Rush - new 2015 vinyl and hi-res reissues thread. (Part 2)

Take. Off. You. Hosehead!

Ha ha! I was just looking at my original vinyl a couple of days ago!

 

Sorry, I just own a handful of AF HDCDs, and none of them use peak extension -but I don't have RTB to check.

Not sure how perfect the DBPoweramp rip or processing are; I don't use it. There shouldn't be overs either on the straight rip (but it happens sometimes even with otherwise well-mastered discs) or when you apply gain matching. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding (which is probably the case), but something seems wrong with the processing.

 

FYI, the album ASOH is different audio than the video ASOH. The album has tracks recorded in New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego and Birmingham, UK. The video is only from the Birmingham shows.

I really wish Rush would hire Sean Magee to redo all of the video soundtracks. They are way over-compressed. However, the 5.1 tracks are a bit less compressed than the 2.0 tracks, depending on which soundtrack you choose. I've had fairly good success folding down the 5.1 tracks from my Blu-ray and DVDs to 2.0 for my audio collection. The results are much better than the stereo audio, though still too compressed.

If you do this, you will need to choose the soundtrack carefully, some options are much better than others–I think I used the DTS-MA track whenever available. And for most of the releases, it really helps to throw away the rear surround tracks, because I've found they usually only contain echo from the arena and duplicate audio of Alex's guitars. I also got better results by greatly attenuating or discarding the LFE track as well; otherwise there is too much low frequency audio.

 

Does this also apply to the Replay x3 DVD's? I'd like to watch these concerts again, but since I no longer have a VHS player, the horrid DVD's from that box are my only means of watching them.

 

I couldn't help it. I went back and bought copies of the early albums which I already had. I love this version of Moving Pictures. I can't wait for my favorite Rush album, Grace Under Pressure.

 

Sorry for the delay! Been fighting a cold and getting ready to host family here tomorrow. 24bit/44.1kHz samples below obtained through this process:

1. Rip from disc via XLD.
2. DSP HDCD-decoded via dBpoweramp (running in CrossOver).
3. Peak normalized as an album (not individual tracks) to -0.32dBfs via Korg Audio Gate (2.3.3, no longer supported in 3.0 as far as I can tell).
4. Trimmed to 30 second clips, fadeouts added, bounced to disk (offline) in Pro Tools.

2011 Roll The Bones remaster by Kevin Gray for Audio Fidelity Gold HDCD:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/k9puxw

I'm sure you're right about the other AF HDCDs, but the evidence seems to indicate Peak Extension on RTB.

dBpoweramp's DSP HDCD decoder is, I'm sure, far from perfect. Its gain-matching algorithm, specifically, has been criticized by others around the 'net as simply resulting in clipping in most cases. Presumably, though, if a disc truly didn't use Peak Extension, there would be no clipping in the Redbook rip nor the dBp gain-matched decode.

Finally, I wanted to reiterate this point. Did get the card with FBN, none for AFTK or Signals. Anyone?

...Anyone?

...

...Bueller?

 

To make level-matching easier I just Audio Gate-normalized the Presto SACD samples provided by CheezCache as well:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/qur7qd

If you have a DAW, you can take out some of the level-matching guesswork using Ian Shepherd's and MeterPlug's Perception plugin, now on sale for 1/3 off. Just bought it myself and tested it out on these samples. Can't say I felt it did a perfect job, but it did help.

 

Yes. I ripped the audio from those DVDs as well. GuP Live and ASoH came out pretty good (but still a bit over-compressed for my tastes). I didn't complete the ESL project because it's not possible to completely remove Neil's commentary, and it is on most of the songs. But you need to review the various soundtracks first (Dolby Digital versus DTS) and choose wisely. I can't remember which one was better, but you'll know if you rip them and compare.

 

Just made some more samples for my own edification (16bit/44.1kHz, straight CD rips edited in Pro Tools)...

2004 Presto "Rush Remaster" by Adam Ayan:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/8bzdu2

2004 Roll The Bones "Rush Remaster" by Adam Ayan:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/a2chc8

 

Further comparisions showed that the 2004 remaster of RTB turns out to be my least favourite version. The bass boost of this release goes up to the lower mids and affects the vocals. Furthermore there is something in the upper midrange/treble that doesn't sound right. The 1991 original release of RTB is in the lower registers quite similar to Magees 2015 work but more strident in the highs and upper mids.

 

DTS is more than three times less compressed than Dolby.

 

I usually tend to watch the laserdiscs of those shows. The sound is so much better on them. I'm still hoping that they find additional footage from ESL for a possible future blu ray release. They said they found all the footage for the GUP tour and that they'll eventually release it on BD.

 

Cheez, Thanks for the samples. Where can you buy these? I've searched on ProstudioMasters.com but they don't carry Roll The Bones.

 

Unfortunately, the 2015 hi res downloads for the Atlantic albums are only available through the card included with the vinyl for now, or at least as of last time I looked. I'm sure they'll release them separately eventually, it's just a question of how long it will take.

 

I'm not so sure... But if it does happen, it will be after the stock of LPs is depleted.

 

Curious what your basing this statement on. That hasn't been the trend for the Rush releases up to this point.

 

You have to bear in mind that there are two different labels with two different strategies involved.

The Mercury-era vinyl reissues were packaged with digital downloads from vinyl rips, while what was placed for sale on download sites were high res files.

The Atlantic albums, however, have the high-res downloads included. It makes sound business sense for the label to capitalize on people who want those downloads buying the albums first. Therefore the delay in selling the downloads individually.

 

Thanks. Hopefully soon.

 

What he said.

 

After ripping and analyzing the R40 Blu-ray audio, I've found that the best track, with the least compression, is the DTS-MA-2.0 track. This is opposite of the trend of the past several Rush videos, where the 2.0 track is much more compressed than the best of the 5.1 tracks. I compared the DTS-MA-5.1, Dolby trueHD-5.1, DTS-MA-2.0 and the CDs that came with the release. (I used the front two left and right channels of the 5.1 tracks for comparison.) The CDs are so similar to the DTS-MA-2.0 track that I suspect they are from the same mixdown. Caveat: I just listened to the tracks and visually compared the waveforms, I don't have any dynamic-range-quantifying software. The two lossless 5.1 tracks are nearly identical, and are several dB louder than the 2.0 tracks. The DTS-MA-2.0 track is 48/24. If you watch the video, choose the DTS stereo track and you will likely be happier with the sound.

 

On some of the songs on the Blu-RAY you clearly see Neil playing the Ride and you can barely hear it.

Sounds like the Bottrill treatment like he did with Vapor Trails.

Real Sad.

 

That's a shame to hear. Something's certainly fishy if both of his mixing projects with the band have this problem. Maybe Bottrill just has some crazy vendetta against ride cymbals?

 

Well, on some of the songs they are there. It varies from song to song. Strange.

I'm sure most people don't notice, the Drumming is what I most pay attention to.

 

On the Vapor Trails remix, there is only one part of one song where the ride cymbals are mixed lower, if I remember correctly. It's during the intro. People were flying off the handle about it and saying that the ride cymbals were mixed out of the entire album, but that was simply not true.

 

Thanks for the info, it's definitely appreciated. Do you know if the same is true for the DVDs? Right off hand, I don't even know if they have the same type audio tracks you mentioned.