New Bruce Springsteen box, "The Album Collection Vol. 1, 1973-1984" (11/17/2014)

Andrew, I had relayed the information that Jamie Howarth (guy who did the transfer) mentioned here (on this very forum) that the Qobuz releases weren't his work. In fact his direct quote was: "Not our product."

I never mentioned that the recent Mastered for iTunes releases of those handful of Springsteen albums were not the same remasters as the forthcoming box. I believe those are indeed the same remasters.

Just wanted to clarify. I'm just passing along what Jamie Howarth himself said on this forum. And I agree with you: it would seem strange that the Springsteen camp would go through the remaster process twice in such a short span of time. I too was inclined to believe they might be the same, but Jamie Howarth said otherwise.

 

They said that the transfer, restoration and remastering was a long process and a lot of work went into these remasters. It just seems strange that they would go through the remastering process twice. I know for sure that there are plans to release The Plangent Process sourced remasters in high resolution at some point on HDtracks or Pono Music. Could you post a link to the page on that forum where Jamie Howarth stated this?

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...unes-is-available.343878/page-4#post-10108346

 

According to Bob Ludwig, the Darkness On The Edge Of Town remaster that is to feature in this album box set is the fresh remaster sourced from the new Plangent Process transfers and isn't the same remaster used for The Promise box set released in 2010. On the pre-order page for this new album box set on iTunes, the album is listed as Darkness On The Edge Of Town (2010 Remastered Version). Who's right and who's wrong?

 

Thank you for the information...I suppose it's time to hibernate from this thread until release date. See everyone next month.

 

Wouldn't you believe the quote from the engineer himself? Or as 905 said lets wait until we get our hands on this thing.

 

Safe to assume that Bob Ludwig is correct since he put in the time working on the 2014 version. I'd say he could be looked at as a valid source and that the files on the various digital outlets will be updated by release day.

 

I do believe Bob Ludwig as he did state that he carried out the remastering during this restoration process. I think Apple have just made a mistake and it will be corrected nearer the time, although I wasn't initially 100% sure when I first saw it.

 

And although I've got most of the Japanese mini lps that I find really good sounding will probably take the plunge and purchase those sets. In Europe the best options at the moment seem to be amazon.fr for cd (49E) and amazon.de for vinyl (140E).

 

I'm most interested to see how the "Nebraska" remaster is - I've owned a few versions of this starting with the original Japanese CD with the coda on "My Fathers House". This CD version is stereo vs. the regular US version which is mono. Also there was a Japanese CD that came out a number of years ago that was speed-corrected - supposedly all the older CD versions had been mastered too fast. I don't think it was remastered but I remember listening to it and not caring for it because it just sounded weird running slower. So will we get a stereo and/or speed-corrected Nebraska?
There was a thread about "Nebraska" a while ago that addresses these issues:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/springsteen-nebraska-cd-original-mix-japan.147156/

 

The Plangent Process have confirmed to me that all the flat transfers that they carried out for the Bruce Springsteen albums in this album box set were transferred from the analogue masters to 24bit/192kHz. I do realise that they may not be released at this bit size and sample rate if they are released in high resolution at some point via one platform or another. Bob Ludwig's final new EQd master may be 96kHz or even 44.1kHz, although I'm hoping it's at least 96kHz.

This may not include The River, as we know that album was mixed to digital. All this information refers to all the albums in this new album box set that were mixed down to an analogue master (all the albums apart from The River).

For preservation reasons, I'm very glad they chose 24bit/192kHz when they started backing up these albums to a digital format.

 

24/192? Boss, please let us have some Blu-Ray. Please?

 

Whilst I agree, I think if these new remasters are released in high resolution it will be via download, as Bob Ludwig has already hinted at this happening at some point, either on HDtracks, Pono Music or both. Nothing has been confirmed yet though.

 

I have personally been in contact with Plangent Processes and they have told me that they're not sure what the source was for the Qobuz releases. The did suggest that somebody might have got hold of the final 24bit/44.1kHz masters that were used for the "MFiT" releases and uploaded them to Qobuz. If this is the case then the Qobuz releases (which are no longer available) were sourced from the Plangent Process transfers. They certainly didn't deny that the Qobuz releases might have been sourced from their Plangent Process transfers.

One other thing I found out, just in case you're interested, and that is they told me that their transfers from the analogue masters to digital using their system were transferred flat to 24bit/192kHz, although I doubt any future high resolution release will have a sample rate that high, although I hope they are at least 96kHz if they do release high resolution editions, via whatever platform. I was hoping that Bob Ludwig's final masters would be 96kHz, but it looks like they might be 44.1kHz. If the source is analogue then the final master should be at least 24bit/96kHz IMO.

 

The Springsteen Collection (CD) is up today for the first time at ccmusic.com at 25% off with the promo code "OCT1425". That's $59 and change, plus about $8 shipping. At that price, I am in.

 

I take it that the proper studio reel of Nebraska with delicate EQ work is considered the "original master"? I wonder if the original 30+ year old consumer cassette tape(s) held up enough to mastering scrutiny in 2014. The tape does still exist and I think it's been photographed recently.

 

I've pre-ordered this on Amazon.co.uk; it's worth it to me for The River alone, but BTR and Darkness are also newly remastered. Also one would imagine that the remastered The River will form the heart of the box set currently in the works.
I'm curious to hear how Nebraska can be 'improved' given it's lo fi 4 track recording!

 

A 6-minute video is up on the official site, combining footage from a "listening party" at a local indie shop with interview with Ludwig, et al.

I've been shifting a bit, away from a hard 24/96 purchase toward considering the CD box instead. I anticipate the upgrade on my key album targets will still be significant, they have done some nice packaging in the past with the Darkness box, and I still feel a bit of a pull to have physical copies of these particular albums. It's a toss-up.

 

Toby Scott and Bob Ludwig discuss the transfer/remastering process, and fans get a first-hand preview of the remasters:

 

I only want the first two albums on cd with better mastering and the River, I already have the original vinyl.

 

Cool. So all these listeners who have actually heard this set are saying the complete opposite of what fans here who haven't listened to it Have been insinuating, that these sound a whole lot better than the originals. We shall see and hear soon.

And I'm glad they balanced out the focus group of middle aged white guys with one young black dude. Hey the make up was just like the E Steet Band !

 

That's a nice promo piece.

 

I am so looking forward to this set.

 

Apparently Bruce doesn't have any female fans. Which is weird, since I know several.

 

Well at least they showed his one fan of a different shade. I do remember seeing only one out of about 18,000 last time I saw Bruce.