The Sheffield Lab Drum & Track Disc?

[Brent71]

Sheffield did tape backups for at least some (maybe all) of their D2D releases. After some of the early D2D releases sold out - I can think of at least the Dave Grusin and Thelma Houston albums, they released vinyl made from the tape backups. I have a 15ips 2 track copy of the Grusin tape back up. I have never done a direct comparison with my D2D vinyl copy. I did play that quite a bit, since I liked several of the songs. I did make a digital 192/24 copy of all the Sheffield D2D records I had (I think all but one or two very early Lincoln Mayorga albums and the Thelma Houston, which I somehow never got as a D2D, only the reissue.

Larry

Late reply: I'm certain that Sheffield did tape backups for every direct-to-disc album. Missing Linc Vol. II, Thelma Houston and Dave Grusin were the first albums they released on CD in 1984, and all of those were made from the backup tapes.

It wasn't until 2008 that Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was finally released on CD on the 2-disc 40th Anniversary CD set, and those were needledrops done by Seth Winner. (https://www.discogs.com/release/149...inguished-Colleagues-40th-Anniversary-Edition)

The early Sheffield Records albums were recorded to direct to tape, and those go back to the early-'60s. In the notes on some of the early Sheffield Records album jackets it lists the microphones and tape recorder used. Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was the first direct-to-disc album, and it was on the Sheffield Records label; same with Missing Linc Vol II (S-10); both had "Laboratory Series" on the jackets and labels. It wasn't until Missing Linc - Volume III (Lab-1) that the Sheffield Lab label was created.

To add to the confusion, there were albums released on Sheffield Records and Townhall labels during the same years that Sheffield Lab albums were being released.

Townhall Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Townhall Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Townhall Records releases.

www.discogs.com

Sheffield Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Sheffield Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Sheffield Records releases.

www.discogs.com

 

[astrotoy]

Late reply: I'm certain that Sheffield did tape backups for every direct-to-disc album. Missing Linc Vol. II, Thelma Houston and Dave Grusin were the first albums they released on CD in 1984, and all of those were made from the backup tapes.

It wasn't until 2008 that Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was finally released on CD on the 2-disc 40th Anniversary CD set, and those were needledrops done by Seth Winner. (https://www.discogs.com/release/149...inguished-Colleagues-40th-Anniversary-Edition)

The early Sheffield Records albums were recorded to direct to tape, and those go back to the early-'60s. In the notes on some of the early Sheffield Records album jackets it lists the microphones and tape recorder used. Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was the first direct-to-disc album, and it was on the Sheffield Records label; same with Missing Linc Vol II (S-10); both had "Laboratory Series" on the jackets and labels. It wasn't until Missing Linc - Volume III (Lab-1) that the Sheffield Lab label was created.

To add to the confusion, there were albums released on Sheffield Records and Townhall labels during the same years that Sheffield Lab albums were being released.

Townhall Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Townhall Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Townhall Records releases.

www.discogs.com

Sheffield Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Sheffield Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Sheffield Records releases.

www.discogs.com

Thanks. I found a few of the early Townhall and Sheffield pre D2D records during record bin dives over the years. Never thought to pick any of them up - probably they were in the dollar bins in those days. I remember that S-9 and S-10 were quite valuable. Larry

 

[MylesBAstor]

Late reply: I'm certain that Sheffield did tape backups for every direct-to-disc album. Missing Linc Vol. II, Thelma Houston and Dave Grusin were the first albums they released on CD in 1984, and all of those were made from the backup tapes.

It wasn't until 2008 that Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was finally released on CD on the 2-disc 40th Anniversary CD set, and those were needledrops done by Seth Winner. (https://www.discogs.com/release/149...inguished-Colleagues-40th-Anniversary-Edition)

The early Sheffield Records albums were recorded to direct to tape, and those go back to the early-'60s. In the notes on some of the early Sheffield Records album jackets it lists the microphones and tape recorder used. Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues (S-9) was the first direct-to-disc album, and it was on the Sheffield Records label; same with Missing Linc Vol II (S-10); both had "Laboratory Series" on the jackets and labels. It wasn't until Missing Linc - Volume III (Lab-1) that the Sheffield Lab label was created.

To add to the confusion, there were albums released on Sheffield Records and Townhall labels during the same years that Sheffield Lab albums were being released.

Townhall Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Townhall Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Townhall Records releases.

www.discogs.com

Sheffield Records Discography | Discogs

Explore music from the Sheffield Records label. Discover what's missing in your collection and shop for Sheffield Records releases.

www.discogs.com

As Larry said, Sheffield reissued some later LPs from the recording session tape backups.

Chad bought Sheffield Labs and intended to reissue some of the Sheffield titles. But he hasn’t and I heard from another source that the tape backups weren’t in good shape.

OTOH, it could be a licensing problem.

Another D2D company that did tape backups but never reissued on LP is M&K Real-time. I know because many years ago found a couple of M&K sampler discs on eBay for a song (I assume they came from either Miller’s or Kreisler’s collection.).Among other tracks were two cuts on the sampler were two cuts from the famed Flamenco Fever (that has its own story). The M&K Flamenco Fever actually released was a re-recording; FedEx actually lost the lacquer on the way to Germany to be pressed and they had to go back into the studio and re-record the album. But no one seems to know what happened to the M&K tapes.

And of course Crystal Clear did tape backups but no one knows what happened to the producer/engineer nor the tapes.

 

[Brent71]

As Larry said, Sheffield reissued some later LPs from the recording session tape backups.

Chad bought Sheffield Labs and intended to reissue some of the Sheffield titles. But he hasn’t and I heard from another source that the tape backups weren’t in good shape.

OTOH, it could be a licensing problem.

Another D2D company that did tape backups but never reissued on LP is M&K Real-time. I know because many years ago found a couple of M&K sampler discs on eBay for a song (I assume they came from either Miller’s or Kreisler’s collection.).Among other tracks were two cuts on the sampler were two cuts from the famed Flamenco Fever (that has its own story). The M&K Flamenco Fever actually released was a re-recording; FedEx actually lost the lacquer on the way to Germany to be pressed and they had to go back into the studio and re-record the album. But no one seems to know what happened to the M&K tapes.

And of course Crystal Clear did tape backups but no one knows what happened to the producer/engineer nor the tapes.

Thelma Houston and Dave Grusin were the only two that were released as Sheffield Treasury re-releases made from the back-up tapes. https://www.discogs.com/label/226373-Sheffield-Treasury

I know Chad wanted both The Mastering Lab and Sheffield Lab; he obviously got TML, but I don't think he got Sheffield for whatever reason; maybe because Lincoln still had some say since he was still alive at the time. Now that Lincoln is gone I don't know who would be the rightful owner of it all. Sheffield was sort of Lincoln's pet project to begin with, and a way for him to release recordings of his own. In Bill Schnee's book and his website he talks about what a huge effort it was by him and Doug to convince Lincoln to go ahead with the Thelma Houston album.

I've also read about some of the tapes being in bad shape. I know Thelma was out of print on CD until Doug tracked down the last remaining U-matic tape known to exist to re-release on Gold CD since the analog tape couldn't be used. I've also read that's one that Winston wanted to release too.

 

[mtemur]

@bonzo75 do you have any system videos playing this LP, or more specifically, the Jim Keltner track on the Sheffield Drum Record?

You asked from @bonzo75 but I can share the video you mentioned. You can skip the beginning part.

It’s a very noisy record, and the YouTube compression is really bad. It was recorded in a dark listening room using an iPhone 15 Pro Max from about 3 meters away from the speakers. The volume level seems alright—this is actually the normal listening level.