Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality etc.: "This is Sinatra" - (rec. '53-'55, released 1956)

I'm pretty sure a used copy will still play okay! Oh, how things have changed: I bought my copy in 1999 via Berkshire Record Outlet (a heavily classical-leaning source) for something like $5 as a clearance item! Now it's $30 used.

 

Just starting to check this now. I haven't hit every song yet (regarding this detail), but it seems that there is significantly more space between songs. For instance, using the start of the last brass note in "South of the Border" as a reference, the new download is done playing only two seconds after the start (not end) of that note. Another version I have has 9 seconds, but about 7 of that is just "blank."

Still checking the other tracks, though.....

 

Comparing "Young-at-Heart" and "Learnin' the Blues" to other versions:

The openings of both songs have some odd noise in the background (kind of like somebody is pushing on a window screen and scratching at it with their fingernail -- but quietly doing so) that is not on other versions.

Also, on the whole, the new version sounds lower-midrange heavy, giving a somewhat bloated feel to the sound. It's just not very good -- what can I say?????

TENDER TRAP is really subpar.

As I continue to listen as I type, it strikes me that many (all?) of these tracks sound like there's cotton over the speakers. There's just zero air, no sparkle, and a tubbiness to things. In fact, the more I listen, the more I think this simply has no business being marketed toward the audiophile market. It's just of poor quality, plain and simple.

Take "Tender Trap" for instance. Here's a 30 second clip, starting with the new download version, then transitioning to a 25-year-old CD mastering:
https://app.box.com/s/snkzh53zzx9zcccnab4c (EDIT: Bad link repaired.)
(The transition is just prior to the word "single," in case you can't tell.)

Also, here are the waveforms. 1989's "Collectors Series" CD has unfettered dynamics, AS IT SHOULD. The new version? Um..........

Those clipped-off waveforms will sound extra audiophile-y in hi-res! Hopefully the emperor had no photos on iCloud, 'cause he be nekkid.

 

Is it ever safe to assume anything with Sinatra reissues???? (Just teasing, aox!)

I'd say "odds are good," but let's wait and see, I suppose.

 

Sorry to keep flogging the same horse, folks, but I checked my notes from our work on TENDER TRAP over in the Sinatra Singles thread, and here are the dynamic readings from 20+ versions of that song (pardon the chicken-scratch quality of these notes, which were never intended to be viewed by anybody but yours truly):

UK85 = 20.7
Films & Shows CD - -20.3 (20.1 in mono)- very mildly right heavy- BARELY non-mono 2:54.674
Hit Collection - 19.8 stereo machine 2:50.092
Essential -19.6 - 2:53.914***
COllection - UK - 19.3* stereo machine
Legendary Singers - 19.2 - nice tone!
Screen CD - 19.2 stereo machine
Hit Maker LP - 19.1
Japan TIS 19.0
25 Classic Tracks - 18.8 - Same transfer as Collection Aussie
Collection-Aussie 18.6
20 Golden Greats - 18.5***
Collectors 18.4 2:53.980&
Capitol Years - 18.4&
At the Movies 1992 = -18.4&
Sinatra 80th 18.4&
Select Cahn CD - 18.2**
Singles Norberg - 18.2**
UK98 = 17.7 2:53.457
D1 45 = 17.4?
D5 45 = 17.1
5357 = -16.7 - same transfer as FILMS & SHOWS, but differently mastered
StarLine = 16.3
The Movie Years LP - 15.9 wet
Touch - 15.7
Hi-Res -15.1

The new "hi-res" version has the lowest -db RMS reading out of ALL of the releases. Want to get the least dynamic mono version of this song ever released? You've probably found it! It's even more squished than 1968's lame-o The Sinatra Touch compilation set. That's bad company to keep. It's embarrassing.

 

Yes!!!!!! It was one of those "revelatory" releases (referred to here), sound-quality-wise, that were pretty common 25 years ago. Now we've come to a "reality" in which people are getting their naughty bits all a-twitter over the words "hi-rez" when the SOUND of these things is absolutely a crap shoot: Some are good; some are not.

 

Here you go (if the photo link goes kaput):

 

Side one dynamics, Hi-rez download version vs. the "top choice" versions over in the Sinatra Singles thread:


Track 4, "From Here to Eternity" is the only one that fares very well (in terms of being comparatively un-squished) on the new version. "Love and Marriage," a very dynamic song at track #3: that big crescendo that we all know thanks to Married with Children is obliterated.

 

Side two:

Oy, vay.

(Looks like polarity is reversed on a couple. Should have caught/fixed that. Sorry!)

 

Well.....isn't this interesting.....

Side two HD download vs. Side two just-released LP:

(Thanks for the help on this, @AxeD !)

(The HD download, clearly attempting to exploit the inherent technical capabilities of the HD formats, is the clipped off one.)

 

First blush from listening to some LP clips from @AxeD --

The LP is a vast (not a subtle) improvement over the HD version. It is UNCOMPRESSED (EDIT: see further comments farther down the page) and sounds good. (I haven't had a chance to compare to any older versions, but the HD version is very poor by comparison to this 2014 LP. Very encouraging for those who own turntables. Bad news for digital-only listeners!)

EDIT: There is a definite lean toward a soft top end and a mildly bloated lower-mid-&-bass range on the LP, at least in the transfer of these clips. No compression, though! (EDIT: See further comments farther down the page.)

 

But I'm tired NOW........

 

I'm always a little slow to condemn an LP based on needledrops, but what I'm hearing -- while MILES above the HD downloads - does not impress me. Needs to be un-remastered. (I'm kidding....sort of.)

There's something really odd going on here. What I heard on THE GAL THAT GOT AWAY, for instance, was lower mid-heavy, with no sparkle up top. I'm listening to part of YOUNG-AT-HEART now, and it's got treble in spades, as they say. Weird. The big loud brassy part of TENDER TRAP sounds like the trumpets are behind a curtain.

Anybody who actually owns the LP able to comment on those tracks? (Again: I don't have the LP. This is just my impression from hearing some bits and pieces, quickly.)

 

I need to revise this slightly. While there are no clipped waveforms (as there are on the HD version), there is definitely some mild compression going on with the 2014 vis-a-vis other versions. Not awful, but it's there (be it deliberate or something inherent in the cutting chain/process being used).

 

OK, here's a clip from TENDER TRAP that compares two LP versions:
•The new 2014 LP, courtesy @AxeD
•1984 UK LP

...in that order.

https://app.box.com/s/sxhhy4zedz9p6wxi1iwi

 

Listening to the HD versions, I've got another beef, sonics aside: If I line the tracks up and play them as I would an LP or CD, there is virtually zero time between the end of one track and the start of another. It's like I'm listening to some Sinatra show on a BLOCK PARTY WEEKEND on FM radio, and it just goes from one cut straight to the next, almost literally. The LP and it's two official CD incarnations were nothing like that, and it's not true to the spirit of the album.