Alright, feelin' mildly festive, so here's a poll for yuz . . .

What do you think of LPs/albums that play at 45rpm, with two or three songs per side, spread over two or more records. We're talking here about long players in which the songs could be accommodated on just two sides/one record, at 33 rpm (as per usual), but instead the songs are spread out over twice the amount of vinyl real estate, with attendant higher fidelity at 45rpm. Maybe some albums consist of six or eight sides even.

Is this worth it? Or is it a chore to listen to an an album this way? (Get up more often, futz with multiple records and their sleeves.) If you're in favor of this format, do you play such records just as often as those in which an LP's worth of material fits on just two sides, or it more of once-in-blue-moon affair to bust the records out on special occasions. Do you actually notice the difference in sound quality between one sort and the other?

It's an indulgent format, but I reckon anybody who isn't in the mood for some futzing is using Spotify anyway.

I like short sides on a record, but a double LP is expensive, so it better be a great album. Sound better? Sure, but so what. Sounds good enough has always been fine. To put something on 12" double 45 is to have it immortalised like the ten commandments on its two stone tablets.

An EP on a single 45rpm disk generally appeals more. An album done as a double 10" is cute though.

It's a bit of a bummer manually changing the tt to play at 45 and then turning it back.

You can put up to 18-20 min of music per side at 33 rpm with spectacular quality.

Not a fan of 45 rpm.

So the sonic benefits are less hiss and extended high frequencies.. seems like a case of "tell me you actually prefer digital without telling me.."

Crap. Excessively spreading out records at 33rpm is a thing too. The Stereolab reissues are like that, have to get up every 3 songs..

Take this shit to the Steve Hoffman forum.

33rpm is fine.

No record needs to be more than 45 minutes long anyway.

TL; DR = NC

Can my substandard ears tell the difference between a 45 RPM pressing and a 33 1/3 RPM pressing... all other things equal? Probably not. But that only tells part of the story.

Full-length LPs that were pressed at 45 RPM instead of 33 1/3 RPM were likely done so because the artist insisted on it. That also means that the artist probably also insisted on the highest quality techniques to [(re)mix and] (re)master the recording as well, and was directly involved in those steps. Anyone who has gone through the (re)mastering process with their own band's music knows how much difference the mastering process can make.

So when I see a (re)master/(re)press in that 2xLP 45 RPM format, I know that I'm going to get a great product. This is true of all of the 20 albums or so that I have in this format; a much better hit-miss ratio compared to 33 1/3 RPM represses, some of which do sound great, but many sound like shit.

The reason may only be indirectly related to the 2xLP 45 RPM format and more related to the care taken in [(re)mixing and] (re)mastering the recording, but the chosen format does tend to be a good indicator of high quality.

As far as getting up every 10 minutes instead of every 20 minutes to flip/change the record.. meh, I listen to a ton of 20-minute EPs and I have to do that often anyway. It doesn't bother me. Just sit closer to the record player.

A somewhat infrequent waffle: albums that have to be resequenced to better fit the 2xLP 45 RPM format.

With today's technology, I think what matters most is the quality of the original recording - room, mics, placement, how the signal is captured and mixed whether analog or digital. I'm no expert in this stuff. The medium of delivery to my ears, as long as hi-res, is fungible given the many options.

All that aside, a killer recording in the right room, world class analog all the way through mastering, pressed on 45 RPM 12" records and played through a reasonably good system in a reasonably good room, is going to sound magnificent. Happy to pay for quality and own the recording in a format that is special to me.

enframed wrote: No record needs to be more than 45 minutes long anyway.

Yes, but the CD era made longer albums seem standard, so people made their shit too long to fit on a single disc, requiring three or four sides instead of two.
Then, if you have that much space to spread out, and side breaks allow for a 45 rpm cut, why not go for a louder cut and better s/n ratio?

I'd prefer 4 sides at 45 over 3 sides at 33 and an "etching" on Side D.

Separately, if it's fancy new pressings of "classic" material, cut directly from the original delicious analog tapes by magic wizards and packaged in a 4-pound jacket with a foil-stamped turbo number on it, then, OK, go for it I guess. But it'll just be too expensive and fancy for me to really enjoy, if I can afford at all.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Wed Oct 11, 2023 12:00 pm Separately, if it's fancy new pressings of "classic" material, cut directly from the original delicious analog tapes by magic wizards and packaged in a 4-pound jacket with a foil-stamped turbo number on it, then, OK, go for it I guess. But it'll just be too expensive and fancy for me to really enjoy, if I can afford at all.

Ok, yeah, I agree with this.

The Comedy Minus One 2xLP 45 RPM pressings of the early Silkworm albums priced at $30 USD are WELL WORTH IT.

The new MoFi pressings of the Van Halen albums at $100 USD? Nope. Would rather pick up a well-known excellent used pressing on Discogs.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Wed Oct 11, 2023 12:00 pm

enframed wrote: No record needs to be more than 45 minutes long anyway.

Yes, but the CD era made longer albums seem standard, so people made their shit too long to fit on a single disc, requiring three or four sides instead of two.
Then, if you have that much space to spread out, and side breaks allow for a 45 rpm cut, why not go for a louder cut and better s/n ratio?

I'd prefer 4 sides at 45 over 3 sides at 33 and an "etching" on Side D.

Separately, if it's fancy new pressings of "classic" material, cut directly from the original delicious analog tapes by magic wizards and packaged in a 4-pound jacket with a foil-stamped turbo number on it, then, OK, go for it I guess. But it'll just be too expensive and fancy for me to really enjoy, if I can afford at all.

Agree with all of that. I hate the etched 4th side bullshit. At least put a series of loops one can zone out to.