FOR DUKE Bill Berry M&K Realtime RT-101 Direct To Disc 1978 LP Audiophile

$

56

• Bill Berry And His Ellington All-Stars.
• For Duke.
• M&K Realtime Records.
• Limited Edition Direct To Disc Recording.
• Gatefold Jacket.

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Recorded: January 11,12 1978 At M&K Studios Hollywood, CA
Lacquer Cut By: Steve Decker
Pressing: By Teldec, West Germany.
Original Issue: 1978
This Issue: 1978
Label: M&K Realtime Records RT-101
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) KR M&K E11 1-2 (stamp:) MANUFACTURED IN GERMANY
Side 2: (etch:) M&K-KR-E11 2-3 (stamp:) MANUFACTURED IN GERMANY
Another direct disc LP gifted to me by my good audiophile buddy Dave when he was converting his music sources to digital. Dave took pretty good care of his vinyl but always put some kind of stickers on the LP covers for his never-understood filing system. There was sticker residue in the lower right corner that I tried to remove with solvent but it didn't work as you can see. Well every mistake is a valuable learning experience so I have to downgrade an otherwise NM- front cover. While under my care it has had only a couple of plays on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. It also has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. 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 Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: Take The "A" Train, Mood Indigo, Things Ain't What They Used To Be, Perdido.

2: Satin Doll, I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart, Cotton Tail.

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: Record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality levels. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions below.

Outer Jacket Inspection:
VG+/NM
The disqualifying defect from NM grade on the front cover is that sticker scar on the lower right corner. Dave's number sticker fell off with age and left a barely visible glue residue. I thought I could remove the residue with a gentle solvent but the printing came off too. Should have left it alone. There is also a bump-crease on that corner. Otherwise the front surface is like brand new as is the rear jacket and inside gatefold. Please examine my photos carefully so you can judge the grading to your own personal opinion.

Vinyl visual inspection:
After cleaning, surface visuals were inspected under high intensity halogen light. I rotated and tilted the record in multiple angles with my eyes a few inches away from the vinyl. On Side 1 I found one very narrow reflective hairline about 3/8" long going into T2. On Side 2 I saw 2 short marks looking like light rubbing wear on the vinyl surface running into the start of Track 2 and made a note to check during my play testing. Otherwise both surfaces looked solidly NM.

Play Testing:
NM/NM-
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. 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 192k/24-bit WAV files. Continuous written notes were taken. Here is rundown of each side from my notes.

Side 1 Play
This is a close-up studio recording that does not have the long tail hall reverb such as found in larger venues. The recording mix fills out a nicely separated stereo spread of the instruments. In the transition grooves the only noise character I could hear on my headphones were some very soft high frequency ticks without much energy. Occasionally a few tiny light ticks could be heard in the quietest passages and during normal volumes barely audible ticks were very few and and far apart. I did not hear anything on Track 2 that I could correlate with that light reflective hairline. Track 2 was my favorite of this side because of the fantastic work by bassist Ray Brown.

Side 2 Play
Track 1 had some really explosive dynamic peaks and was my top pick of the whole record. It had another great bass solo. I did hear two moderate ticks at the start of Track 2 that are the reason I down-rated to NM-. Track 3 was the most dynamic of all tracks. The piano hit some very high peaks relative to the rest of the  content.

All told, this LP has some of the most realistic and powerful sounding big band music I have ever heard. All instruments sound like either you are in the recording studio or the players are right there in your listening room.

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" sleeve, as the original, even though plastic lined, may be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed within 5 business days($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you intend to buy more than one LP do not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.