Shadowfax Shadowdance 1983 Windham Hill WH-1029 1/2 Speed Audiophile NM Play

Description: Shadowfax. Shadowdance. Audiophile Direct to 30ips Studer A80 Two Track Tape Recording. No Noise Reduction. Audiophile Half Speed Mastered By Jack Hunt At Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. Translucent brown vinyl (when viewed through strong light). Item Details Manufactured in: USA Recorded: By Harry Andronis in 1983 At Group IV Audio, and Fiddler Studio, Hollywood, CA 1/2 Speed Mastering And Lacquer Cut By: Jack Hunt At Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Pressing By: KM Records, Burbank, CA Original Issue: 1983 This Issue: 1983 Label: Windham Hill WH-1029 Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers: Side 1: (etch:) WH-1029-A SD · · 1188-A3 Au♂ Side 2: (etch:) WH-1029-B SD · · 1188-B3 Au♂ Half speed mastering allows the cutting head twice as much time to render the groove. This means more fine detail on playback (especially in the highs) and less waver on long sustained notes. 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) to prevent warpage. I have recently updated my VPI HW-16.0 record cleaner to a 16.5 and it now has much more positive suction (can remove all fluid in less than 3 rotations). I have also changed my choice of cleaning fluid to 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 never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment. 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-." 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: NM-/NM The front face is near perfect. It only has a visible 1" mild crease at the spine just below the "S" in "Shadowdancer." The rear face is fully near mint. Both sides retain their smooth glossy finish. Vinyl visual inspection/grading: NM/NM Both sides look perfect, indistinguishable from new. Both labels do have LAST protective vinyl wear prevention treatment stickers on them. I usually treated my new vinyl with LAST before the very first play. Play Testing: NM+/NM+ Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection (continuous written notes were taken). I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. When the track width was noticeably greater I took more play samples to get good coverage. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks were played all the way thru when digitizing my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files. This allowed 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 The record laid very flat on my TT and the lead-in grooves were quiet. I heard a few HF tiny ticks in the first few quiet seconds of music startup. As soon as the guitar began there was zero vinyl noise. The 1/2 speed cutting announced itself immediately with impressive audiophile reproduction. Dynamic range was high with bold explosively powerful transient peaks. The frequency range was large. This performance was repeated throughout the album. T2 was softer than T1 but just as impressive in its audio detail. There was no vinyl noise on any play sample. T3 had a very deep and expansive soundstage and was super quiet. During the hushed volume levels of the T4 intro there was zero vinyl noise and remained so all the way to the end of the track. All the transition grooves between tracks were very quiet confirming the great pressing quality of the side. An easy NM grade, maybe even NM+. I have listed a good number of Windham Hill albums in the last year and this one seems as good as their best audiophile pressings can get. Side 2 Play T1 and T3 (the longest track with many play samples taken) were squeaky clean from start to finish, and all the transition grooves were very quiet. T2 (was recorded) had a couple of tiny HF ticks in the middle of that track where the music was at very low volume but otherwise the track was super clean. Another easy NM to NM+ grade for this side. Definitely one of the most impressive Windham 1/2 speed masters for audio quality and the KM pressing quality is superb too. I don't recall playing this album any more than twice up until now and I think that accounts for its high state of preservation. Packaging Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting. Original inner sleeve is included separately. Record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeve, as the original, even though plastic lined, may be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimate 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 $4.25 per single album sale. eBay raised the $ for Media Mail but I still don't cover my real expense for that or shipping materials. I do try to reduce additional $ for my customers. A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day($4.25 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 invoice.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.

Price: 4.49 USD

Location: El Dorado Hills, California

End Time: 2024-10-02T14:10:17.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.75 USD