I prefer the Magees by far and away, and I have not been bothered by the watermarking enough to change my opinion on that one
I loooooove the Magee Atlantic albums (no watermarking), and my love for the one Magee Mercury album I have (Fly By Night) is only slightly diminished by the artifacts of the watermark.
To be sincere I haven't noticed it, so it must not be really bad in MP. Which song of MP is the best to spot the "watermark effect"?
I hear it in the first few bars of Tom Sawyer. Listen for the warbled reverb trail when Neil accents on the hihat right before the vocal entrance.
Think I remember reading that it's audible right at the start of Tom Sawyer, especially the drum hits (I can't hear it myself).
I only hear it a bit on Power Windows when I listen for it. Blends in with the eighties production The marking only seems to bother a few members here. It doesn't spoil the 2015 series for me.
It's a messed up thing to do though, expecting people to pay high prices for these hi-res ''audiophile'' downloads and then botching them by putting this crap on.
Agreed. It's one thing to do it to free digital streams and broadcasts to prevent piracy, but if the customer is paying—especially for a hi-res download or any kind of physical disc—an audible watermark is unacceptable.
Totally agree, and I am not sure what the point of it is? It isn't like it will deter pirating, and not to mention they will lose potential sales of the people who would have bought it but didn't because of the watermarking.
The watermarking is the one reason why I'm not bothering to buy any more of the hi-res remasters. I rarely play vinyl these days (mainly due to laziness and lack of space to hook up my TT), so unless the rest of the Mercury remasters somehow get released on CD, I'm pretty much done with the series. With that said, I'm still enjoying the Atlantic hi-res remasters. I've got all of 'em except for Presto, which I haven't picked up because I own an original vinyl pressing.
Well, we're onto #2 on CD now with the forthcoming 40th Anniversary edition of A Farewell To Kings, joining 2112 from last year. I doubt Universal will ever cop to it. The best hope is in new management replacing the old fogies who don't understand their own market anymore.
Do you have the 24/48 version or the 24/192 version that was briefly available? I'd have to check mine.
No, it is a digital process added after mastering is completed. Sean Magee cut the LPs himself, there was no way for the label to add watermarking.
The accompanying downloads for the Universal records (Rush through Show of Hands) are not the same Sean Magee mastering, and as far as I know do now have watermarking. Some of them (all of them?) are needledrops. More information on that upthread. The accompanying downloads for the Warner releases (Presto through Snaked & Arrows) are not watermarked.
I remember they tried to watermark CDs shortly after they were released but the outcry was enough to put an end to it. I don't think the masses would even care these days though. They don't seem to mind putting always listening microphones in their bedrooms and door locks that can be opened by a huge corporation so why would this bother them?
Thanks for the fast anwer. I will have to check that out today. In any case I completely agree with what was exposed in this thread regarding the watermarking, it's unacceptable. Now I'm afraid to buy hi-res music again, because even if I am unable to appreciate the mess I cannot condone that practice, not in this life.
SoundStageDirect had the 2015 Grace Under Pressure LP for $4.99 on closeout today. I bought one to help get my cart over $50 for the free shipping. I was going to post the link, but it appears they are all gone now.
that’s what happens when you rewind a tape and store it instead of fast forwarding it before storing it