Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine

Is this essentially the same press and mastering as the Nov 22 2010 edition with the same cover?

If you're on the fence about buying this, I can say it's much better than some of the other recent pressing (of which I have two) that have skips and pitting all over the record straight out of the sleeve. This album was handled right. The mix is for sure different than what I'm used to but that's a good thing. I hear details and instrumentations I never noticed before. A good buy in my opinion.

My copy is good dynamic and has a lot going on with the music those with problem with noise probably just need to clean them cause after a wet clean the track “ something I can never have “ has little to no noise after cleaning along with the rest of the record DO NOT BICYCLE

My copy is devoid of pops and ticks, which is good, but there is a fair amount of surface noise throughout. The mastering seems to be more subdued than my other copy. The vocals are much more pronounced and the lows are more mellow. This is very noticeable on “Something I Can Never Have”. Overall this pressing has a wider soundstage as well, sounding a little more airy and the music has room to breathe. The record seems to be mastered at a lower volume as well. 35 on my stereo is my perfect listening volume for most of my records and it’s the volume I use as a baseline. With this album I have to increase it to between 40 and 45.

Packaging also leaves something to be desired. The gatefold is fine but the cheapest of the cheap paper inner sleeves, the even cheaper single lyric insert, and

Pretty clean, flat and dynamic, but I will say it lacks a little low end and the treble is a bit high (for my taste) but it is crystal clear

The remastering seems to have crushed the dynamic range which you could argue makes it sound more of a piece with Reznor's later work but it's really not what I want out of PHM. Might sound a bit punchier at first but you lose the startling impact of those blasts of noise or guitars and the trebly synth bits no longer stand out as much. All sounds a bit flat and samey in comparison. The vocal sample on 'Sanctified' has been removed (presumably for copyright reasons). The sequencing means the drone guitar transition between 'Sanctified' and 'Something I Can Never Have' has been cut. Why go to the expense of making this a double LP and then leaving one side blank when you could spread it across 4 sides retaining sound quality, the original transitions and still have space for the B-side(s)? Not particularly keen on the new artwork either. Is it so wrong for a 1989 album to look as it might have been cobbled together on an Amiga? ittedly my opinion is probably coloured by listening to the old mastering for years & years but I'll be sticking with my mid 90s CD copy for now.

Glad I purchased this copy of Pretty Hate Machine! I also have https://discogs.pelisguay.com/Nine-Inch-Nails-Pretty-Hate-Machine/release/12655331 and I prefer this remaster a lot more. Only issue was that the centre hole on the 1 of 2 was not drilled completely, so I had to cut it a bit to allow it to be placed on the platter. No biggie tho.

Haven’t listened to my copy yet as I am still working on my new cartridge setup, but from a QC standpoint, my copy is pretty bad.

There’s one major scratch perpendicular to the grooves that will probably make that track unlistenable, and there’s at least 10 dimples in the wax on each side.

Well done pressing. No skips on any songs. The gatefold looks beautiful with the silver coloured album art. Only complaint is that "Something I can never have" has some pops and surface noise which is disappointing but every other song plays quietly and is mixed evenly. good bass and good treble. Lyrics sheet is rather sparse, nothing special but nice to have.

I've gone through 2 copies and they all sound great except "Something I can Never Have" still has surface noise after multiple cleans. Is this a defect with all of them? Looks like having a proper copy is something I can never have.