The differences between Canadian and US pressed 12"ers ?

[remicks]

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This can be directed toward specific examples or as a generality ..... but are the two pressings typically the same ?? .... i.e. the sound quality in general ... and the song versions being pressed ?

Is it often that one should get one location's pressing of a song over the other ?

As an example , I'm just now getting Machine's MARISSA as a Canadian pressing wondering (hoping) that maybe it will be different from its US counterpart (specifically in the mix) .


thanks
remcks


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[the disco kid]

For me the most notable difference was between the "Native New Yorker" Canadian and U.S. pressing, on the Canadian RCA pressing the high end was almost unbearable.

The other Canadian pressing I have that I can compare to the U.S. releases that I have, the sound quality is the same, or very close.

[canadiantire]

Because of my geographical situation and the limited budget that I used to have, I tend to wait for the Canadian releases of 12 inches.

With a few exceptions, the U.S. and Euro the 12 Inches pressing (that I own) were often better in quality.

But make no mistake, the biggest problem most often occurred at the mastering. Artifacts like sibilance, clipping and modification of the frequency curves (to name a few) were created down the line to a lot of Canadian release. Dunno where the problem was created.

• Was it that they were not always made from the master tapes?
• Was it because the tapes were put to lacquer using mis-adjusted equipment?

Only the record companies could confirm it.

There is one thing for sure, some of the late 80's LPs from CBS and AM records that were pressed in Canada were probably made out of recapped condoms.

They would wear and become after a few plays, a listening disturbance (especially in loud passages).

Since I don't own much U.S. LPs, I couldn't tell if their quality also decreased over the years.

- Marcus

[Disco Funk]

It seems to vary from record to record. If it was a US artist, then I'd go with the US pressing. I discovered the difference, which was almost glaring, when I started buying up everything related to Faith Hope & Charity's Life Goes On album. The Canadian 12" and LP I already had sounded so flat and tinny compared to the US EP and LP pressings.

Disco Funk

[KoolChris]

In the case of the Erotic Drum Band's LPs, I'd say you might as well get both ("Plug Me To Death"-US, "Action '78"-Canada), since both versions are mighty different. I've never had any problems with the quality of the records from Canada, and in general censorship on visuals (covers) was non-existant on the canadian side, which is rather a plus...
Unless remix (no pun intended) versions are superior on Euro pressings, I always choose US-pressed, for it's almost always superior in vinyl and sound quality. As far as US and Canadian pressings are concerned, the difference isn't as blatant...

[the disco kid]

and in general censorship on visuals (covers) was non-existant on the canadian side, which is rather a plus...

Excellent point, I know there's another thread about artwork cencorship on the board, instead of just covering up the models, seems like the U.S. releases just changed the entire artwork!

[BrunoRepublic]

I've got a fair bit of experience with this. The short answer is that US pressings are generally better in terms of mastering, but there are exceptions. Occasionally you get a Canadian record which uses the US stampers, but that's rare.

If it's a record that was mastered by a pro engineer like José Rodriguez, I always try to track down a US copy, because then I know that I'm hearing the record exactly as it was intended. Canadian mastering was done by much lower-profile engineers, and quality varies by label and relaese. In general, A&M and WEA were decent, CBS was okay (although often very bright -- I use my CBS-pressed Canadian copy of the Tempest Trio album as a tracking test for cartridges!), RCA was iffy, Polydor/PolyGram and London were poor, and GRT was abysmal (Canadian copies of Martin Circus' "Shine Baby Shine" are practically unlistenable).

But it can vary by release. Take THP Orchestra: The Canadian release of "Two Hot For Love" sounds much better than the US Butterfly, which is very muffled. But the US pressing their next album, "Tender Is The Night" sounds better than the Canadian counterpart, which has the stereo image so narrowed that it's almost mono. And I'm not sure, but I think that third album "Good To Me" used the same stampers for both countries, so it would be the same.

Generally, Canadian releases mirrored US ones, although there are some exceptions, particularly with European releases. Canadian copies of "Love In C Minor" and the first Love And Kisses albums have the spoken word intros which were dropped from US releases, even though the Canadian version of Love In C Minor uses the US sleeve. The Canadian version of Skatt Bros "Strange Spirits" has the 12" of "Walk The Night" instead of the 7" version on the US release.

[BrunoRepublic]

But make no mistake, the biggest problem most often occurred at the mastering. Artifacts like sibilance, clipping and modification of the frequency curves (to name a few) were created down the line to a lot of Canadian release. Dunno where the problem was created.

• Was it that they were not always made from the master tapes?
• Was it because the tapes were put to lacquer using mis-adjusted equipment?

Only the record companies could confirm it.

Mastering a record is both an art and a science. In the US, they paid a lot of attention to this. Not so much in Canada. Canadian releases would usually have been done from a higher-generation tape, cut on inferior equipment to US releases, and done by less-skilled engineers.

Sibilance is usually cause by mistracking (or "tracing error" as it is sometimes called), which is when the groove modulations are too small for the stylus to physically fit into. You get this with overly-bright pressings (CBS was really bad for this). The good news is that this can be reduced or eliminated by using a cartridge with a fine-line or microline stylus which is properly aligned. The bad news is that such cartridges are fragile, expensive, and totally unsuited to DJing.

Tapes are often EQ'd at the cutting stage either out of necessity (i.e. orignal tape sounds bad) or as a compromise (reducing treble to reduce mistracking on average systems, or lowering bass to get more playing time). A good mastering engineer knows exactly how far he can push things. Case in point: if you listen to Canadian pressings of The Ritchie Family's "American Generation", there is NO BASS compared to US release. Whoever mastered it must have been used to cutting 20+ minute rock or pop records and likely freaked out at the bass levels, not realizing that the album's producers knew this and that's why the album is barely 12 minutes each side. Result: sucky sonics!

[remicks]

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This is most interesting info everyone.

Thanks to all and Graham especially , I think I'm getting the picture . Let's see. (?)
It seems to me that what was taking place is that with 12''ers that were first recorded / released in the USA , typically copies on high generation tape of such were then sent to Canadian pressing plants for release there. They really had no vested interest in doing any kind of song remixes ... such as bringing in local DJs to mix them up .... there wasn't an intent to make these records more Canadian club friendly in the way that the US offices often felt was necessary there . Nor any desire to change the already completed recordings for any other reason. I doubt that the CBS offices (for example) in Canada even reviewed a US 12 " project for such purposes before sending it off for pressing. The whole purpose was to get these ready-to-go songs/projects pressed on Canadian vinyl so as to get them marketed in Canada. (correct?)

Then as can be said for US pressings too .....the final success of the pressing was dependent on the specific engineers of each project and how they applied themselves to their duties.




So I'm in error to seek out exclusive "Canadian only remixes" on Canadian 12" pressings.


( except perhaps on rare exception ....such as KoolChris' observation that the Erotic Drum Band (LP) is very different )


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[BrunoRepublic]

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So I'm in error to seek out exclusive "Canadian only remixes" on Canadian 12" pressings.
( except perhaps on rare exception ....such as KoolChris' observation that the Erotic Drum Band (LP) is very different )

Exactly. There are a handful of Canadian exclusives, or cases where the Canadian version uses the "international" version while a specific one was made for the US (which, these days, is likely to be the most common version -- think Tom Moulton's remixes of Chocolat's and Kebekelektrik), but 9 out of 10 times, Canadian copies are simply inferior versions of US releases.

[Disco Funk]

The American Prism versions of the Erotic Drum Band Plug Me To Death LP almost seem mono, whereas the Canadian Unidisc pressings (I think they're entitled Action 78) are definitely stereo mixes all the way through.

There are some Canadian exclusive re-edits, but not remixes. Like the extended version of Scratchin by Magic Disco Machine; Don't Stop The Music by The Bay City Rollers; and Pussyfooter by Jackie Robinson. I don't know about the quality of the Scratchin re-edit, but the Bay City Rollers one sounds already. They just repeated the song. Pussyfooter sounds really bad.

I've noticed that on the most part, most 12" releases sound really good, better than the LP counterparts, if both feature the same mix. The worst 12" I've come across, though, which I think was an American pressing (I don't have it handy), was some Samantha Sang song. I forget what it was called, it wasn't Emotion. Damn thing was master too loud, if you can believe that. I mean, if the volume on my PC was turned off, you could still hear the music blaring from the vinyl itself as the needle ran over it, even when you were standing several feet away!!

Disco Funk

[Ian Rose]

One day I'll find a copy of the Canada only 12" of Candido-Thousand finger man/ Jingo. Its weird they only got a 12 of it there. But I guess I havent seen a US LP of it that wasen't a promo either.