Led Zeppelin - Barry Diament masterings

Luxen,

If you dont know where to buy them how comes you know that they sound "so" much better. ?

Scotty

I have them in FLAc on my harddisk.
A friend gave them to me.

So I burnt them on a CD-R.
Then I listened.
Then I realized.

Now I would like to buy them in original...

They are outstanding, you get them on e-bay or in the classifieds on many of the online forums. Since they have quite a following, sellers will spell out that they are the Diament masterings.

Dear Miles, gracias!!!

Will check in the Steve Hoffmann forum then...

Got to say that IMHO as much as i love Zepp the problem lies in the quality or lack of it when produced by the band in the first place...i feel the same about U2 recordings it just aint worth investing in expensive quality cds as it all sounds very bright due to the nature of the music. Vinyl recordings are a different matter.

Hi Munch,

I have the 40th anniversary box with all of them in SHM-CD...

quote:

Originally posted by scottyhammer:
Got to say that IMHO as much as i love Zepp the problem lies in the quality or lack of it when produced by the band in the first place...i feel the same about U2 recordings it just aint worth investing in expensive quality cds as it all sounds very bright due to the nature of the music. Vinyl recordings are a different matter.

I don't agree with you on the recording quality. To me it is a question of the mastering. If you listen to some of the Japanese First Pressings on CD, like the 55XD of PG, there is no brightness, deep base and an amazing level of detail. On the other hand 'Mothership' on CD is only good as a coaster or frisbee.

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:

quote:

Originally posted by scottyhammer:
Got to say that IMHO as much as i love Zepp the problem lies in the quality or lack of it when produced by the band in the first place...i feel the same about U2 recordings it just aint worth investing in expensive quality cds as it all sounds very bright due to the nature of the music. Vinyl recordings are a different matter.

I don't agree with you on the recording quality. To me it is a question of the mastering. If you listen to some of the Japanese First Pressings on CD, like the 55XD of PG, there is no brightness, deep base and an amazing level of detail. On the other hand 'Mothership' on CD is only good as a coaster or frisbee.

I agree.

hmmm lets agree not to agree then.

I remember the Japanese box set being discussed here not long ago:


Would people recommend getting this? is this the same mastering that MilesSmiles mentioned above?

I had a look for the Barry Diament remaster on-line, but with no luck, only torrents, and I am sure that for audio quality alone a pressed silver disc will be important to the sound, let alone the copyright issues.

Any pointers as to where the best Led Zeppelin recordings can be found would be appreciated.

I have that box.

I love the packaging.

I found people who sell Barry Diaments versions, over at the Steve Hoffman-forum.

I ordered:

I, II, III, IV, Houses of the Holy.

In a second hand record store I found on CD:

Physical graffiti, Presence and Coda (all sdone by Barry diament).

If you find them as torrents, get the FLAC-ones.
ALL are out there.

Buy one of those:



Burn at 4x-speed, Plextor-burner is excellent.

Hi Luxen,

Thanks for that.

As a live music collector, I am very experienced using Flac (and other lossless formats) and burning to gold archive discs. Sadly I no longer have a Plextor burner, they are a bit expensive, and hard to find these days, I wore my first one out.

I might give a Flac source of one of the Led Zeppelin albums as try. I have had a hunt through the Steve Hoffman forum and have found pages of wave forms, discussion of compression, EQ, but sadly no link to anywhere selling Barry Diament masters.

I would like to try and get a silver pressed copy if they can be found, I am sure a pressed disc will have a slight edge over a burned disc, and also a longer life, and I think that a slight edge is what I am seeking by trying to find such a recording.

I will email a few friends for advice about sellers (sadly against rules to post links here).

Is the audio quality on the Japanese mini-sleeve box set worth spending the money on, or is there no (noticeable) difference, other than the rather nice packaging?

Interestingly in May 2006 Barry Diament posted that 'I never mastered any version of "IV".'

You need to be registered for 30 days and have at least 50 posts before being able to access the classifieds on the SH forum.

Have you tried ebay US? Usually able to pick up the unremastered LZ CDs cheaply from there.

Joe Sidore mastered IV, Barry mastered the rest - and did a very fine job too!

I found all of them here:

Zep-CDs

Cataloque numbers:

LZI
SD-19126-2

LZII
(NO "SD") 19127-2

LZIII
SD 19128-2

LZIV
(NO "SD") 19129-2 / EUROPE 250 008

HOTH
(NO "SD") 19130-2 / EUROPE 50014

PG
SS 200-2

PRES
SS 8416-2

ITTOD
16002-2 / EUROPE 059 410

quote:

Originally posted by Zepfan:
You need to be registered for 30 days and have at least 50 posts before being able to access the classifieds on the SH forum.

Have you tried ebay US? Usually able to pick up the unremastered LZ CDs cheaply from there.

Joe Sidore mastered IV, Barry mastered the rest - and did a very fine job too!

Thanks for that, this post and also further reading on other forums, I realize that the Barry Diament masters are the unremastered original releases.

I already have I, III, 'The Song Remains the Same', and 'In Through the Outdoor'. I also had IV, but am not sure I could still find it.

On my pre-Naim system I felt the 1990's remaster of IV sounded better, the original CD release sounded muddy to me, which is a comment I have heard of the Barry Diament masters elsewhere. I found the Led Zeppelin recordings muddy on vinyl too, again pre-Naim. I know some of it is personal taste.

I will have a look for the old copy of IV, and make some comparisons if I can find it (* edit - just bid on one on Ebay, less than a pound). I may have been swayed by the hype about the remasters and convinced myself that the 1990's remasters were superior, but it might be the case that I do prefer the slightly brighter sound of the 1990's George Marino remasters.

The one album where I found the remaster unlistenable was Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon', 1994 remaster I think, that I took straight back and got the last copy of the unremastered version, the one with bass, and not the harsh 'trebley' sound.

I am very unlikely to ever make 50 posts of the Steve Hoffman forum, it is not a forum that I feel I could contribute anything useful to.

Does the Japanese box set have any superior sound to the standard George Marino remasters, which it appears it comes from? Again this is very subjective, I know.

Thanks also for all the other posts here too, very interesting.

Gave in and ordered this. I will sit down and compare the albums I have from the Barry Diament masterings when it arrives, and perhaps do some searching on Ebay and in second hand shops if I wish to get those masterings as well.

Wow, it has just arrived. The packaging is lovely, fantastic.

It also has the four extra tracks on the 'Box Set' version of 'Coda':

'Baby Come On Home'
'Travelling Riverside Blues'
'White Summer/Black Mountain Side'
'Hey Hey What Can I Do'

as well as all the tracks from the reissue of 'The Song Remainds the Same'. The covers have the original artwork, and so do not show the extra tracks.

That is the good news.

The bad news.

I have just sat down and listened to 'Immigrant Song' from my old Barry Diament (unremastered) release, and compared it with the version in the box (which is not credited, but I assume is the George Marino remaster).

I really get what the deal is with the Barry Diament masters, richer, more musical. The remaster has more top end, is a little cleaner, but does not sound as musical.

Interestingly it is exactly the same difference as I found when demoing CD players many years ago using David Sylvian 'Secrets of the Beehive', track 'When Poets Dreamed of Angels'. It was 1994 and my budget was £400, the choice was between a Marantz and Arcam deck, the Marantz was clearer, but less musical than the Arcam. Thankfully I now have a Naim CD5x, which beat out a Rega.

I do not find the Led Zeppelin remasters as brash and unlistenable as the Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' remaster from the 1990's.

So in conclusion, the box set in a nice thing to own, but not for the music. I will search Ebay and second hand shops for the Barry Diament masters I don't have. If you really want the artworks, then second hand vinyl is probably the best option.

Hi Stuart

You have to look for the CD mastering credit, which is fairy hidden on the Barry Diament releaes. The remasters have the mastering credit for George Marino and Jimmy Page on the back.

quote:

So in conclusion, the box set in a nice thing to own, but not for the music. I will search Ebay and second hand shops for the Barry Diament masters I don't have.

I did just that and i put the BD-albums in the wonderful replica-CD-covers.

Dear Stu,

not all have his name on them...

But where it reads Page/Marino, then it goes bad...

I also have the 4 CD-remasters-version.

I just replaced the songs with the ones with Barry Diament.

I just compared the audio on Physical Graffiti and the sound on the box set seems a little brighter than the George Marino remasters.

Cool, Stu.

Much better.

I ordered 1234, House + Physical.
The other rest I have in FLAC...

Rightly so...