DCC Archive DCC Van Halen

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Holy Zoo, Sep 30, 2001.

  1. Holy Zoo

    Holy Zoo Gort (Retired) :-) Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Cruz
    Although I've played this disc several times on my stereo, I finally listened through my headphones (Sennheiser HD600) last night, and then did a direct comparison to the original cd pressing (I don't have the remaster from a couple years ago).

    Not surprisingly, the DCC sounds much better - a more rounded and fuller sound.

    But something did surprise me - there's a very audible rumble (for lack of a better word) in between the songs. It's not your typical tape hiss, though. I actually sounds more like the inner groove rumble one sometimes hears on vinyl if you crank the volume between songs.

    So, had the tape degraded over the years, or is this something that perhaps was always there (did they use a noisy console when mixing?).

    Anyone venture to guess (or can Steve comment definitively?).

    One last question for Steve: I noticed that most songs appear to be faded to silence *after* the songs has naturally faded out to the natural tape noise floor. Then before the next song startes, there is a fade up to the tape noise floor, then the song starts. Was there a technical reason for this? e.g. Were the songs originally mastered to several different 1/2in tapes?

    thanks!

    [​IMG]

    [ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: Holy Zoo ]
     
  2. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    Actually the very first post I made in this forum about a year and a half ago was concerning the crackle in between some of the songs on DCC's VH1 and Steve's comments were that they were on the master tape. I don't think you really need good headphones to hear it either.

    On the other hand, when the music actually plays I'd have to say the DCC VH1 easily blows away the original CD release that came out in the late 80's. I haven't bought the HDCD remaster of the same title so I can't compare the DCC release to that.

    I have recently purchased the HDCD Diver Down & 1984 that came out about a year ago and I think the bass is considerably lacking (perhaps bordering on non-existent) and I'm not a person who bashes HDCD or any other remastering tool in general.
     
  3. Unknown

    Unknown Guest

    The stuff between the songs is the sound of biased recorded tape -- no leader on that one. Steve just left it in.

    Regarding DD and 1984: I don't think there's much bass from the way these were mixed. People have pointed out how bass-anemic "Panama" is in particular. I've heard that the old DD CD was cut from a really bad EQd dub, so the HDCD version is better, albeit not an audiophile delight. The bottom line is that I think you hit the upper limit on how good DD is ever going to sound pretty quick. 1984 is quite a bit better sonically, and I hope DCC gets to do this title, although I think people may still find it bass-shy unless Steve knows some good tricks.
     
    George P likes this.
  4. Unknown

    Unknown Guest

    I had the same experience with the remaster of "Diver Down", and it is easily one of the worst sounding CDs I own. Very disappointing. As the owner of an originl vinyl issue, I have to say there's plenty of bass there, along with a soundstage that seems to have gone AWOL on the remaster....
     
  5. Dan

    Dan Senior Member

    Location:
    WNY
    Hmmm. I owned an original first edition CD of "Diver Down" (remember the real thin CD's with silkscreening on the entire face?)

    The HDCD remaster blows the doors off of the previous version. That's all i can say.
     
  6. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    I'm not saying that it doesn't blow the doors off the previous CD. I'm just saying that its not nearly the improvement I imagined. And as a matter of fact, they're some of the worst HDCD's I own. Very little dynamic range. (the japanese imported The YES Album or some of the King Crimson remasters being one of the best)
     
  7. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    The DCC Gold disc and the HDCD version of the first VH album are *very* close in quality with the DCC disc having the slight edge in clarity due probably to the HDCD version being maximized for volume. But it's pretty much a tossup.

    The HDCD remasters are excellent in every case. I recommend them.
     
    Sean likes this.
  8. Holy Zoo

    Holy Zoo Gort (Retired) :-) Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Cruz
    Hi Patrick,

    Just ot make sure I'm following clearly: the dead silence that I'm hearing between tracks is leader tape (leader tape without magnetic particles)?

    thanks!
     
  9. Holy Zoo

    Holy Zoo Gort (Retired) :-) Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Cruz
    Oops - you said "NOT leader tape". Sorry, I'm a dork - obviously I can't read.

    Ok.. so the silence is just normal recording tape that has had nothing recorded on it, correct? Meaning: Steve didn't insert silence between songs, the silence is on the master tape.
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    The songs had "biased" tape inserted between cuts instead of leader tape. Biased tape is just tape made with the record button pushed. No program content, just the noise and hiss, etc.

    God knows why they actually did that, but they did, and I left it. Nothing else to do if I wasn't going to dump to a digital workstation....
     
  11. Unknown

    Unknown Guest

    What Steve said... :)

    I think the extra stuff between the songs is kind of cool. The most fitting word I could come up with is "lumpy."
     
  12. Holy Zoo

    Holy Zoo Gort (Retired) :-) Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Cruz
    Thanks Steve, Patrick.

    Oh - I don't mind the "lumpy" sounds at all. What is kind of startling is the dead silence that happens between the "lumpy" sounding tape hiss.

    If it came out like this:

    end-of-song
    lumpy-tape-hiss
    beginning-of-song


    I'd be perfectly happy.

    But as it stands it's:

    end-of-song
    lumpy-tape-hiss
    dead-silence
    lumpy-tape-hiss
    beginning-of-song


    Ok.. I'm being way too psycho about this. Time for me to go obsess about something else :)

    [ October 02, 2001: Message edited by: Holy Zoo ]
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Opened by request.
     
    jfeldt, Sean, dvcarrick and 1 other person like this.
  14. C6H12O6

    C6H12O6 Senior Member

    Location:
    My lab
    This is great. Best balance EQ-wise. Brings back some bass but doesn't overdo it, no additional compression.
     
    Sean and George P like this.
  15. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    peymei4ever and Sean like this.

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