Adventures In Mastering: ALICE COOPER "Billion Dollar Babies" for Audio Fidelity..

That really sucks! I buy from Amazon a lot and I thought their shipping was usually quite good. I was surprised when my B$B disk showed up in a box big enough for a box set of Blu-rays (with bubble packing) however. Fortunately it was the only item I had ordered so it was not damaged.

 

Disappointing. My copy of BDB was packaged with a softcover book, both shoved into a slightly over-sized bubble-wrap envelope by Amazon USA. And the AF slipcase did get a few minor dents. And so did the book. I think the lesson is avoid mixing dissimilar weighted objects. By the way, Amazon UK is much worse than Amazon USA. They will shove multiple CDs in an unpadded envelope and the results are often ugly. Very ugly.

Anyway, the AF BDB (CD layer) sounds good!

 

I've been enjoying listening to the AF version of Billion Dollar Babies for some time now and just came across this thread. After reading Steve's write-up on the mastering process, it makes me appreciate this version even more. Kudos to Steve and the team!

 

We need an adventures in packaging: ALICE COOPER "Billion Dollar Babies" for Audio Fidelity.. thread

 

Steve deserves a billion dollar bill for his work here. Outstanding. I have only 12 Mr. Hoffman remasters, but this is the one I like best.

 

I now have my four favorites on AF!!!

 

My thoughts exactly. Man, somebody should have told Steve BEFORE he started mastering that SACD! Now it's too late, Steve's probably having a break from hard work, and the Billion Dollar Babies quad mix won't be mastered digitally any time soon. And I soooo would like to hear it!

 

Well it's Thursday so I guess it's time for another bended-knee plea for Steve to give us MUSCLE OF LOVE! pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeee!

 

I never bought that one, even back then, so that being my first and only copy would be cool.

 

I've always had a soft soft spot for From the Inside. That or Nightmare would be a cool AF release

 

Couple questions about the 5.1 mix on DVD-A:

1)I've noticed that the coda of #10 I Love The Dead is different from stereo (about 5 seconds shorter). In the original stereo it's like: kaboom! kaboom! Kaboom! and then Alice's voice saying Nothing... In 5.1 there's just one kaboom! and that's all. Was that a mastering error - the last few seconds got cut off accidentally - or is that the way the 5.1 mix was done?
2) Why in #2 Raped and Freezing the line Alone down in Mexico is replaced by Alone with a bloody nose?

I suppose Bob Ezrin here could answer those questions, if he still watches the thread.

 

Nice one # 2. I never noticed it. Answers please.

 

The 5.1 mix is based on the 70s quad mix, which has those (among other) differences. Listen for some faint backing vocals in I Love the Dead that aren't heard on the stereo.

 

So the shorter coda of I Love The Dead on the DVD is not a defect?

 

Nope.

 

which one Is heard at the end track #4 Billion dollar babies 3:40 - 3:45

 

You'd be better off contacting Audio Fidelity. Why are people continually asking Steve for projects? He's just hired to do them, he doesn't make the decisions on what titles to license/release.

 

Steve DOES indeed make title suggestions to Audio Fidelity owner Marshall Blonstein all the time based on customer response here and at his Facebook page...and he DOES have Marshall's ear regarding these matters...

 

Did you do a flat back-up copy at 24bit/192kHz or DSD as well? If the tapes aren't in the best condition it would be crazy not to do so, for preservation purposes.

 

The folks at the WB vault archive these tapes at 192/24 (both flats & EQ masters).

 

Wouldn't it of been easier if Steve was sent the 24/192 flat transfer if the oriignal tapes weren't in the best condition?

 

I was just thinking that maybe the tapes might have been in better condition when the flat 24/192 transfer were made than they are now, depending on how long ago the transfer was done. I would've also thought that it would've made Steve's job a lot easier working with high resolution digital files, rather than tape that needs to be handled very carefully when attaching it to the player (especially in that condition). Just a thought.

 

Working with original analog source material when it's the actual master is Steve's specialty.

Working with digital files that some unknown guy transferred from analog using unknown tape recorder, etc. at an unknown studio would be against the mastering philosophy of AF and Steve...he IS a restoration expert, after all...

 

That was played by Steve Hunter who also played the solos on Hello Hooray (pedal steel), second 8 bar solo on Raped and Freezing, second 4 bar middle solo and outro solo on Billion Dollar Babies and the solo on Sickthings.

Bob Ezrin said of Steve's solo on Generation Landslide "puts him inside the doors of my rock n roll hall of fame"