The Beatles – White Album – Apple Records – 1C 172-04 174 – RARE GERMAN [*DMM] PRESSING ON WHITE VINYL showing numbered (limited edition) on cover below “The Beatles” embossed lettering – Poster + 4 photo inserts – MEGA-RARE!

Nearly impossible find! German *EEC pressing on Apple pressed on white vinyl using the DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) technique. I believe this issue was released in 1985 (no barcode) Previous issues (1978 ) of this German Apple pressing on white vinyl but had more of a purple-ish hue and were not DMM. Includes the poster + photo inserts (see photos) Vinyl is M- Cover is VG+ with corner bumps and minor creases about and small dimple on back corner (see photos) + there is what appears to be a few writing impressions (that I can't make out) on the front cover whereas the previous owner looks to have used the album as a writing pad of some sort. Thusly the cover is not without some issues but overall not a bad copy considering. Also back of cover near the right corner shows EMI embossed lettering. Cheers!

Vinyl's: M- / Cover: VG+ (see notes above) / Beautiful labels (see photos) As photos are a part of the condition/description

*DMM (Direct Metal Mastering Technique)

The Direct Metal Mastering technology addresses the lacquer mastering technology's issue of pre-echoes during record play, caused by the cutting stylus unintentionally transferring some of the subsequent groove wall's impulse signal into the previous groove wall. In particular, a quiet passage followed by a loud sound often clearly revealed a faint pre-echo of the loud sound occurring 1.8 seconds ahead of time (the duration of one revolution at 33 rpm). This problem could also appear as post-echo, 1.8 seconds after a peak in volume.

Another improvement is noise reduction. The lacquer mastering method bears a higher risk of adding unwanted random noise to the recording, caused by the enclosure of small dust particles when spraying the silvering on the lacquer master, which is the necessary first step of the electroplating process for reproduction of the master disc. As the DMM master disc is already made of metal (copper), this step is not required, and its faults are avoided.

With the groove being cut straight into a metal foil, this removed a number of plating stages in the manufacturing process. This gave rise to more upper frequency levels and less surface noise. Additionally, groove pre-echo problems are significantly diminished.

Because of the modulation arising from this cutting method, criticisms have arisen of the sound of such 'DMM' records. They are often labelled as bright or edgy.

DMM LP pressings are sometimes described by some as having a harshness or forwardness in the high

frequencies. The fact the groove is cut to copper, a hard metal, and not to soft lacquer, nitrocelullose, supposedly endows DMM vinyl LP with a very different tonality to traditionally manufactured vinyl LP pressings. Direct Metal Mastering requires a radically different cutting angle than traditional (lacquer) cutting, almost 0 degrees. However the playback cartridges will always have the standard playback angle of 15–22.5°. Thus, the DMM process includes electronic audio processing so the records can be played with a standard cartridge despite having been cut at a substantially different angle. This electronic processing might account for the supposedly different high frequency "signature sound" of DMM records.

*European Economic Community (EEC), organization established (1958) by a treaty signed in 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany (now Germany); it was known informally as the Common Market

SOLD AS IS!