The Rush cd mastering thread (part 2)

Is the US silver-face the same
as a WG Atomic ?

 

For PermWaves, yes.

 

So, interesting comparing the US silverface & '97 remaster of "Circumstances" off Hemispheres... a significant boost below 11khz & above 18khz, but the SF a bit louder from 14.8khz to around 18khz. I also compared the two using the option in Audacity to view as a spectrogram & noticed that, unlike most (if not all) of the 97 remasters I've looked at before in this way, the two were almost identical in a complete dropoff of data right around 20khz. In my experience, you see this commonly with older masters, presumably due to the limitations of the equipment at the time, whereas newer remasters will usually show data right up to 22khz. This leads me to believe that the 97 remaster of Hemispheres is possibly just a compressed & eq'd version of the original digital master.

 

Thanks for this analysis. I'm not surprised at all given the false marketing trend of many early 90s remasters, though I'm not sure if the '97 Rush Remaster series was explicitly identified was "sourced from the master tapes" like the '94 Genesis DE remasters were (which, in the case of many of the Gabriel-era releases and possibly after, they weren't), only that they were 20-bit remasters. It would be interesting if the same was the case for Sectors as well - though it was mentioned that GUP used a digital-only master.

 

I guess in my mind, a remaster of an analog source always should involve going back to an analog copy of the mixdown, but I know it wasn't (& isn't) always the case. Any thoughts on the AF sacd version? The threads I've dug up seem to be split as to whether or not it's an improvement over the original pressings. I also have no way to play the sacd, so we'd actually be talking about the redbook layer.

 

I personally prefer the vinyl pressing best for this album, but I did find the SACD an improvement in some ways over the Hemi CD.

 

@kevin5brown

And now, for the very VERY weird results of my Power Windows analysis:

So I took at the four main (potentially unique) CD digital mastering sources that we know of for this album:

• Anthem 1049;
• Mercury Atomic;
• Chronicles ("Big Money" and "Manhattan Project" only); and
  
• SHM (sourced from 25.8P/32.8P/35.8P/AMCY as previous established)

From there, I did inverse-phase tests for all of them. What I found is that the SHM (and its predecessor releases) are actually not all that different from the other masterings, and that similarities tend to be very mismash. Here are my results (note that the SHM was corrected for the channel offset and all levels are normalized):

• Big Money: Anthem and the SHM are the same throughout, and the Anthem, Mercury, and SHM are the same after 24 (give or take) seconds into the song; Chronicles is unique.
• Grand Designs: Anthem is the same as the Mercury; SHM is unique.
• Manhattan Project: All four sources (Anthem, Mercury, Chronicles, SHM) are identical.
• Marathon: Anthem is the same as the SHM; Mercury is unique.
• Territories: All three sources (Anthem, Mercury, SHM) are the same until 4:55 (give or take), afterwhich Mercury is unique.
• Middletown Dreams/Emotion Detector: All three sources (Anthem, Mercury, SHM) are identical.
• Mystic Rhythms: All three sources (Anthem, Mercury, SHM) are the same until 3:55 (give or take), after-which Mercury is unique.

 

I never even noticed the bass pedal to the beginning of Big Money until I heard the Chronicle version.

 

Bought the U.S. pressings of all the CD's up to Counterparts in the early 90's.
When the remasters came out in 97, replaced and sold originals.UGH !!!!.
The remasters sound ok. Still wish I had the originals.
Counterparts is my least favorite remaster ( the drums sound tiny compared to the original).

 

I recommend either the German vinyl release or the AF SACD as alternatives to the standard versions (less compression than even the non-remaster CD releases).

 

Wow really, I've not had the experience of hearing SACD or AF SACD for that matter.
Loved this band ever since I heard Moving Pictures ,Tom Sawyer on Vinyl in 81 or 82.
A childhood favorite.
Thanks.

 

AF really did a great job on this release that easily beats the original CD releases.

 

Okay- the unthinkable is currently happening...I think I may be digging the '97 remaster more than the silverface Hemispheres!! Noooo!!!!
The only thing I can put my finger on is that 14khz to 18khz bump that the SF has- so far both in the car and with 'phones, it has serious high-end sounding almost "brittle" to me. The boost seems to me to over-emphasize the cymbals & hi-hat- for example, in Circumstances, they compete with Geddy's vocals a little too much. The jury is still out, but I may need to stick with the boosted bass & compression of the '97 for now- the original is just a little too shrill for my taste. I wonder if Hemispheres is the album that started me buying the remasters back in '97...
Anyone think the AF SACD version has a little more balanced high-end? If my memory serves me correctly, I don't believe that I felt the original vinyl had too much high-end...

 

Ah- didn't see this post before I asked again Ambassador, sorry!

 

Well jeez, that's not confusing at all! So does this mean that during the mastering process, the engineer was making song-by-song tweaks to the EQ, levels etc? It just blows my mind that an album from a major artist on a major label could be mastered so differently based on where it was pressed. Crazy...

 

I guess on the other hand, we have our choice of finding the mastering that suits us the best...

 

Interesting, I have the Atomic and recently bought the SHM after reading about it in this thread being less bright. I did notice less brightness on the SHM, but am surprised by your results. I would have expected more differences between the Atomic and SHM.

My initial impression from the SHM was that it was more natural and needed more cranking than the Atomic to bring out Geddy's vocals well. The different EQ on the Atomic seems to highlight Geddy's vocals at the expense of harshness or making the instruments sound too goosed.

 

I really like the AF Hemispheres for the clarity of Alex's playing.

 

Franken-CD.



That's awesome. I don't think I'd have the patience to look at very many CDs in that amount of detail. I suppose one question could be: if you had to pick one, could you say which one you'd prefer? Or maybe it doesn't even matter ...

 

Has anyone posted an eq comparison of all the Hemispheres masters? I've been a-lookin', but I ain't been a-findin'.

 

I can make one if you want, but I want to get the SACD first. Unless someone's willing to give me a sample of La Villa. If you want me to do the graph without the SACD then let me know.

 

Nope- I'm cool with waiting for the SACD sample.

BTW, what's the best way to attach images to your post- I see you can't (or I can't figure out how to) do it directly, you have to use a URL...so something like Dropbox?

 

I use www.photobucket.com.

Ironically enough, I have the SACD on the way right now for Hemispheres!

 

Yup, Photobucket is my method too. Let us know about that AF Hemispheres when you get it!