{"product_id":"jacksbad_2608-1","title":"Jackson, Michael - Bad - White Hot Stamper (Quiet Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMichael Jackson's records always make for tough shootouts. His everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to recording make it difficult to translate so much sound to disc, vinyl or otherwise. Everything has to be tuned up and on the money before we can even hope to get the record sounding right. (Careful VTA adjustment could not be more critical in this respect.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf we're not hearing the sound we want, we keep messing with the adjustments until we do. There is no getting around sweating the details when sitting down to test a complex recording such as this. If you can't stand the tweaking tedium, get out of the kitchen (or listening room, as the case may be).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eObsessing over every aspect of a record's reproduction is what we do for a living. This kind of Big Rock Recording requires us to be at the top of our game, both in terms of reproducing the albums themselves as well as evaluating the merits of individual pressings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you love it, it's not work, it's fun. Tedious, occasionally exasperating fun, but still fun. And the louder you play a record like this the better it sounds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Bad Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes even as late as \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221987%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1987\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. \u003ci\u003ePlaying the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above,\u003c\/i\u003e and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Bad\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLess grit -- smoother and sweeter sound, something that is not easy to come by on Bad\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA bigger presentation -- more size, more space, more room for all the instruments and voices to occupy. The bigger the speakers you have to play this record the better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore bass and tighter bass. This is a recording that relies on its powerful rhythmic elements. It needs weight down low to move you the way MJ's go-to engineer (\u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22bruce-swedien%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBruce Swedien\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e), MJ's go-to producer (\u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22quincy-jones%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuincy Jones\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e) and The King of Pop himself (Michael Jackson) wanted it to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePresent, breathy vocals. A veiled midrange is the rule, not the exception.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGood top end extension to reproduce the harmonics of the instruments and details of the recording including the studio ambience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast but not least, balance. All the elements from top to bottom should be heard in harmony with each other. Take our word for it, assuming you haven't played a pile of these yourself, balance is not that easy to find.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur best copies will have it though, of that there is no doubt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jackson, Michael","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52226090926376,"sku":"jacksbad","price":699.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/jacksbad.jpg?v=1786382498","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/jacksbad_2608-1","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}