The Bassface Swing Trio - Bossa, Ballads and Blues (Vinyle de Test, DMM)
TEST LP
Bruno Müller- guitar
Thilo Wagner - piano
Jean-Philippe Wadle - bass
Florian Hermann - drums
1 LP, gatefold jacket
Direct Metal Mastering
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g Virgin vinyl
Record color : Black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Pallas (Germany)
Label : Stockfisch Records
Original label : Stockfisch Records
Direct Metal Mastering by Hendrik Pauler
Originally released in March 2022
Tracks :
Side A:
- Estate
- Prelude to a Kiss
- Georgia on My Mind
- Stardust
Side B:
- Black Coffee
- The Shadow of Your Smile
- Laura
- I Can't Get Started
Review
Weightlessly light, yet grounded: that’s how the music on the new album from Bassface Swing Trio sounds. One has never heard this trio with such relaxed and airy arrangements. Bassist Jean-Philippe Wadle plucks bass lines that are as soft as clouds, Florian Hermann plays his drums with controlled restraint, Thilo Wagner shows himself as lyrical pianist on the classy Fazioli piano. For this session they invited Bruno Müller, one of Germany’s most renowned jazz guitarists.
And it was worth it! Whether it’s the playful standard “Stardust”, the relaxed bossa “Estate”, the dreamy ballad “The Shadow Of Your Smile”, or the bluesy piece “Georgia on My Mind”: these four musicians casually and gently celebrate the classics of jazz history, adding emotional depth and a subtly perceptible swing feeling. Guitarist Bruno Müller is a perfect fit for the swing trio with his warm guitar sound. His improvisations project a delicate sparkle.
The fact that they recorded these tracks live through an analog chain with the Neumann VMS-82 lathe cutting a DMM-Matrix in real-time shows at what a high-level these musicians are playing.
Direct Metal Mastering
In Direct Metal Mastering, the cutting lathe engraves the audio signal directly onto a copper-plated master disc, instead of engraving the groove into a lacquer-coated aluminum disc.
The direct metal mastering technology addresses the lacquer mastering technology's issue of pre-echoes during record play, caused by the cutting stylus unintentionally transferring some of the subsequent groove wall's impulse signal into the previous groove wall. In particular, a quiet passage followed by a loud sound often clearly revealed a faint pre-echo of the loud sound occurring 1.8 seconds ahead of time (the duration of one revolution at 33 rpm). This problem could also appear as post-echo, 1.8 seconds after a peak in volume.
Another improvement is noise reduction. The lacquer mastering method bears a higher risk of adding unwanted random noise to the recording, caused by the enclosure of small dust particles when spraying the silvering on the lacquer master, which is the necessary first step of the electroplating process for reproduction of the master disc. As the DMM master disc is already made of metal (copper), this step is not required, and its faults are avoided.
With the groove being cut straight into a metal foil, this removed a number of plating stages in the manufacturing process. This gave rise to more upper frequency levels and less surface noise. Additionally, groove pre-echo problems are significantly diminished. Bass is typically tight and well defined, even described as more accurate than the fat, mushy sound of lacquered vinyl pressings.
Ratings:
Discogs : 4.77 / 5