"Direct Metal Mastering" has been around since, I think, the seventies.

It bypasses the laquer part of the process, going directly to a metal plate. Kind of one less generation removed from the original.

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"Direct Metal Mastering" has been around since, I think, the seventies.

It bypasses the laquer part of the process, going directly to a metal plate. Kind of one less generation removed from the original.

I would add that it's been a hit or miss "feature" widely touted as audiophile but often has been at the expense of some fidelity too.

I own just one DMM pressing (that I'm aware of) -- Coltrane's Blue Trane -- and, FWIW, it sounds really great. Mikey talks about the DMM process in his first DVD.

I have Wagner's Ring (Solti) on German Decca, DMM. I've heard the London ffrr, but prefer the DMM. I do understand these are hit-or-miss, though...

Stephen,
I think I have only one DMM LP. It is "The Four Seasons" (Antonio Vivaldi), "Nils-Erik Sparf baroque violin" and "The Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble", on Grammofon AB BIS label, LP-275, 1984-06-07. The jacket says it's (was?) also available on CD and Cassette as BIS-CD-275 or BIS-MC-275, respectively. I wished I had bought more.

I have not listened to this for many years so can't comment on recent experience. I recall that my first impression is that the sound had a 'ringing' quality to it, somewhat like echo-ey sounding, perhaps too much than what I expected. The question is whether my impression is a result of the fault of the DMM process or did the DMM process capture the reverberation of the venue correctly and I though it too reverberant? I'll have to listen to it again.