CES 2013

Analogue Productions to Resurrect Deluxe UHQR Record Production With Two Bill Evans Classics

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 12, 2013

Analogue Productions will commence pressing UHQR records this year beginning with two classic Bill Evans titles: Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz For Debby.

While AP has bought the rights to the trademark UHQR, the records will be UHQR in more than just name. These titles will get super-deluxe production.

First they will be "one step." That is, instead of the lacquer being plated to produce a father, then plated again to produce a mother from which stampers are produced, the plated lacquer will be used directly to press records. This means fewer records can be pressed since once the stamper is spent no more can be sourced from the "father" because it was used to press records.

Better sound is achieved by skipping a generation in the production process. As for the production process itself, each totally flat, 200 gram record will be pressed by hand in one of QRP's two Fine-built hand presses.

The packaging will be super-deluxe too, including individual numbering, information of the production process, extra special gatefold jacket with never before seen (by most of us anyway) backstage photos of the trio and probably a few things I'm forgetting.

What is the big deal about "flat" records? Were you to bisect a regular record you'd see that the grooves slope downward towards the center of the groove area and then upward towards the label area. Thus perfect azimuth is compromised as well as anti-skating. UHQR records are perfectly flat both at the outer lip and all the way across to the lead-out groove area

The cost for the boxed presentation will be $100.00 and Kassem told me at T.H.E. Show that the reaction to the announcement, particularly from overseas attendees was "incredible."

Is $100 expensive? Consider that Mobile Fidelity's UHQR LPs from the 1980s cost $50 and sealed copies of many today go for upwards of $1000 or more. Yes, those titles include Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but among certain music constituencies, these Bill Evans LPs are considered of equal musical status and landmark records for both music and sound. These reissues should be the "ultra" versions.

COMMENTS
jesuswept's picture
Submitted by jesuswept on Sat, 2013-01-12 11:50

dschian's picture
Submitted by dschian on Sat, 2013-01-12 16:34

Yeah, I'm sure that small, time-consuming production runs with expensive equipment and related investment cost next-to-nothing. Not.

Russo7516's picture
Submitted by Russo7516 on Sat, 2017-03-11 08:30

For some unknown reason no really cares for the guy.I wonder why ?

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Sat, 2013-01-12 15:47

"Were you to bisect a regular record you'd see that the grooves slope downward towards the center of the groove area and then upward towards the label area.
 

Really?  What's the reason for that?  I get that the "lip" on the edge was introduced because many were using changers (at least that's what I understand) but I've never heard about the "valley" shape you describe.  Just when I think I know everything (kidding, the last time I thought that was when I was 13).

Smafdy Assmilk's picture
Submitted by Smafdy Assmilk on Sun, 2013-01-13 09:13

More important than the extreme care taken during manufacturing are the source tapes being used. 

The Village Vanguard recoridngs were done live (obviously), so instead of chopping up the original, unedited tapes, they made dubs and those copies became the sources for the two seperate albums. We've lost a generation due to technical limitations of the era.

The Complete Village Vanguard set that came out a few years ago on CD used the original, first generation tapes. I wonder if these $100 records can claim the same pedegree?

Martin's picture
Submitted by Martin on Mon, 2013-01-14 09:43

If he gets the Stones or Beatles tapes to do like this, I'd buy. 

I would not hesitate. 

gringostarr's picture
Submitted by gringostarr on Wed, 2013-01-16 10:54

Cassius's picture
Submitted by Cassius on Wed, 2013-01-16 18:01

Hoffman isn't involved, so who is ?

liuj88's picture
Submitted by liuj88 on Fri, 2013-01-18 10:54

"Were you to bisect a regular record you'd see that the grooves slope downward towards the center of the groove area and then upward towards the label area. Thus perfect azimuth is compromised as well as anti-skating. UHQR records are perfectly flat both at the outer lip and all the way across to the lead-out groove area."

I'm having a hard time visualizing what was described. Can someone provide a link to a diagram? Thanks.

rosser's picture
Submitted by rosser on Fri, 2013-01-18 15:10

Sunday at the Village Vanguard is one of my all-time favorites, so I am sorely tempted to get in on this. My only issue is whether Quality Record Pressings has solved their biggest problem -- their inability to consistently produce flat records. I've bought a number of their releases in the last year, and very, very few of them were flat. I'm talking about dishing so severe that on one side, the only contact the vinyl makes with the turntable is the spindle, with every other bit curving upwards so much that a good quarter inch of space exists between the platter mat and the lip of the album. On many of these, replacements were not much better, even after several attempts. I've stopped buying QRP records until I've heard they've figured this out. 

Jody's picture
Submitted by Jody on Thu, 2013-01-24 15:55

... for people who have more money than they know what to do with. The 45RPM Hoffman/Gray cuttings on Analogue Productions are still available. Buy the entire boxset (22 LPs) for $599.

Monkeyboy's picture
Submitted by Monkeyboy on Fri, 2017-01-20 07:38

Since Chad has decided to make his first UHQR of the same record that MOFI has in line for their next One Step I can do a direct shoot-out between the two. Chad called to apologize for not being able to get the One Step Santana Abraxas for me and told me at the time that he hadn't decided on an album for the first AP UHQR. He also told me those of us who were denied a copy because Acoustic Sounds couldn't get any will be the first ones in line to order their copies of the first UHQR. Hot diggity dog! This should be interesting. Count me in.

If this UHQR can be made even better than the other AP pressings I have I don't even have to ask buying this is automatic. I'm not into music because I like the sound of a clock radio. I want to hear everything the music can give me.

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