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

While I would love to hear them, full remixes would be well beyond scope of a remaster series like this. That would have to be a separate, significantly more involved project, and wouldn't be done for the sole purpose of having content above the early digital resolution.

I hope we do get some good Rush remixes soon, though. Perhaps Steven Wilson will get the go ahead!

 

I was referring specifically to "Test For Echo" as someone said the files from the download card with the vinyl were 24/192. Even though the card said 24/96. I was just wondering what happened there.

 

They do. MP was remixed from the original multitracks (mostly, there are a couple of exceptions where you hear an alternate track) for the 5.1 special edition CD. The 5.1 is presented in true 96/24. You can squash the 5.1 to two channels and get 96/24 in stereo--not ideal, but I appreciate the chance to hear MP sans the 1980s digital mixstep.

 

My friend just picked up GUP/PW/HYF & ASOH today. Between them and CP/TFE I`m all set for a Rush Crimbo Extravaganza

 

Nice! If only they'd release a true stereo version.

 

Quite behind on these 2015 lp's. Last ones I picked up were MP and Signals. Saw that Test For Echo went down to £24.xx on amazon.uk so grabbed it and played it yesterday.

Blown away by the sound of this LP, I cranked it real loud and could of went even louder without fatigue. Lovely warm and natural sound. Nice pressing quality too, some of the cleanest looking LP's I've seen lately also. Can't really fault this release (although to be picky, a gatefold cover would of been nice). Just wish they were cheaper. I'm fine with paying slightly more for a quality press but these are commanding really high prices pretty much everywhere I've looked (£25+) and it's a bit too much imo (a double LP shouldn't really be any more than £20). I'm now waiting for Counterparts to drop below £25, hopefully soon.

 

I sure hope they drop these Sean Magee versions from Rush's Atlantic years in Hi Res.

 

If you have the Moving Pictures Deluxe Edition 5.1 disc, you can rip and mix down the 5.1 to 2.0 with free software like Audacity. It does sound pretty good, and not too compressed, but the mix is slightly different in places because Richard Chycki wasn't trying to match the track levels of the original mix. For example, the beginning of Camera Eye is very different and I don't like the difference. The synth "meows" at the beginning are downplayed too much, and the New York street noise is much louder. I like the Sean Magee version of Moving Pictures much better.

 

Just a couple weeks now until the final three Mercury studio albums drop, and three weeks until the last couple of Atlantics.

What a ride.

 

Yeah, but what a ride for Rush, all this creativity and touring over decades, it's madness I tell you!

 

However there are several different methods for downmixing 5.1 to stereo and none is perfect.
A true stereo remix sourced from the analog multis would be welcome.

 

I got Test for Echo yesterday and have listened to the download and done some A/B comparisons, and wow! I think TfE might get my vote for most improved over previous releases. I don't know how he managed to improve this one so much, it almost sounds like what I would expect from a remix. I feel I'll be listening to this album a lot more often now.

I never realized how incredibly flat and lacking in depth the other digital releases of this album are. With the odd differences from version to version, I have to wonder if there wasn't something odd going on with the main master tape. Maybe they had the album mixed and mastered, decided to add in on top of this the extra parts that some (early?) versions are missing, and for all subsequent releases had this mastered again, resulting in a double dose of compression and extra copy generation or two. Then Sean got a hold of the early unmastered tapes which wouldn't have had the extra stuff like the sound clips on Limbo. Maybe the cassete came from the same tapes, which is why it supposedly sounds so much better.

But that's just speculation. Anyways, the 2015 Test for Echo (or the included 192/24 download, at least) sounds really great. My expectations were greatly exceeded on this one, and the standards for this series have been way up there from the beginning. Thanks, Sean, for such a stellar job! I can't wait to hear the remaining releases!

 

I found the download better, but the LP way better! Theres a long lingering rant I had about this many pages back.

TFE on vinyl is just mind blowing compared to the prev CDs.

 

I do remember you said that they're not the same. I'll rip a couple of tracks tomorrow and compare. What was the difference was between them again?

 

Test For Echo on vinyl is a whole different beast!. I'm glad this took this long to come out as I imagine it wouldn't have been done justice in 1996 on vinyl. I'm glad that the time and care is being taken on all these vinyl reissues, some might complain about the single sleeves on the doubles but this has also helped keep the price reasonable on these reissues.


Colin

 

Just heard the digital hi-res files of Hold You Fire - definitely less midrange overload, which has been the case for the previous unremastered CD and even vinyl versions.

 

Ok, I'm hearing some weird artifacts in the Power Windows digital files, like some kind of "swishing" in the echos following drum hits and such. You can hear this most clearly in "Mystic Rhythms" during the intro drum beats. I only noticed this listening through headphones. Anybody else picking this up?

EDIT: Removed warbling mentions - more like "swishing" sounds, almost like compression artifacts in MP3s.

 

Does it sound like something described here? http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...g-audible-watermarks-on-digital-files.334991/

 

Yep that's it. Now I'm quite angry.

DRM just keeps proving to be a wonderful thing eh? And it seemed like the labels were almost caring by releasing non-loudness-war masterings...

 

I guess one more good reason to pick up the vinyl...

 

Assuming they haven't "inaudibly watermarked" the vinyl too.

 

Isn't DRM something done for digital music releases? I don't think Sean Magee put the DRM watermarks on the files so I'd assume the vinyl version won't have it too.

 

Not necessarily. The vinyl pressings are ultimately derived from digital remasters that Magee makes IIRC. UMG may be inserting the watermark into those masters afterwards, probably without Magee's knowledge. I agree it's very likely that Magee is not responsible for doing this.

Hypothetically this means that the WMG/Atlantic releases (Presto-onwards) should NOT have this watermark.

 

Thanks, I've removed the 24/48 "Power Windows" from my 'to buy' list. I will never spend my money on anything that has been purposely mangled in that manner. Are "Hold Your Fire" and "A Show Of Hands" free from the watermark atrocity?

 

But if Magee is cutting the lacquers from his masters wouldn't it be pre-watermark?