James Newton Howard & Friends 1983 Sheffield Lab 23 Direct Disc Play Tested NM

$

27

• James Newton Howard.
• James Newton Howard & Friends.
• Two Page Card Insert With Track List And Band Info.
• Live Direct Cut Lacquer.

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Recorded: December 16, 17, 19 1983 At Sheffield Lab Studios, MGM, Culver City, CA
Metal Parts Processing By Dick Doss At Sheffield Lab Matrix ("SL"), Santa Monica, CA
Lacquer Cut By: Mike Reese, Ron Lewter
Pressing By: Soundome, Irvine, CA
Original Issue: 1983
This Issue: 1983
Label: Sheffield Lab 23
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) SL61-3Z
Side 2: (etch:) SL62-3Z

Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you have absolutely known provenance). Has had just a few plays only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit brand) to prevent warpage.
All vinyl sides are cleaned on a VPI HW-16.5 record cleaner. I use the Audio Intelligent "One-Step" formula that requires no rinsing and leaves no residue. It is alcohol free and uses enzyme agents to remove pressing mold-release compounds, fungi & bacteria, finger oils, and many other environmental contaminants. Made with laboratory-grade pure water(50X purer than distilled water). I neutralize residual static charge from both vinyl and new inner sleeve with a Milty Zerostat. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with NOS Soviet Voskhod matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
For track listings, please see my attached record label photographs.

I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. After cleaning I use very bright light and close visual inspection on each side to assign "visual-only" grades. However, I always perform play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment to assign play grades.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. I do not use "EX" grades as my VG+ is right below "NM-." I never sell a "G" play grade and very rarely ever sell a "VG" play grade. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are separately graded and described in detail for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
(Front Face/Rear Face)
VG+/VG+
Mostly smooth semi-gloss finish surfaces but noticeable rub wear on top/bottom edges and spine. Some surface indentations on the front face. Corner bend on backside lower left.

Vinyl Visual Inspection/Grading:
(Side 1/Side 2)
NM/NM
Both Sides looked perfect. Side 1 label has a LAST protective vinyl wear prevention treatment sticker on it. I usually treated my new vinyl with LAST before the very first play.

Play Testing/Grading:
(Side 1/Side 2)
NM/NM++
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection (continuous written notes were taken). I listen to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. When the track width is noticeably greater I take more play samples to get good coverage. I also listen to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks get played all the way through if I digitize my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files for archiving. That allows me to go back and re-check some of my notes on digital playback in ProTools. Here is rundown of each side from those notes.

Side 1 Play
I could detect some very low level HF pressing crackle bits during the quiet solo piano starting intro. Not at distracting levels but it is there, although briefly. When the synth kicks in at 32 seconds that noise disappears and zero vinyl noise from then on. I immediately knew this is an exceptionally hot cut as my Pro Tools recording meters were hitting 0.0dBFS. The music was so powerful and potent I decided to record both sides entirely but knew I had to turn on my analog "Soft Clipping" circuits in the front of my A2D converters and restart the recording to make sure I had no digital "overs." The first transition grooves out of T1 were very quiet. T2 only had a single LF tiny tick at about 2 minutes into the track. It was very hard to find later in the recording when I went back to find and confirm it as it was so hard to hear within the music. That was the last bit of vinyl noise heard for the remainder of the side, even on T3 which was the gentlest track on the album. T4 was the hottest cut of the side and the track was just incredibly powerful. I was tempted to grade the side NM- for that pressing crackle at the start but the rest was so perfect I feel better about an NM grade overall.

Side 2 Play
T1 on this side had a "gentle" lead-in (-4.8dBFS peaks). A short track at 1:10 long and T2 was even shorter at 0.44 seconds. I enjoyed the style and they left me wishing for more. Zero vinyl noise on both as was the same for all other tracks on this side. T3 was fast and furious making it another favorite. T4 had some very infectious bass lines and rifle shot fast percussion transients. An outstanding demo track for an audio system. T5 was a great closer. I have play tested some truly near perfect NM vinyl sides in the last months with other D2Ds and imported conventional pressings but was not prepared for this one. Now it sets the gold standard for NM so I feel a need to give it the highest I can go below "Mint" so NM++ it is.

I did not appreciate this album when first bought because I had not yet developed a love for electronic music (that came later). I had no memory at all of what the music was like on this D2D and I'm so happy to have rediscovered it in an exciting way and retain a full digital copy from my play test. If you happen to own a really good audio system I hope you have a very powerful amp and speakers that can handle such high dynamic range. If so you will be impressed too and so will anyone hearing the performance of your system while playing it.

Packaging

• Records are placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original inner sleeves (if still present) are included separately.
• All records will be placed into new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeves. Any original sleeves may be holding onto some dust and if paper lined could even be abrasive. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimately during buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in high quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners and all corners double-taped.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $4.75 per single album sale. eBay keeps raising the rates for Media Mail but I still don't pass all of that or any costs for shipping materials on to the buyer. I do try to reduce additional costs for my customers.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day ($4.75 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined with the discount applied to your total.eBay does give you the option to "Request an invoice from the buyer," but this option is not available on the eBay mobile app. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.