The tremendous demand for Analogue Productions reissue series follows an ultra-successful formula: Incredible jazz records + the original analog master tapes + cut at 45 RPM + mastered by Kevin Gray and/or Steve Hoffman + pressed on two heavyweight virgin vinyl LPs = THE ULTIMATE LP REISSUE

"Why mess with success," was our thinking. 

We shipped our first Series Subscription featuring The Fantasy 45 Series, in 2003. The Fantasy catalog, which includes the Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, Pablo and Moodsville labels, involved 100 titles reissued in batches of 25. Those first and second Fantasy 45 Series quickly sold out. Then followed our Blue Note Records reissues — 50 titles on 45 RPM LP.

All of the Fantasy third and fourth sets, as well as the Blue Note LPs (first and second sets, 25 titles each) have now all been produced — thus there are no more monthly subscriptions available for these LPs. They may only be purchased as full, numbered sets, and availability is limited! 

The Truth about Blue Note Monos 
Many customers have wondered why we've chosen to favor Stereo over Mono in our latest Blue Note Records reissue project. It seems there's a fair amount of misinformation out there regarding a perception that Mono Blue Notes are superior to their Stereo counterparts. The truth is, every Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note session after October 30, 1958 was recorded in Stereo only. The Mono releases of those recordings were created by folding down the Stereo master tape. In other words, there was no true Mono master, only a Stereo master that then birthed the Mono master! There was a short period of time - March 1957 to October 30, 1958 - when RVG did in fact run dual Mono and Stereo session tapes. For Blue Notes from that period of time, the Mono version was in fact cut from a Mono master. But for all others, every Mono was cut from a folded-down Stereo tape. In fact, the master tape boxes from these great sessions each include a notation by RVG himself that says, "monaural masters made 50/50 from stereo master."

Mono Blue Notes are typically much more desirable on the collector's market. Because of that, the assumption of everyone involved with both the Analogue Productions and Music Matters, Ltd. Blue Note reissue projects was that the Mono master tapes were going to sound better than the Stereo master tapes. Imagine the surprise when mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman discovered that there were no true Mono master tapes for sessions later than October 1958! But of course the real proof is in the reel. Without a single exception, Kevin, Steve and everyone involved agreed that the Stereo masters sounded vastly superior to the summed Mono masters. The Stereos, in every instance, sounded much more lifelike with far greater detail, air and ambience. 

Another point supporting our choice to favor Stereo, as if there's any need for one after that discovery, is that listeners can still choose to hear these classic recordings played back in Mono by simply pushing the Mono button on their preamp or by using a Y-connector to feed the two Stereo channels into Mono, exactly as RVG himself did.

So, however you choose to enjoy these reissues, we hope we've helped to dispel a myth.

Thank you sincerely for your business. 

To purchase full, numbered sets of these first and second Blue Note Series (25 titles each), call 800-716-3553, or email: subscriptions@acousticsounds.com.

The press on these fabulous reissues is extensive. Dan Babineau from Tone Audio made his own trip to AcousTech to watch Gray and Hoffman at work. Check out Babineau's feature here

Read much more about the Blue Note Reissue Series, including a look at Blue Note prints by photographer Francis Wolff, a sneak peak at the master tape boxes from Lee Morgan's Leeway and in-depth descriptions of why 45 RPM is the audiophile's choice and why we chose to favor Stereo over Mono for this reissue series. It's all right here.
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