steve hoffman forums, C or D?

It IS alarming, isn't it? I stumbled onto those forums when looking for more detailed information about James Brown's jumbled back catalog (there are some stellar threads on there regarding this) but I can't read it regularly or I'll be forced to either 1) dump a ton of stuff and wait for a reissue or 2) buy reissues of things that sound fine to me. I choose to do neither by not frequenting that forum much!

It's like going to some of the hi-end audio equipment forums, it'll make you feel like crap for daring to stray from original Edison cylinders. Or tube amps. Or separates. Etc.

Useful but a lot of posts to wade through and very heavily classic-rock biased. And it is the 99+ percentile of 'persnickety audiophiles', so keep that in mind as you read -- those of us mortals with standard-issue audio gear probably won't be able to tell the difference between remaster A and remaster B.

West German pressings? Dud

I still kind of like that forum but man are they quick to remove posts that question the integrity of the host. Apparently several years ago he auctioned off CDRs of masters he did of All Things Must Pass among other things; those are all over the internet these days. I've asked about this once or twice and my questions vanish within seconds. Hunting around on the internet turned up more info about it.

Maybe C for the occasional educational discussion about different editions, but ultimately a D for the thin skinned moderating crew. That ultimately taints most of the major debates because posters aren't allowed to criticize anything Hoffman was involved in - and he has a sizeable discography that includes some of the most sought-after and expensive pressings out there.

that said I really do like the masters of things he has done, particularly the mccartney albums.

http://www.themortonreport.com/2013/05/23/Steve%20Hoffman%20A.jpg

that picture is very...
ago

I've decided to live my life without lanyards.

Keith Jarrett's moaning is annoying. (IMHO)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Brian Cruz, Mar 14, 2005.

Keith Jarrett - Vocalizations, annoying or just part of his genius?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by billybob79, Aug 10, 2010.

Keith Jarrett - Vocalization, good or bad?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mds, Apr 3, 2015.

http://i.imgur.com/xpS3kt0.png

crosspost to audiophile snake oil thread
http://www.shakti-innovations.com/images/Hoffman-pic-1.jpg
RENOWNED MASTERING ENGINEER STEVE HOFFMAN ENDORSING THE HALLOGRAPH AT CES 2003
http://www.shakti-innovations.com/hallograph.htm

Bands enjoyed by smart people

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Andersoncouncil, Yesterday at 10:35 PM.

The Rush thread got me thinking...There are certain bands that appeal to more educated, smart audiences. Rush is certainly one of them, but I'd also like to throw out a "dark horse" band. People seem to think of the Grateful Dead as a band liked by head in the cloud stoners, but in reality their fanbase I have come across is very intelligent. Most deadheads I have met have masters degrees and high-paying jobs. I work in academis, and know many haeds and former deadheads in high positions.Maybe they spent many years on the bus following them, but the great irony is that they seem to have done well for themselves. Feel free to discuss this point or ad any other bands for the intelligentsia.

Oh, for fucks sake...

My favorite thing about those forums, and I have many favorite things, is that sometimes people put their names in their signatures, then sign their posts in addition to that. Those particular forums automatically "sign" the poster's name to his/her posts right beside the timestamp. So along with the name in their actual avatar, there's the possibility of seeing a poster's name four times with every post. Like those bands with eponymous albums who also have eponymous songs on those albums. But +1.

Or like I just used the word "post" or "poster" five times.

For Hoffman haters. . .

http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/please-try-and-refrain-from-commenting-on-sound-quality-unless-you-have-your-gear-listed-in-profile.489114/

http://i.imgur.com/IwSlwTq.jpg

The two posts above by two new members shouldn't really be acceptable here. I've picked them at random but this is epidemic here at the SH Forums. I thought I better post this reminder about filling out your equipment profile.

We don't know what you are listening on unless you list your gear under "information" in your profile. Why does this matter? This is why. Something sounds "freakin' fantastic" and I'm going to listen to you and trust you and spend 40 bucks on it? I just have your word for it. What are you listening on? Unless I know that, how can I possibly judge if what you are saying holds any kind of water at all? A gear list doesn't solve it all (you could have a $100,000.00 system and be deaf as a post) but it's not fair to others when one comments on sound quality without giving us a clue as to what the music is being played on.

Please fill out your gear profiles or resist reviewing sound quality here. I don't care what kind of stereo you have, how much it costs, doesn't matter to me. I had a midprice system for years that I loved but if I'm listening on that to tell you what sounds fantastic or not, you have a right to know this and make allowances because my midprice system isn't telling me the full truth about sound quality so I can't tell you the truth about it.

Our readers here deserve to have this at our disposal and take it into account if your review is going to make pronouncements on sound quality. We need to take this important information into consideration.

There are about 30-40 members here who's ears I trust. Some of them have great systems but not all: At least half of them have stereo systems consisting of 1975 college dorm room level or even lower but I still trust their sound reviews. That being said, until you get to know if a person has your taste in sound quality, gear profiles are all we have to go on. The first step only, but it's an important one.

Thanks.

Not a rule, just a request. But if the moderators catch anything like the above posts, they will remove them at their discretion.

Now let the bitchfest begin.

C'mon guys, get 'em out and slap 'em on the table.

this website makes me want to record on and listen to all recorded music on a 20 year old microcassette recorder with a built-in speaker that clips easily

I'm totally cool with that post, put up or shut up if you're gonna run with the big dogs at the hoff'

T-shirt idea: Big Dog with sunglasses giving a thumbs up while smirking, caption "The only MacIntosh I use is my tube amp"

Also possibly the dog has a guitar

And one hand with a repetitive stress injury

arm, paw, whatever. Bad joke.

Naw that's perfect. And the dog's shirt says OLD DOGS RULE

spelling is different

Best part of that thread is the "positive" follow ups from the Hoff making him look even more of a prick

Thread appears to have been deleted. Been spending a bunch of time on the Hoff forums recently & have been largely enjoying it - sometimes genuinely & sometimes in a "lookit the audiophile loonies" kinda way. They have pointed me to a nice reissue of Muswell Hillbillies (which I otherwise woulda ignored as I - ignorantly, I guess - tend to assume anything associated with Record Store Day is cash-grab crapola). But I gotta also check the tendencies; was listening to some stuff my daughter likes & found myself thinking "the engineering on this is terrible!" to which my sensible side said "if your dad had commented on the engineering on a Hüsker Dü record, wouldn't he have been missing the point just like you are now?" So.

above link still works for me

Maybe they made it members-only? I strictly lurk there. I do remember seeing that thread a while back, tho.

Oh yeah I think I have to be signed in to view it.

It seems audiocrazy at a glance, but there totally is a point; it's a forum about sound quality and sound quality definitely varies with equipment, so yeah, I'm with brimstead. Run with the big dogs, waggle your gear about.

But I've also often wondered about a similar approach for mainstream record reviews: sure, over time you can get to 'know' a reviewer's tastes and character to an extent by reading their reviews, but I've rarely, if ever, seen anyone talk in a record review about how they use a record, when they play it, what it's for, at least outside of specialist reviews of dance music. Which would be OK if we were judging / evaluating (and buying / using) music on a purely abstracted, aesthetic level, but we're not; we're fitting music into our lives, using it for all sorts of different purposes.

I'm totally cool with that post, put up or shut up if you're gonna run with the big dogs at the hoff'

― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 31 December 2015 22:04 (1 week ago) Permalink

so good

it's a ridiculous board but it is helpful especially when sorting through all the vinyl reissues these days some of which are expensive and not that great, so when you hear universal praise there for, say the Dylan Mono vinyl box that does actually mean something to me...though man I though the Beatles vinyl reissues were gonna tear that place apart, I still don't know what to think.

Sound quality totally isn't an issue for me. I long ago mothballed my vinyl, CDs, turntable and CD player. The only way I listen to music now is v0 mp3s on an iPod through £100 headphones, and it all sounds great to me. My enjoyment of music is unaffected by sub-optimal sound quality.

can't run w/the big dogs
get off the porch

It's a worthwhile resource for information about vinyl (or CD) pressing quality. I often find myself googling "steve hoffman + [X reissue]" when browsing stuff online or at the local record. shop. It is what it is and nothing else. Some of the language around how records sound is completely hilarious and over the top though, no doubt about that.

there's a better video than this, but it's well hidden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAgxUFKaxM

Looks like someone's touched a nerve over at the retirement home...

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/an-oldies-forum.665037/

http://kingdom.golf/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Huey-Lewis11-1600x1000.jpg
The old boy may be barely breathing

this post p much sums it up

Music had a serious impact back in the day, it meant something to people and to the world!

Songs Like ...
Everyday people
Imagine
Say It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud
What's Going On
Ball Of Confusion

These are just a very few of the type music made back in the day, music meant more!

Also back in the day, you had to have talent, you had to know your instrument, for the most part you had to really be able to sing.

The music scene was way way way better, as far as the acts and the music!

How about this one?

As a high school teacher, I can share with you without a shadow of a doubt, that most youngsters don't care about those old school acts!

notice, I did not say all, but most ... there's absolutely no doubt about it!

I've done it, I've asked them about old school acts and most of them have never even heard of them. Acts that most of us would instantly know, they haven't a clue.

For example...
Bad Company
Foghat
Grand Funk
Sly And The Family Stone
Rare Earth
Edgar Winter

Most of my students, have never even heard of these acts? Now when I let them hear a song or two, some of them may say yeah I've heard that song but I never knew who it was.

This is one of the reasons I started exposing them to Paul McCartney. I just felt they should know who the greatest songwriter is!

Fish meet ILX barrel

haha... this one's great as well:

I've done it, I've asked them about old school acts and most of them have never even heard of them. Acts that most of us would instantly know, they haven't a clue.

For example...
Bad Company
Foghat
Grand Funk
Sly And The Family Stone
Rare Earth
Edgar Winter

Most of my students, have never even heard of these acts? Now when I let them hear a song or two, some of them may say yeah I've heard that song but I never knew who it was.

This is one of the reasons I started exposing them to Paul McCartney. I just felt they should know who the greatest songwriter is!

maccafan, Today at 2:46 PM

Hehehehe... posted that one above, niels... the image of some teacher internally flipping out because his students don't know who Rare Earth are in 2017 is utterly priceless.

haha lol I see! but yeah, great stuff

It's like a Room Full of Lefsetz

BrunoKirbySpinalTap.jpg

classic and dud... I got banned pretty quick for linking an article that denigrated the forum/Hoffman etc. On the surface, it feels like MOJO magazine BBS, with a bunch of curmudgeonly middle-aged men flossing their tech "knowledge," more concern for audio quality, x pressing of Sea Change, etc. than actual music. But it goes beyond that, there's some decent, in-depth Grateful Dead discussion, general classical and jazz talk etc. - it's useful to an extent. Judging by some posts, it's as if some people regard the site as some holy grail of music and -related information. Maybe it's just a generally less 'hip' demographic than ILX, I don't know.

I like all the same music as those dudes, but I don't want to talk about it with them. Perhaps out of fear that I secretly am one of them. They are definitely a valuable resource if/when I'm deciding which reissue of an album I should buy, though. (That's where I heard about the Japanese super deluxe expanded edition of Santana's Lotus which will shortly be on its way to me.)

it's probably a really good place to learn more about foghat

wait I thought that was real? I HAVE A BOOTLEG I WAS THERE

The Hoffmanites are already up to two pages on this

lol, link plz

I was wrong, it's the Velvet Forum: https://velvetforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=57

BTW, if you're reading any of this and you haven't listened to the WL/WH mono mix included in the box set, please check it out

wait, what box set

The consensus seems to be that it's just the mastering that's different as opposed to the mix.

ok this makes sense to me re: Swan mix

There appears to be 9 years between OP and first reply.

Actually 2nd reply. 1st is 2004 then jumps to 2013.

wait, what box set

45th Anniversary Box: https://www.discogs.com/release/5177410-The-Velvet-Underground-White-LightWhite-Heat

Sundazed also did Mono vinyl box of the Verve/MGM stuff: https://www.discogs.com/master/1488675-The-Velvet-Underground-The-VerveMGM-Albums

Listened to the disc 1 of the cd this morning. Got some good stuff on it. did have me wondering if there was a technical crime in The Gift that somebody might suffer in aftermath. or is it simply misadventure and that the VU could be pretty funky in places. Especially when they're lifting Motown riffs on bonus material.
Need to listen to the live set cos I forgot it had a version of The Gift on.

Barmy stuff
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/an-ethical-dilemma-regarding-coachella.1223447/

the video that OP posted of "My Old School" was a really competent cover!

no idea who he's referring to about who is headlining at Coachella though...

"hey fellas this stupid kid can't play for shit. should i exploit him?"

imo dox that poster and ruin their teaching career.

i didn't read past the first post. no apologies, that's terrible ethics.

the people in there saying "their parents signed a waver" are absolute worms

That guy seems to be really struggling with the idea that a successful career in music doesn’t necessarily correlate with being a super-proficient musician as a kid. Certainly doesn't sound like any sad bitter music teachers I’ve known.

that poster is a fucking bore, when he's not bragging that he has met/knows kate bush he is whining about shit. I replied and said he should be ashamed of himself.

He made some video that Kate Bush phoned him up personally and he released the audio and he sounded like he was on the verge of ejaculating throughout

hahaha, after all that, it wasn't even the right person: "I just checked, and it's a different band with a slightly different spelling. One is a band, the other is a DJ"

Okay that’s genuinely funny

that's even worse.

some people are such pathetic creeps

Oh that guy. The Bush Bore is my personal nickname for him.

Thread seems to have been deleted.

This is where Google's cache came in handy. It was quicker than the internet archive. Alas Google turned it off. The only thing I learn is that the thread was started by Chris DeVoe. "I guess people are not aware" is the only trace of its existence.

I guess.

I can't think of another forum that's done such a thorough job of deleting threads. Not only the shit shows that have popped up, they've deleted problematic ones from the past too. I still remember moderator Dave going off on a bigoted tirade against the Chinese immigrants that were destroying Canada by bringing in drugs, gangs and taking jobs away from real Canadians. The highlight was him complaining that a local Chinese restaurant didn't have anyone who wasn't Asian in the kitchen. I remember only Bob Lovely tentatively agreeing with that pile of shit only to bail on the thread when he got pushback. Dave kept it up though, telling everyone YOU'RE BLIND!! YOU'RE BLIND!! This was during the Bush years. I'm not sure when they scrubbed that thread out of existence but it was there for a little while. It was educational, like gee, Canada's got anti-immigrant bigots too, same racist shit I hear from the bigots here but mostly against Asians rather than Hispanics.

https://stereocentral.freeforums.net/thread/5/chris-devoe-fbgc?page=86

#neverforget

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/best-new-albums-of-2025.1216258/page-12#post-36329358

Such a parasite

wonder what school of rock thinks of this endorsement.

This revive reminds me I sold a cd on Discogs recently to a Steve Hoffman. I did wonder if it was the one and only, but didn’t want to embarrass by asking.

I feel like you have to be looking for an opportunity to be a shithead if you see “dj HorsegiirL” and misread it as “Horsegirl” to jump in with your opportunity to post your video of a child that you thought wasn’t a great performer. And talk about monetizing it!

ah ha, mystery solved

TBF I saw "dj horsegirl" recently on something and was also confused

some good shit here

https://forum.beatlegdb.com/viewtopic.php?t=11953

I scan HF daily to keep up with stuff but I never post and the whole vibe is Not Me.

They REALLY hated the new Talking Heads video for Psycho Killer.

Dogg, I think those "old bands release new video" things are always super goofy but this one was real good

those beatlegdb posters seem kind of paranoid or maybe they aren't using 'sock puppet' the way I understand it. yes there are a few people on there who I think overstate (or flat out lie) about their inside knowledge. There are just more people on there who are fucking annoying. TBH though the majority of posters there are fine (at least in the threads I read).

How has a thread about a reissue of the Beatles mono box gotten to 485 posts in less than three months? WTF my dudes?

that didn't seem like a lot to me, so i checked, it's actually 12k + posts over 485 pages, which seems about right?

lol... was gonna say 485 posts in three months doesn't sound like much.

maybe for ilx

More to the point, how was this announced back in May and I never heard about it? It's sold out now, of course. oh well.

12k + posts over 485 pages

Without reading the thread, I predict:

33% are "I placed my order, can't wait"
33% are "I got an email saying it was delayed, what the hell"
33% are "Got this in the mail today, will listen and report back"

oh, yeah, bungled that. 485 pages, not posts. A lot of the time there will be a totally separate thread for shipping gripes lol

Halfway, I think that's mostly correct, but you are forgetting the 10% that is a fight about the stupidest bit of Beatles minutia, the 5% that is people complaining about another Beatles thread and the 2% that is someone complaining that the hype sticker is 3 millimeters off, thus ruining the entire listening experience.

They dig The Fall, so cool.

hi

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/SiteNewAnswersControllerServlet

“What do ‘they’ know about partying…or anything else?”