Black Sabbath Vol.4 Andy Pearce Remaster

Just listening to this and it sounds terrible compared to the UK Porky Vinyl and Black Box version. This was supposedly from the original master tapes!? Its muddy, muffled and has tape dropouts. What happened with this remaster?

 

I have to check it again, I have the CD in my collection and found it similar, compared to my dutch first pressing on Vertigo swirl. What about the other Pearce remasters ?

 

I don't really like any of the Pearce remasters tbh. Most on this forum seem to say they're the best digital versions as they don't like the compression/EQ on the US Black Box set. The Pearce masters lack clarity compared to the Black Box and that's not just because the Black Box has the treble jacked up. The Black Box is much more similar sounding to the original UK Porky cut Vinyl. I also have a US Rhino 180G Chris Bellman which also sounds muddy and veiled to me, like the Pearce CD but users on this forum seem to rave about it sounding good! Maybe they have only heard a US Green label Warner and not the Porky Vinyl? I also own original UK Vinyl pressings of all the albums aswell as the Black Box CD set. I like them both.

 

The Black Box version is one of the worst mastering jobs I've ever heard.

 

Well I own the UK Porky too and the black box may be louder and a little brighter but it has the clarity of the Porky LP. Other versions are just dull sounding in comparison to me. (Bellman 180G LP, Pearce remaster) Maybe the UK tape has deteriorated and lost high end detail? The black box CDs come from the US master tapes which I guess were copies of the original UK masters. I think the black box sounds great.

 

Maybe they prefer something different?

Personally speaking, I don't want CD's to sound like Vinyl, I want them to sound "better" to my ears.

 

I have the Black Box. Horrible!!!

The SHM-SACD sounds fine.

 

Black Sabbath are a band that needs dynamics on their recordings. The black box doesn't do their recordings justice.

 

Yes the SHM's are the best except for Paranoid. Prefer 1st Castle for that one. Black Box is horrible

 

The Pearce remasters are very good for some of the Sabbath titles. As for the Black Box, before I really started to did deep into all the non-compressed versions, I though it was pretty good. Then I upgraded my gear, turned it up to 4 and made a painful discovery. Most of the remastered titles I had bought to replace my original pressings sounded awful of my ENTIRE CD collection. The Black Box being one of the worst offenders. Thus began the cosmic quest to find the best sounding pressing of all my classic stuff. I'm almost done now, I can finally enjoy the music the way it was meant to sound when it was recorded. The notion of making it sound "better" can really only be achieved by a flat transfer from the original master tapes. This stuff is over 40 years old, there is no way to really improve the master. You have to accept it as is, as a time capsule of the era it was recorded in. So enough of my yakin,' for anyone that is interested here are my preferred versions for the Sabbath catalog:

Black Sabbath - SACD, for Wicked World I have the '87 Creative Labs 6006 -2. (Thanks Roland!)
Paranoid - Vertigo 33 PD 2fer, with the first album
Master Of Reality - Deluxe Edition or SACD, leaning towards the SACD
Volume 4 - SACD, with the Deluxe edition in second place
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Castle '86 nelcd 6017 (has pre-emphasis)
Sabotage - Deluxe Edition
Technical Ecstasy -Vertigo 23PD-137
Never Say Die - Vertigo PHCR-2053 (I believe the US WB is the same mastering)
Heaven And Hell - Deluxe Edition
Mob Rules - US WB first pressing 3605-2
Born Again - Deluxe Edition

I'd like to thank Roland for his original thread, which got me started down the path of discovering all the best pressings for my favorite music. My picks are probably the same as his except for maybe one or two titles, as I believe his original thread is quite old. I'll just end with this disclaimer......opinions may vary. These are subjective preferences, although I think there is consensus on the forum for a few of the titles. For more detail refer to the thread Roland's Favorite Black Sabbath CDs. Lots of important information there. The man knows his pressings.

 

Do people not think that the EQ on the Black Box makes for a more revealing, detailed sound? I can hear details on the Black Box masterings that just sound muddy and flat on the Pearce remasters.

 

Is the Andy Pearce master version the latest Rhino vinyl release? If so - I too thought it was muffled and muddy...at first.

After my initial disappointment I decided to give it another try - this time with a more critical listen at a louder volume and it completely came alive. I compared it to whatever CD version I have had for a long time and it just blew it away. The other versions I have heard now seem to have a really bad "smiley EQ" applied where the Rhino vinyl does not. The louder I played it, the better it got. So much more powerful and dynamic with a ton of meat in the low-mids.

My apologies for my opinions if this is not the version you are referring to.

 

I would use neither the term muddy or flat to describe any of the Pearce versions of the Sabbath catalog. I can say that his versions of Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die are horrible, and are probably just as compressed as the respective Black Box versions.

 

I have the Japanese SHM and I think it sounds great, better than the Rhino vinyl reissue and the Black Box. Never heard a Porky, but the SHM is my go to.

I did own an original Australian swirl, that may have used UK stampers, and I really didn't like it and sold it.

 

Sounds wrong to me, this flat transfer notion is pure B.S. Sounding better than what? Better than the tape sounds being played back in the mastering suite? Better than original vinyl? Or better than one of more of the dozens of CDs out there.

 

What "Deluxe Editions" of
V4 & Sabotage do you refer to ?

 

Every Sabbath CD is on a case-by-case basis, because they are all over the place as far as masterings go. Everything has to be taken into consideration including EQ, DR, and channel orientation.

 

I believe he is talking about the ones that were released shortly after the Deluxe Editions but were wihout bonus content. Only the first three were true Deluxe Editions, but the others were remastered by Pearce at the same time.

 

You guys are right, After Master Of Reality they were all single disc editions. Me bad. By Deluxe Edition I meant the Pearce version.

 

Both the new flat transfer to CD or vinyl, sourced directly from the original master tape, with little or no EQ, in theory should sound better than both the previous vinyl and the previous CD pressings if they were sourced from a second generation master tape or higher. That was my point.

 

Yes, you are correct. They are all single discs after Master Of Reality. I had forgotten that.

 

So true, it took me weeks of comparing as many versions of each album I could get my hands on, to reach the conclusions I did. I did add a disclaimer that opinions may vary.

 

Me bad, everything after Master Of Reality was a single disc version not designated as a "Deluxe Version," but still remastered by Andy Pearce.

 

Also please note after Master Of Reality, there are no 2 disc Deluxe Editions remastered by Andy Pearce. For Volume 4 onwards, any preferred version I have listed as Deluxe Edition simply means the Andy Pearce re-mastered single disc.

 

Yes my mistake. You are correct.