RARE LED ZEPPELIN II Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Pressing

$ 86

$ 86 Sold For

Apr 21, 2006 Sold Date

Apr 14, 2006 Start Date

$ 40 Start price

10 Number Of Bids

USA Country Of Seller

eBay Auctioned at

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Description

Up for grabs, an absolute MINT copy of the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab pressing of LED ZEPPELIN II.

From the MFSL website:

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) is a California-based company that specializes in high quality reissues of key, often highly successful, popular albums. MFSL is still in business, and much more information about their history can be found on their own web page, MFSL began issuing albums in 1977, during the height of the dissatisfaction over the sound of (mainly US) pressings of albums. Most of the decade had been spent by collectors decrying how poor the album pressings had become in the 1970s. There were several reasons contributing to this sense that sound quality had gone downhill.

First, collectors noticed that the Japanese pressings, and in many cases the UK pressings, of albums were quieter than US pressings. This was mainly due to better vinyl quality. Many US albums at the time were pressed using recycled vinyl to some extent, as opposed to "virgin vinyl" which had never been recycled. Second, many of the highly successful albums were being mastered from "master tapes" which were second, third, or higher generation copies of the mixdown masters, not the original mixdown masters themselves. Third, mass production in the 1970s, especially in the US where record sales were at an almost undreamed-of height, had certainly resulted in a drop in quality control. Defects such as warpage were much more common than had previously been tolerated.

MFSL tried to answer these problems in the marketplace with a high-quality reissue that, although priced at about double the price of a standard album, would appeal to those buyers who were quality-conscious about the factors which led to high sound quality. From MFSL's catalogs, the way they put it was as follows:

What distinguishes an Original master Recording LP from any other record?

1. Original Master Recordings are exclusively transferred from the original stereo master tape that the musicians recorded in the studio (not from a second, third, or fourth generation copy of that master tape).

2. Each Original Master Recording employs Mobile Fidelity Sound lab's exclusive half-speed mastering process, thus capturing every nuance of sound from the master tape.

3. Quality, not quantity, is the overwhelming consideration in the creation of each Original Master Recording. The number of pressings is strictly controlled. These limited editions assure you that the quality of the last pressing matches the quality of the first.

4. Original Master recordings are custom pressed overseas by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). Super Vinyl, an exclusive compound far superior to even so-called 100% virgin vinyl, is utilized to achieve maximum clarity and startling quietness.... Super Vinyl also bestows unsurpassed durability to each Original Master Recording LP, achieving a "playing lifespan" at least five times longer than mass- produced records.

5. Each Original Master Recording is ultra-packaged to maintain flatness and prevent warpage.

The MFSL number is MFSL-1-065. The condition is as close to Mint as you can get with an open copy. Incredibly rare, and a great addition to your Zeppelin collection.

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