don't see it becoming part of my system anytime soon. 🙂
@@tomscott4438 at that price even the cd will sound fantastic
@@vitorfernandes651 never, because vinyl records have a higher dynamic range, it's probably difficult to understand for most, but vinyl records still have a superior sound compared with CD
@UCrF4jzHt9I-cEDlp0vKduKA nope, because that figure just describes the overall theoretical range but those tracks are mastered for vinyl, and the dynamic as such is higher on vinyl due to the shortcoming of the sampling rare of digital Media. Please educate yourself
@@jenshoefer7944 CD's were a revelation compared to vinyl because most peoples turntables were not that good.The real miss about vinyl was the packaging.
It's no accident that he mentioned Deep Purple first when reminiscing about his early exposure to rock music. Baby Boomer Asians love Deep Purple. I'm not sure why but I think they might've done an extensive Asian tour when everyone else only did stops in Japan
Live in Japan
I wouldn't have ever thought "why is he preserving my culture". I just think it's great he's got so much love for good music.
STOP SAYING “VINYLS”
I was there. They DID NOT have a copy of Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove".🤦
This video was made months ago, of course they ran out of stock since then.
@@PatheticTV They did have "Shark Sandwich" though...
I have! And it's autographed-any takers? Think I've got some DNA authenticated pubic hairs down in the bunker too.
@@alistairwilson5344 Well you know Roadies always say that pubes are great to floss with after eating...
@@SLAYERSWINE1 Thanks for the chortle:)
His passion for music playback is admirable. However, he is also full of audiophile nonsense. I bet he can't pass the ABX test.
Seeing people nerd out REALLY hard about something is so cool man.
I see too many people making judgements in the comments and I will not join the discussion about whether his tapes and vinyls are actually original or rare, but I do envy his collection. Let's just take our hats off to him for being so dedicated to his passion. Besides, what a great taste he has!
Agree.
But what I envy more is hat he met Angelina Jolie - 4:56.
Correction: that, not hat.
The plural of vinyl is vinyl not vinyls
What's wrong with correcting the mistake information at the video?
@@epinhervin9355 Because everyone is doing it. Which is annoying.
Love the passion! Hope to visit when travel permits.
To Hong Kong!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????? You'll be lucky.
Why? This guy clearly has no idea what he's talking about
you can go
Good! Enjoy!
:-)
He rates the sound quality from cassette tape higher than vinyl records - most people would not agree with that, including myself!
@@sophonblock76 Vinyl records are capable of better sound quality than cassette tapes.
@@PhotoTubeUK vinyl has the resolution of vinyl grooves. tape has the resolution of metal filament. The filament has a higher resolution. Pure physics -> tape has higher density of data.
@@agnidas5816 Well that depends on a number of things including the width of the tape, the speed of the tape and the quality of the tape heads. Cassette tape is a consumer grade, low performance, low cost version of analogue tape. It is vastly inferior to a high end vinyl setup. Reel to reel tape running at 15 IPS on the other hand can be superior to even the best vinyl has to offer.
magnetic tapes produce pitch distortion, especially cassettes because they're so cheap.
@@agnidas5816 Yes but the format sound like shit lmao. vinyl is analog mechanical tech. tapes distort WAY more because it uses fucking magnets lmao. Besides you're talking about data as if tapes are pressed from digital formats. Your argument can be made when comparing mp3 to flac, but here it means nothing.
Listen. On youtube we ALL hear the sound in crappy digital quality, regardless the source. The only reason why the "original master " and the "remastered" recording sound different is that the remaster has done a terrible job.
A tape may sound better, but there is physically no way to find out on RUclips. You'd have to visit his shop.
The thing about cassette tapes is they have lesser audio quality with that hissing sound when playing one at times. However with cassettes you can get the closer to the original sound of the actual recoding.
Life is too short to go chasing after audio quality unless u rich asf. 🤣
"Deep Purple - AH - Led Zeppelin - AH - The Doors - AH - Eagles - AH" 1:33
Even master tapes degrade with time and use, a 24 bit 48 khz .wav copy preserves 100%, specially with modern music that was recorded digitally.
The rest is audiophile placebo bs.
He better find someone good to pass it down.
Man, I want to travel to HK again just for this store
also me need go back to HK
This will end up in an actual museum or university one day.
I must visit this place!
The Beatles certainly WERE called that in 1964. Their first record was released in October '62. That record he's showing was released in '65 and it is just an earlier recording from when the Beatles were backing Tony Sheridan. Worth about $150 so not really that rare.
Took two seconds to figure that out on discogs. Imagine if the person who made this video took the time to do the same.
It's not even The Beatles on that particular record! That was Tony Sheridan with The Beat Brothers. Also, that acetate of Let It Be at the start of the video that "would cost you your life" actually cost Jimmy Tang less than a grand in 2016. www.popsike.com/BEATLES-Let-it-be-RARE-7-1-Sided-EMI-Acetate/381523213802.html For fuck's sake, I sold a Springsteen record for eight times that in December 2018.
@@daveidmarx8296 the beautiful vibe from a year of nobody asking what record you sold because who fkn cares 🤣🤣
Evidence?
I call bullshit.
No one in the comment sections know a fucking thing.
@@daveidmarx8296 The Beat Brothers was the name the Beatles used when backing Tony Sheridan
Vinyl is the plural of vinyl
Who cares
Lol yep in English it is.
You should visit a Dutch record auction or fair, because in Dutch, the plural of vinyl actually *is* vinyls.
I think visiting a Dutch record fair would trigger the crap out of native English vinyl enthusiasts 😂
@@wjombat plenty
Exactly! Who fucking cares? This is not a clip on correct grammar. Wouldn't let that ruin yr day...
@@QoraxAudio Argument from majority or prevalence is invalid. Het meervoud van vinyl, is gewoon vinyl. :)
If he's following his bliss, fine. But people like this become so wrapped up in accumulation, and pursuing some indefinable notion of "perfect sound," that I'm not sure they're even connecting with the emotional content of the music anymore. Audiophiles, as opposed to mere music lovers, can seem like a real bore.
He said he felt as if Paul McCartney was in the room playing; how much more of a connection w/the music can you have?
Damn dude, just let him enjoy the music his own way, so pretentious tf
This man is the opposite of a bore, seems pretty vivid and awesome!
I wouldn't make that specific assumption. I don't think being meticulous in getting the best sound out from vinyl would take away from an emotional connection to the music at all. Hearing music is their passion, that's a pretty big emotional investment. If someone can invest thousands in getting the best sound that's great. If they're smug about it then meh.
If cassettes have 50% of the sounds quality of the master tape and vinyl has only between 40%-50%, why do we, in general, prefer vinyl? What are the other factors that brings down the quality of cassettes?
man.....do you really believe what he said ?? Vinyl has 50% ,CD has only 20% and Bluray has only 5% of the Master Tape sound quality !!! What a Claim he dare to say !!!!
Go compare yourself a good recorded album in CD & Vinyl with a good Hifi system. Let me know how much difference for the 2 media !!!
Dont believe everything you hear buddy
Because this guy is full of 💩!
He's hyping what he's selling, quite simple.
Dude, stereo studio master tapes generally are a 1/2 inch wide and run either at 15 IPS (inches per second) or 7 1/2 IPS. Cassettes are 1/8" wide and run at 1 7/8 IPS. How in fuck can that come anywhere close to comparing with a master tape? This guy is talking completely out of his ass.
2:31 A mastertape running 9½ cm per second? No way! 😁
Interesting that he ranks cassette tapes higher than LP's. And I'm surprised that Blu-ray's are so far down on the list.
My uneducated guess is that he's completely wrong. Cassettes are objectively garbage.
@@michaelwhite7079 and I would agree with you 100%.
This man has a compelling story, but no science around his 'system' and a flawed understanding of how copies are made and transferred.
Still, good for him. Enjoy the spins brother.
@@michaelwhite7079 I love cassettes
@@TheHSIHP I love Space Raiders but they’re not better than beef Hula Hoops.
I have to say if you have a good cassette recorded on a good recorder, they can sound excellent.
In a way, this music belongs to the whole world. It’s great that this man is preserving it.
Let me guess. You are American and i right?
Easy to tell. Sense of ownership.
In other countries people never felt like they own the music or the bands. They only own their own copy of the disc that’s it.
That sense of entitlement is an American thing.
@@vitorfernandes651 Let me guess…you’re a worshipper of Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez and you want to turn the world into a Venezuelan shithole.
Americans definitely do not all share that sentiment. As for your comment about American ignorance, I find it hard to take you seriously when you are clearly ignorant of the nuance that many Americans are capable of. We are not a hive mind that believes that we own the world and its culture.
@@sublimemime183 lol your dear countrymen acts the opposite of what you said
yet all he talks about are the friggin beatles
You can learn more about James’ Record Museum at recordmuseum.hk/
So it's purely a museum, i.e. not a shop?
The master tapes... he should have been the person in charge of the Universal Studios master tapes. I'm sure he would have taken care of them better.
What master tape do you know of that moves as slow as the one in this video? It looked like it was going at 3 3/4 IPS, right? Aren't master tapes usually either 7 1/2 or 15 IPS?? This guys is fucking clueless. I wouldn't put him in charge of a fucking McDonalds, let alone Universal Studios.
@@daveidmarx8296 Still... better than what happened. Google it.
So many thickos in here.
Cassettes sounding better than CD wich sound better than blu-ray
yeah... RIGHT XD
Do you really believe what he said ?? Vinyl has 50% ,CD has only 20% and Bluray has only 5% of the Master Tape sound quality !!! What a Claim he dare to say !!!!
Especially the difference between CD & Bluray !! Both are digital format.... how can the quality drop by half !!!
Go compare yourself a good recorded album in CD & Vinyl with a good Hifi system. Let me know how much difference for the 2 media !!!
By the way, I'm a musician with many recording experience, and I'm a Audiophile too. Means I'm really particular in sound quality....
He explained that there is a degradation in sound quality during copying of an older format to a newer one.
With today technology.
To duplicate a analog sound format withot quality loss is really not that difficult.
Even there's quality loss, but it shouldn't be the extend of 20-50% !! IMO, 5% max !
If you know how is the recording industry work. You know what I mean.
Have you ever wonder or experience why the same CD but printed in different region/country will have totally different sound ?
Because it's normal practice that the country's publisher will do a minor mastering to suit the preference of certain region/country.
And some smaller market even mastering from a CD format (not master tape )!!
Rare vinyls? Christ !
grailz* rare grailz*
I know there is a special place in hell for those who call records “vinyls”!
You beat me to it. Kids today, ugh
@Jingle Nuts yes but “vinyls” is the worst because it make people like me in their mid forties feel old because we realize things like records, which we grew up with, are not known well enough by younger generations for them to realize how dumb calling them “vinyls” sounds.
yes at the same time...it also reminded how stupid people are...when they would use records and record at the same sentence...to define two different meaning....@bltvd you sound like a very intelligent IDIOT!
His assessments of the fidelity of the various media is one of the most inaccurate things anyone has ever said on the subject.
It's a shame that people like him are being taken seriously on that subject, just because he has spent a lot of money on something, because he's factually wrong on the subject of fidelity.
He should compare Yesterday with the original UK mono not that 2003 remastered LP! Who’s care the modern remastered LP?
What difference does it make - the tape he compared it with was hardly a master tape anyway.
There’s no way he has the master tape for any Beatles song and that tape is playing way too slow to be any safety copy or cutting copy!
I've been collecting for 40 years and I saw nothing in this segment that could even be considered close to being the "worlds rarest records"
This term gets thrown around a lot on News segments for record collectors who seem to know the reporters who know nothing about records can easily be duped.
Facts
Oops someone sounds jealous. Maybe if they showed his entire collection and you still didn’t see anything you could make such a salty claim
這是個無知的騙子.(另外,戴眼鏡的是完整騙子.)
每一種錄音方式，每一種儲存媒體，每一種重播系统，都有它自己的先天缺憾，都不是完美，本來都不要緊，製作技術在不斷改良，以今天數碼錄音技術來說，已經滿足了我們一大群音樂家，很輕鬆方便地去製作音樂並樂在其中了。而且，音樂家們更不會讓自己停下來，我們都知道自己並不完美。
不幸的是有些一知半解的聽眾緊抱著自我的聽覺偏執, 令人發笑。
I was once locked in the Abbey Road vault after a mix up involving wrong colour mop bucket. I can confirm that there are no master tapes kept there only the shrivelled ghost of Noel Gallagher
a record store is wonderful place. the smell of old records when you walk in. the old posters and glossies with autographs. always a big sound system with a classic spinning or a fresh release you gotta hear. these places are treasures to us music lovers. I could spend a few days hanging out in that shop looking and listening. please support your local record store.
The problem with collectors in china, and i mean Chinese people collecting stuff... they say stuff is worth a lot or super rare, but it's bs. I got a friend in HK and he says most are full of sjit. most dont know what they are talking about or they value something so high its not even funny and even better... not even worth it. But hey music is music, its something to enjoy nothing more.
4:57 Michael Jackson with cornrows
bruh wtf is this exotix grail
I'm dyin'
Very Close to Perfect Sound ?
All New Fischer & Fischer Audio Speakers with cabinets made of SLATE matched with Burmester Gear !😇🙂😉
4:10 Lol cassette tape better than records and CDs? 🤣
He probably prefers cassette because of the Dolby NR which reduces the sibilance he talks about, but it also distorts high frequencies.
That doesn't make it a more accurate copy of a mastertape...
@Jeromy Ramos Yes, or Analogue Productions! Even better!
@Jeromy Ramos You're welcome 👍
That would be a shocking discovery (if true). Back when I was listening primarily to cassettes (late 80s), I hated the Dolby NR because it neutered the sound IMO. I always ran my deck without it and used my equalizer to get truer and better sound, the only exception being if I had a very hissy bootleg live recording.
@@Jaysthename Neutered the sound? 😂
Lol I've never heard of that one before! 😆
@@QoraxAudio Hopefully it didn't conjure up any uncomfortably literal images in your mind!
This man has an awesome collection, but his quality ranking system is based on nothing and sounds more like he's trying to prove that "the quality of music was better before", supposedly. But there's no way a cassette could outperform a Blu-ray disc. Also, vinyl records are more susceptible to damage and need more care than a CD.
Btw, the excessive "sibilance" that he talks about isn't a CD thing. It could be because of compression, which became especially common starting from the 2000s (a way to reduce dynamic range in order to make tracks sound more "polished" and radio-friendly). Compression is the artist's/producer's or the sound engineer's choice. For example, Joe Meek, a producer in the 60s, was VERY fond of compression. Then if you look at 50s records or 70s records, a lot of them sounded very good and didn't have much compression or sibilance. Take some CDs that aren't pop, rock or hip hop music, you won't get much sibilance. Now in this day and age we can get very good quality digital tracks (FLAC format, anyone?) and with no excessive compression. I feel like this dude's "knowledge" was made up and definitely not research-based.
I am sure Apple music is laughing at this guy who thinks he has the "original" recording of Yesterday! LOL
Setting the master tape at "100%" quality: okay. But then placing a compact cassette - which was basically invented by Philips for dictaphones / voice recording - above the Compact Disc? No, he must be joking. As a kid I could hear much higher frequencies and I noticed cassettes would lose those. Especially the cheap crappy ones. Only Metal tapes (which were really expensive) came a bit closer to what the CD could do.
"rare vinyls" Please stop!
well, if thats a first press ,please please me album on the wall, that is fucking rare music vinyl and expensive
more like rare pressing of records everybody and they momma know
@@dngdnf4862 *Theres thousands of first pressings. Its really bad on ebay. People aren't selling their records. They're selling their love and dedication and how much they took care of their records which you cant do. Everyone on ebay has a rare record they want $200 for. Really its a $20 record. All itll ever be*
Lmao everyone thinks you're taking issue with the fact he called them rare. Pretty sure thy all regularly call them "vinyls" too.
@@Henryduckfan63 "vinyls" is for inexperienced nobs
So how much quality do you get if you digitize one of his master tapes directly to lossless digital? still 5%? 99%? 60%? Sounds like a lot of audiophool BS to me. Why would sound intrinsically lose quality between CD and BluRay? In all likelihood it's the exact same, that is to say, identical data.
Clearly he has no idea how sound and recording media works. I laughed though. He is just an obsessed hobbyist.
Obviously has a tape bias, the overwhelming majority of audiophiles would agree that Vinyl is better than cassette and CDs are better than cassette and what's this about Sibilance??? He has it backwards, actually Vinyl sibilance is much more audible than CD. Do they have a Chinese Steve Hoffman forums?
Who’s here before vox makes a video
James might have a great record collection but his knowledge of audio and what a master tape is just makes me sad. But it's even more sad to see how this information spreads out, and I'm led to see this video by someone who tells me "this is how it is!" and I had to take a moment and breathe. 3.47 and this is where you realize this man is a hi-fi enthusiast, the same kind that will swear by his hundred dollar AC power cable. What's with the "sound quality and shape"? what's with the ludicrous sound chart? what's with the comparison between formats? Percentages of what? "Blu-Ray discs only have 5% to 10% because once you've copied from the master tape four or five times, you'll get sounds you don't want"...? this ought to be one of the most ridiculous affirmations I've heard anyone say. This man has the credibility of a flat-earther it's just unsettling that this information is spread like this with so poor understanding of how tapes, CDs, blu-rays, science even.. works. It's ok to prefer valves over transistors, but don't be tempted to think that a valve gives you what the engineer intended at the time. No engineer intended that. Believe me. I've talked to a few that are still around and others that would be rolling on their grave hearing someone say that. We used valves because that's what we had. We could hear how bad vinyl sounded. How bad tape sounded. How blessed we were when we were first able to replicate a copy digitally and hear the same thing and not a degenerate copy that sounded nothing like what we heard during recording.
That’s not a true master tape though
He's not preserving anything and for them to put some guy on from Xi'an China telling us he believes this guy is some expert??? I smell something fishy.
That's a load of crap lol, audiophiles are full of it. No serious engineer will ever confirm what that guy is saying. Vinyl being more faithful than CD's ? pleaaase. Now it's cassettes over bluray, that so funny to me. Who even listens to music on bluray ?
All that being said, i wish i'd have his collection and gear.
Vinyls?
First of all, just the Chinese authenticating his collection leaves a lot to be desired. That part of the world is FAMOUS for frauds and knock-offs. The veracity of this man's claims will have to be checked independently by others who are reputable.
There are other problems.
The way this man is grading the music of recording technology, such as master recording, tapes, LPs, CDs, etc. is based ONLY on this man's opinions. Also, one CANNOT say that ALL LPs, ALL CDs, etc. have the SAME quality. There are lots of steps in the production of an LP or a CD, including the SOURCE of music. In ANY of the steps, things can go wrong and affect sound quality.
Is he doing a "blind" audio test to determine the audio quality of different systems? Unlikely!!
He also did NOT include high-resolution audio such as SACD (DSD), FLAC, WAV, DVD-Audio, etc.
If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is!!
vinyls
That scale is bullcrap. Cassette tape twice the quality of CD and ten times the quality of Blu-Ray?
He just likes certain kinds of noise.
Aren't Master Tapes like 3" wide, and have to be Baked In a Oven before use. This looked like a Quality Reel to Reel tape. Mind You the sound off of It was Incredible, You could defiantly hear a difference.
I think you're thinking of the multi-track tapes that the individual instruments were recorded on. The 'masters' being referred to here are the mix-down tapes, the final mix as it would appear on the record, which only needs to be a small stereo tape. Also I'm not sure that baking them in an oven would be a great idea. :)
They don’t HAVE to be baked. It often is necessary with later tape formulations, but it would actually be completely unnecessary for anything 60’s-vintage, and in fact can even be harmful to certain tape formulations from this time period.
@@lukepepper3949 you’re mixing up master recordings and multitracks. The mixdowns are generally banded together into the album master. Multitracks were commonly 2” in the 70’s, but the Beatles multitracks would have been 1” 4 track. They were all mixed down to 1/4” full track or 2 track, as has been the industry standard for decades. In the late 70’s 1/2” 2 track also started becoming popular
Looks like a tape he recorded himself, tbh. I mean what master tape do you know of that goes that slow (looks like 3 34 IPS)? Not a chance in the world it's an actual master tape of any kind.
CD has more sibilance than vinyl? Sure... haha. Also that example of that 'master tape' actually had a lot of sibilance. Whatever
I do love James' passion and intensity. Even if he definitely doesnt have a master tape of Yesterday
Typical Chinaman thinking he owns everything
It's not true that the newer technology has worse fidelity than older ones, because of multiple transfer losses. That's just oversimplification and jumping to conclusion. The tube amplifier that he said was the reason for the better, and more warm sound, was from distortions caused by harmonics introduced in the circuitry, thus it's artificial, not original. I wish he stays within his expertise which is about the history and the collector's perspectives . (And I speak his language so there is no misunderstanding for what he said ).
“Eagles” instead of “The Eagles.” This guy knows his stuff.
who the hell cares
Yes!
Like Pixies & Sex Pistols, etc, there's no The.
:-)
Ok, the guy had me until he showed that he has PIECES OF THE BEATLES HAIR
His goal is procurement and ownership of recordings and memorabilia.
As long as you don't ask for proof or documentation.
Correct.
Those are not the original tapes, but regional vinyl master copies. So likely it was used for a certain region's vinyl pressings made from the original tape (which is held at EMI if I remember correctly). Still a very great collectors item but would not "cost your life" as he claims. Still, anyone who has an original vinyl copy from the region that tape was used has a vinyl made from that tape. So that's cool for sure. Only one step from the original, and tape to tape has very little quality lost. So definitely the best youll ever hear the sound as a consumer. That's just less cool to say.
well I have few words to say about this DNA list. Been an owner of vinyl and CD´s and also a owner of a fair hi-fi system and both vinyl and CD are not less than half of the quality of the master tape. Has this dear person ever heard a good hi-fi system ? Happy for him to have all of this good music.
yeah the chart made zero sense
Hey, dont be disrespectful to this guy. I guarantee his knowledge is superior regarding music.
Wow that master tape sounds very close, very intermit. You can here Paul singing into the mic as if he were right there.
“Hear”
about this whole “master recording” commotion…i know little about cantonese, but i do understand it has zero meaningful distinction between what english speakers call definite/indefinite articles - and in most cases, cantonese lacks a meaningful equivalent to any notion of grammatical articles at all. there’s a huge difference between *the* master tape and *a* master tape…i think he probably meant the latter, which is a perfectly reasonable and accurate description of his (still very rare) possession. you could say his one mistake was not thinking to explain the difference to his interviewer, who (understandably) seems to lack the subject matter expertise to understand exactly what the guy was referring to.
grammar aside, i suppose there is an outside chance the man really does believe he has the original master recording itself…in which case he’s completely nuts and even cooler for it, imo
I’m way past the point of tired of these self-important “super collectors”, no matter where it is they might be. This guy has NO master tape, despite his claim to the contrary. And have you ever noticed, with these types of collectors there’s ALWAYS something they’ve got that quote-unquote “nobody else has”, and any other issues or copies the planet might have are “clearly inferior”. They’re all predictable in their dialogue, each and every one. Ego, Ego, Ego.
Dude, did you see how slow that "master tape" was moving? Maybe 3 3/4 IPS?? What fucking "master tape" goes at that speed? Not even LP submasters go that slow. This guy is a complete joke. And his acetate of Let It Be shown at the start of the video cost less than a grand when he bought it in 2016 www.popsike.com/BEATLES-Let-it-be-RARE-7-1-Sided-EMI-Acetate/381523213802.html I'm just a dude with some records, but I sold a Springsteen album for eight times that a few years back.
Let him be
The master tape thing is ass backwards. No that’s not how the band wanted to be heard, if it was they would’ve released it that way. The mix/mastering processes adjust the levels against each other and add any effects that the band wants. Listen to the vocal, the master tape vocal is dry as hell, the reverb added for the record is absolutely a nice touch and how the band wanted it.
There is some validity in frequency range of vinyl and file size for digital but the mastering process does not take away from the record, most times it’s what the artist wants you to hear
Hipster: i bought a record player from target
James:
At least the hipster is being honest, unlike Lyin' Jimmy Tang
So the bandwidth of a cassette tape is higher than a 12 inch vinyl according to his chart , everybody knows you can cut frequencys lower on 12 inch , far better response
As a musician, artist, songwriter, and producer myself; I really appreciate what this man is doing for the culture of music.
This chart is ridiculous 🤣 It all depends by the mix and master used, not simply cassette, CD, ecc... It also depends by the Hi-Fi used, some speaker and amplifier suffer more from hissing S, also some cartridge...
That master tape is way too slow to be 15 ips
That’s because it’s not a studio master tape. It’s most likely a production master that was used by a pressing plant.
@@TheCranberrySource which would still be at 15 IPS
@@TheCranberrySource There isn't ANY type of master tape that runs at 3 3/4 IPS.
While I respect the effort, dedication, and attention this man has put into his research, I don't think he really has any real master tapes.
And, just because a piece of music is on master tape, doesn't automatically make it 'better' than another format.
A 180grm vinyl record has a beautiful sound, but that sound is littered with imperfections, harmonics, and distortion.
Now, I personally love what that 'adds' to the original sound, as do many others. Distortion can add an extra quality to an analogue recording, lets face it, electric guitars have almost completely been distorted since the 1960's, and it doesn't make them less popular, if anything people love them for just that fact alone.
While cassette's get a bad rep, the natural compression they add to a recording can be wonderful, and again, compression is used on every piece of rock, pop, HipHop, and dance music track made in the last 50 years, to good effect.
Furthermore, some of the best music I have ever heard, has been made on 12 bit sampling software on early 90's cheap computers such as the Atari 520st and Amiga1200.
Music is subjective to the listener, and there is far too much snobbery surrounding audio and audiophile bro-science bullshit.
I have qualifications in music technology, so I do have at least some credibility to my opinion.
Production master tapes are pretty easy to find on eBay. Even some Pink Floyd’s production master tapes are on eBay.
The problems are the quality of the recording and the generation of the tape. (How many times dubbed from other tapes)
The plural of vinyl is vinyl.
Lol cassette tapes are closer to the master than a first press vinyl??? That's some creative logic buddy
I can guarantee that isn’t a master tape if the Beatles. All the masters of those are kept at Abby Road. Like most master tapes that would be on a 4 track tape not a two track.
A master tape would also be at 15 or 30ips. Not 7.5ips.
But how can the Yesterday master tape be recorded n played slowly at 3.75 ips from what I saw? Even at 7.5ips it's a copy. Should be at the original of 15 ips.
This is absolute nonsense. If you made a copy of a master tape onto cd, its not 25% of the sound. So so so much wrong with this. He doesnt have studio masters, those are reproduction masters. Also, why the shots of the Studer A80, then cuts in a shot of an Otari playing the tape?