Studio One notes



From: rob@downbeat.demon.co.uk (Rob Chapman)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reggae
Subject: Re: Studio One CDs
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 1996 22:10:01 +0000

The sound quality of nearly all Studio One vinyl releases leaves a lot to be desired. But isn't that part of the Studio One character? I wasn't sure I was going to like the CD re-issues at first, precisely because I thought they might sound too "clean".

Anyway, here's a list of all the CDs issued on the Studio One label to date (in roughly chronological order):

JAZZ JAMAICA (SOCD 1140). Very good mono sound quality, better than the vinyl re-issue (which is badly distorted on Never On Sunday).

SKA AUTHENTIC VOL.1 (SOCD 9006). Different track list to the vinyl issue (some extras and some missing). Poorly mastered, clipping the intro to several numbers.

ON TOP - Heptones (SOCD 0016). Stereo, with 3 extra tracks and extended remixes. Sounds pretty good to me, certainly better than the Trenchtown issue of the same title which was dubbed from disc. Whatever the sound quality, this is a classic album that ought to be in every serious collection.

BEST OF ALTON ELLIS (SOCD 9017/CSCD 8019). In mono, with extra Treasure Isle tracks and extended versions of Breaking Up and Willow Tree.

WAILING WAILERS (SOCD 1001). 20 track compilation including some Lee Perry productions. Sound quality varies dramatically. Bit of a mish-mash really.

BEST OF DON DRUMMOND (SOCD 9008). Includes 6 extra Treasure Isle tracks. Indifferent sound quality, but as good as the vinyl re-issue.

ORIGINAL JAMAICAN CLASSICS VOLs 1 & 2 (SOCD 1193 & SOCD 1194). Slightly different from the vinyl issues released at the same time (1993 & 1994), but both are well put together compilations with good sound quality.

EVENING TIME - Jackie Mittoo (SOCD 8014). Sounds good and featres 2 extra tracks. Classic album status.

GREATEST HITS - John Holt (SOCD 1115). Good mono sound, including an extended version of Strange Things (this mix subsequently released on vinyl).

FATTIE FATTIE - Heptones (SOCD 9002). Good mono sound, with 3 extra tracks and an extended alternative mix of Why Did You Leave. Classic album status.

SOUL BEAT - Gaylads (SOCD 001). All the original vinyl releases sound pretty awful (but the music is wonderful!) so this CD issue can only be an improvement. Classic must-buy.

A LOVE I CAN FEEL - John Holt (SOCD 9017 - yes, the same catalogue number as BEST OF ALTON ELLIS, but this is Studio One after all!). Good mono sound and 2 extra tracks, but too many strings for my liking.

SIR COXSONE & DUKE REID IN CONCERT (SOTLCD 010). Differs from the vinyl release (which followed). Not a live recording, but a compilation of Studio One & Treasure Isle singles. Indifferent sound quality.

KEEP ON DANCING - Jackie Mittoo (CSCD 8020). Very good mono sound, with extended versions and extra tracks. Classic album status.

MARCIA GRIFFITHS AT STUDIO ONE (SOCD 1126). Very good mono sound, with extended re-mixes and one extra track.

SONGBOOK - Bob Andy (SOCD 1121). Absolutely essential album. And very good sound quality, too. Same tracks as vinyl issue but with 3 extended re-mixes.

JUCK'S INCORPORATION PT.1 (SOCD 50109). Only the first of many Studio One dub re-issues on CD (I hope). Sounds great to me.

MR ROCK STEADY - Ken Boothe (SOCD 1112). Very good sound, classic album. Including 2 extra tracks. Hasn't been off my CD player since it was issued.

SOUNDS & POWER - Ernest Ranglin (SOCD 50152). Currently receiving excellent reviews in this news group, and deservedly so. Compilation of various singles, album tracks and new titles. Sound quality variable, but generally very good.

-------

Phew! Didn't realise there were so many. Hope this has been of some use.

(Advert) More of this information can be found in 'Downbeat Special:
Studio One Album Discography' by the same author. E-mail me if you want
more details.

Rob
Downbeat Special


From: rob@downbeat.demon.co.uk (Rob Chapman)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reggae
Subject: Re: Studio One CDs
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 21:50:58 +0000

In article <322A6B4B.60A6@wport.com>,
rocksteady <rocksteady@wport.com> wrote:


>Actually a lot of the first original pressings of Studio One singles
>sound pretty good, if you can find them in decent shape. It's the
>endless repressing & re-masterings that often sound so horrible. I
>really don't know what Coxsone's excuse is, since other producers have
>been able to keep their masters in reasonably good shape...
[--]
>The first Studio One cut I ever heard on a CD was "Rasta Don't Stop No
>One" by the Stingers on a compliation called "Reggae Classics"... it
>sounds perfect & certainly doesn't do the music any harm, it still has
>that funky Studio One bass sound, you can just hear everything better.
>So it *can* be done! I think Downbeat's problem is that he doesn't have
>a lot of the original master tapes any more, just 2nd & 3rd geveration
>copies of them... too bad.
>
>Al
>--

Many of those classic rock steady singles were recorded direct to disc, so
sound quality on the original releases was excellent. And the acetates
were then sent to England where the stampers were manufactured (the earlier
R&B and ska stampers were manufactured in Miami). But tapes do not exist,
so many of these titles can never be re-mastered successfully.

Apparently, the characteristic Studio One frying sound on many pressings
was caused by sand blowing in from the beach at the Federal pressing plant!
They should have closed the windows.

I have frequently found that the pre-release blank label copies sound much
better than release copies. But, as you say, subsequent re-pressings can
be very poor. (Maybe I shouldn't publicise this, as blanks tend to cost
much less than label copies.)

Basically, I don't think Coxsone cares much about the sound quality. Just
as long as he can get the record out on the street and make a quick
buck....

Cheers,
Rob


From: rocksteady <rocksteady@wport.com>
Subject: Re: Studio One CDs

Rob Chapman wrote:
>
> In article <322A6B4B.60A6@wport.com>,
> rocksteady <rocksteady@wport.com> wrote:
>
> >Actually a lot of the first original pressings of Studio One singles
> >sound pretty good, if you can find them in decent shape. It's the
> >endless repressing & re-masterings that often sound so horrible. I
> >really don't know what Coxsone's excuse is, since other producers have
> >been able to keep their masters in reasonably good shape...
> [--]
> >The first Studio One cut I ever heard on a CD was "Rasta Don't Stop No
> >One" by the Stingers on a compliation called "Reggae Classics"... it
> >sounds perfect & certainly doesn't do the music any harm, it still has
> >that funky Studio One bass sound, you can just hear everything better.
> >So it *can* be done! I think Downbeat's problem is that he doesn't have
> >a lot of the original master tapes any more, just 2nd & 3rd geveration
> >copies of them... too bad.
> >
> >Al
> >--
>
> Many of those classic rock steady singles were recorded direct to disc, so
> sound quality on the original releases was excellent.

Wow, are you sure about that? No tape? I know that the eariest stuff
was on tape, since Heartbeat has reissued many of the old
Worldisc/Allstars titles, and they sound fine.

> And the acetates
> were then sent to England where the stampers were manufactured (the earlier
> R&B and ska stampers were manufactured in Miami). But tapes do not exist,
> so many of these titles can never be re-mastered successfully.

I have found quite a few of the singles that have the U.K. stampers, but
they are in the minority of releases, most of the stuff looks like it
was mastered in JA.

> Apparently, the characteristic Studio One frying sound on many pressings
> was caused by sand blowing in from the beach at the Federal pressing plant!
> They should have closed the windows.

This sounds like a good story to me! Federal wasn't *that* close to the
beach!

> I have frequently found that the pre-release blank label copies sound much
> better than release copies. But, as you say, subsequent re-pressings can
> be very poor. (Maybe I shouldn't publicise this, as blanks tend to cost
> much less than label copies.)

One thing Coxsone and other producers did was use the stampers (molds)
far beyond their intended life - they are meant to press about 500
records and then be destroyed, then you make a new one and press the
next 500, etc. (This of course assumes your goal is high-fidelity.)
Coxsone would press 5000 copies or more off of the stampers -- this is
why the blanks sound better -- they were the first ones of the press, by
the time they started making labels for the records they had already
stamped 100s or 1000s of records. Of course, sometimes the mastering
was so poor that even the first pressings sound terrible. In some
cases, if the record was a big hit, he would make more than one stamper,
as in the case of The Wailers "Put It On" which has been found with
several different matrix #.

You can still get the occasional vinyl reissue from Studio One that has
a matrix# from 1964, for example(!) indicating that he is still using
the old stampers... I believe there are several reasons he no longer has
a lot of the original tapes, I think many were lost or were victims of
the climate in JA. Some tapes may have been stolen or erased and
recorded over again. When I was in Brentford Rd. in 1986 it was a
complete mess, tapes spilling out of boxes on the floor, records all
over the place, little apparent organization. I heard that when Coxsone
and Enid (of Keith & Enid) had a falling out (she used to work for him,
and knew where everything was) she completely messed up the studio in an
act of revenge before she left.

>
> Basically, I don't think Coxsone cares much about the sound quality. Just
> as long as he can get the record out on the street and make a quick
> buck....

Very true... but some of the old stuff does sound real good, especially
a lot of the records that Sylvan Morris engineered, and some of the real
early things that were done at RJR. An interestin piece of Studio One
lore is that the real murky-sounding releases of the early 1970s
(Burning Spear, Gladiators) sound that way because Coxsone engineered
them! When Sylvan Morris & Larry Marshall (who was being trained as an
engineer) quit Dodd, Coxsone had to engineer the recordings himself, and
that was obviously not one of his talents. (This was told to me by the
Gladiators drummer at the time, Winston Cartey.) It's a shame, because
a lot of the Gladiators' music from that period is really good.

Allen Kaatz

\\\\\\\\\\\\ rocksteady@wport.com ////////////

From: john <john@saxroots.com>
Newsgroups: rec.music.reggae
Subject: Re: Sir Coxone King Of Dub Rock.
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 23:30:58 +0000

On Sun, 01 Sep 96 23:56:58 GMT Gareth James Pidgeon
<Gareth@pidgeon.demon.co.uk> wrote:>

> I am looking for the LP by Sir Coxone called "King Of Dub Rock" vol 1.

It's available on an English CD -
King of the Dub Rock - parts 1 & 2 (both parts on one cd)
Sir Coxsone Sound

On Tribesman Records 1994 no. TMCD3
Marketed by Greensleeves Records Ltd.

> Also the LPs buy Joe Gibss called "African Roots" Acts 1-3.

Yes, I'd like these too - anyone???

Posted: Fri - March 28, 2003 at 10:26 AM      

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