Mobile Fidelity Mastering Process Statement
Apparently there have been complaints to Mobile Fidelity Labs about the way they describe their vinyl mastering process and signal chain electronics. Back in 2020 MoFi customer service sent this response to a customers enquiry:
The above response confirms my understanding of the basics of MoFi’s vinyl mastering and cutting processes. However, it leaves a number of open questions for the vinyl chain such as; digital to analog conversion conversion techniques for digital masters and the use of EQ and compression, both of which I assume to be accomplished in the analog domain.
The response does not cover the creation of digital media files for CD and SACD and the use (or not) of up-sampling, bit-rate conversion, digital/analog EQ and analog to digital conversion for analog masters.
So it now appears that some confusion has arisen and MoFi is going to update their web-site, marketing materials and literature in order to fully clarify their Mastering processes, hopefully for both analog vinyl and digital CD/SACD. To that end they have released the following statement:
“We at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab are aware of customer complaints regarding use of digital technology in our mastering chain. We apologize for using vague language, allowing false narratives to propagate, and for taking for granted the goodwill and trust our customers place in the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab brand.
We recognize our conduct has resulted in both anger and confusion in the marketplace. Moving forward, we are adopting a policy of 100% transparency regarding the provenance of our audio products. We are immediately working on updating our websites, future printed materials, and packaging — as well as providing our sales and customer service representatives with these details. We will also provide clear, specific definitions when it comes to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab marketing branding such as Original Master Recording (OMR) and UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S). We will backfill source information on previous releases so Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab customers can feel as confident in owning their products as we are in making them.
We thank you for your past support and hope you allow us to continue to provide you the best-sounding records possible — an aim we’ve achieved and continue to pursue with pride.
Jim Davis
President, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab”
Its good to see that a quality, audiophile company like Mobile Fidelity is taking these customer concerns seriously.
While some of the above production techniques maybe proprietary, at least recognition of their application in the vinyl/plastic albums production would be of interest to many. I for one look forward to reading their clarifications.
See the MoFi web-site for the news release.
Read an overview of the Mobile Fidelity Technologies here.
Check out these MoFi vinyl reviews.
