Well, sadly, I've just found out that Matador Records, an indie label, lost their vinly masters for their entire pre-2006 catalog.
This is sad news. It's sad because I'd be sad if it happened to me. It's sad because I know what it means.
Recordings go through a number of stages: planning (or lack thereof), tracking (recording), mixing (manipulating), and mastering. Mastering is the essential step where the recording is eq'd, compressed, and touched up *for a particular playback medium*. That's the important thing. Mastering is not, at its most basic, the final buff and shine, but rather the last check with the engineer to make sure that the specs are still right. You create a Master. There will be a different master for each playback medium. Vinyl, CD, DVD, SACD, cassette tape, 8-track, etc. Each of these playback media has technical limitations and so the Master must have the best possible sound within the technical limitations.
These are separate from the Mix Tapes or the Tracking Tapes.
Basically, losing the vinyl masters means that in order to cut the albums again on vinyl, a Master engineer will have to be given the Mix Tapes and paid to re-create a vinyl master. The recordings aren't lost, it's more like having a car without an engine. It's a big, expensive hassle.
And a real bummer.
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