Norah Jones "Day Breaks" (new album - October 2016)

You are correct.

 

She actually performed this back in October. I remember because I watched the live stream, while I was at Desert Trip. Curse that different date format!

 

Finally picked this up and it's great!

 

This album is far better than I expected. I'm going to have to backtrack and pick up every album one by one. Thanks to @johnaltman. Good taste!

 

Lana, now Norah.. you gotta start listening to me Johnny!!

 

I've now had two copies, one black, one orange. First black one was muffled and distorted sounding throughout. Orange copy had no distortion, but was just as muffled. My wife commented that it sounded like someone put a blanket over our speakers or that Norah was signing inside a box. Has anyone else had this on their copies? I hate returning stuff to my local record store, but I hope I can just get store credit and buy something else altogether.

 

I just bought the orange Day Breaks for my wife, and it sounds muffled on my system as well. Some distortion in her voice, too.

 

I got an orange Vinyl version thinking it was black. Sounds great, far better than the first one I got which had increadable amount of surface noise and some distortion.

Made me happy

 

Well, you know what they say- orange is the new black.

 

Does anyone know if this album is an analogue or digital recording?

 

Given the credits at discogs, i'd say it likely digital.

When I see multiple studios listed, and mastered by Greg Bali at Sterling,
with a Lacquer cut by Bernie, it's almost certain digital files being passed around,
not tape.

I have the USA version, it's a very good sounding record.

Norah Jones - Day Breaks

• Recorded At – Sear Sound
• Recorded At – Brooklyn Recording
• Engineered At – Sear Sound
• Mixed At – Electric Lady Studios
• Mastered At – Sterling Sound
• Mastered By – Greg Calbi
  
• Lacquer Cut At – Bernie Grundman Mastering

 

I'm guessing for a live performance in a small venue Norah Jones would be great! Her albums are nice but for me, difficult to connect to.

 

For those who missed it, this is a great performance from her previous tour.

 

I think it's probably an analogue recording that was mixed in digital. This promo video shows a Studer tape deck being used during the recording sessions. Both Sear Sound and Brooklyn Recording Studio also have tape decks for recording.

 

Hi,

The cd distorts quite a bit! I'm so surprised because I haven't noticed that until my new cd player arrived yesterday! I'm in shock because I really like the album and I thought these rookie mistakes wouldn't happen in the jazz world... shame... the song Peace is an example of the distortion... beginning of track 9 too!!!

Anyone care to confirm this?? So I don't freak out with my new cd player

 

The distortion you hear is most likely from the recording itself and not from your playback gear. It's a shame the engineers recorded the album kind of poorly, unless it was an aesthetic choice from Norah. Oh well, we just have to live with it.

 

Was this the CD release? These are the values from the 96-24 at HDTracks.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed folder: E:\Norah Jones\Day Breaks [96-24]\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR10 -0.34 dB -12.58 dB 01-Burn.wav
DR9 -0.27 dB -11.72 dB 02-Tragedy.wav
DR7 over -9.11 dB 03-Flipside.wav
DR12 -0.39 dB -15.01 dB 04-It's A Wonderful Time For Love.wav
DR11 -0.40 dB -14.79 dB 05-And Then There Was You.wav
DR9 -0.00 dB -11.18 dB 06-Don't Be Denied.wav
DR9 -0.22 dB -12.11 dB 07-Day Breaks.wav
DR11 -0.32 dB -13.99 dB 08-Peace.wav
DR10 -0.33 dB -12.16 dB 09-Once I Had A Life.wav
DR11 -0.40 dB -14.38 dB 10-Sleeping Wild.wav
DR10 -0.38 dB -12.60 dB 11-Carry On.wav
DR12 over -14.98 dB 12-Fleurette Africaine (African Flowers).wav
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 12
Official DR value: DR10

==============================================================================================

 

The sound quality of the US digital release is underwhelming. If you can find it, the German import CD sound a lot better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed folder: /Volumes/Music Library 2/Norah Jones/Day Breaks (KSL Ltd. Germany)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR11 -0.96 dB -15.10 dB 01 Burn.aiff
DR11 -0.74 dB -14.10 dB 02 Tragedy.aiff
DR10 -1.09 dB -12.82 dB 03 Flipside.aiff
DR13 -0.17 dB -17.07 dB 04 It's A Wonderful Time For Love.aiff
DR12 -0.24 dB -15.58 dB 05 And Then There Was You.aiff
DR11 -0.59 dB -13.63 dB 06 Don't Be Denied.aiff
DR11 -1.75 dB -15.85 dB 07 Day Breaks.aiff
DR12 -0.53 dB -15.99 dB 08 Peace.aiff
DR11 -1.35 dB -14.25 dB 09 Once I Had A Laugh.aiff
DR11 -1.27 dB -15.97 dB 10 Sleeping Wild.aiff
DR12 -0.79 dB -14.89 dB 11 Carry On.aiff
DR13 -1.43 dB -17.15 dB 12 Fleurette Africaine.aiff
DR14 -0.65 dB -17.45 dB 13 Why Can't He Be You.aiff
DR14 -0.29 dB -16.59 dB 14 You Are So Beautiful.aiff
DR12 -0.40 dB -15.20 dB 15 Everybody Needs A Best Friend.aiff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of files: 15
Official DR value: DR12
==========================================================================

 

Interesting that the numbers are so different. I wonder what was done. Where did you get yours?

 

Great to see this. Do you have a catalog number or a Discogs links for this release? Thanks!

 

Google is your friend.
2016 Blue Note Records / KronStudioLab Int'l
KSL Edition CD: 48842 DM

 

Edit: the CD mentioned above is a bootleg, nothing to get excited over.

 

A bootleg from what, vinyl? The SQ is certainly better than the "high-res" digital download than I purchased for $18 from HDTracks, and the DR charts confirm this.

 

Heh, you could say the same thing about her entire catalog.

 

Aha, so it's not a regular release. Probably any source and then run through Perfect Declipper or some software like that.