The Kinks 2018 digital (streaming/download) remasters

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mindgames, Mar 22, 2018.

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  1. lee59

    lee59 Member Envy

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Thanks for passing along the info. This thread has made me even more curious about revisiting the PRTs. I've always been far more impressed by Kinks Kontent than the sound of their recordings.

    Frankly, I'd love to hear what an engineer with a passion for their music could do with remixing from the original multi-tracks. Yeah, many will say the original mixes are sacrosanct but we have those already.
     
    Laservampire likes this.
  2. mindgames

    mindgames Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    -
     
  3. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    The early CDs aren't perfect, but it's only really a couple of albums that are affected.

    Kinks - stereo master, no issues
    Kinda - mono master, no issues
    Kontroversy - mono master, no issues
    Face To Face - stereo master, no issues but the stereo master sounds crappy in all versions
    Something Else - stereo master, two alternate mixes both with bits missing
    Village Green - stereo master, no issues
    Arthur - stereo master, no issues
    Lola - stereo master, drum roll on "TOTP" missing, count-in at start of album missing on all versions bar UK PRT

    I haven't bothered with Percy or the live album yet.
     
    cwitt1980, tonewheeltom and Maffune like this.
  4. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    As I said a few posts ago, give some of the CLACD reissues a go, they're much cheaper and easier to find than the PRTs and sound the same. Kinda, Kontroversy, VGPS and Arthur are all winners, great sound.
     
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  5. swedgin

    swedgin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    When I picked up the PRT's of Arthur and VG, I was surprised how bright they actually were (flat transfers?), still crankable though.
    Makes it even more curious as to why they felt the need to add more treble to the deluxes!
    The Deluxes are still essential, they are so comprehensive and they are still the only place you can get a decent sounding mono mix of SE.
     
    Six Bachelors likes this.
  6. swedgin

    swedgin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    Did this series have a good sounding singles collection that is cheaper than ugly pink?
     
  7. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Unfortunately no, the singles/best of collection from 1989 has NR on a whole pile of songs.

    The only truly good compilations from the early era are the Ugly Pink, the UK Hit Singles and The Kinks Are Well Respected Men 2-CD set (all PRT releases)

    Avoid the common German PRT Hit Singles with the blue bars across the top of the cover as all the high end has been EQ’d out :(
     
  8. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    These. I love the Deluxes for what they are, not what they should be.
     
    Six Bachelors, Quincy, Rne and 3 others like this.
  9. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    You are indeed correct, possibly because they didn't do that one as a 2-fer they just cloned the PRT mastering without any noise gating. Good catch!
     
  10. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Exactly, I'm not rallying against them as being the worst reissues ever, they're essential for completists who want all the remixes and rare outtakes. A lot of posters seem to get upset that I'm taking away their enjoyment of the Deluxes when I say that you can get the majority of the album and single tracks on earlier CDs without the heavy handed mastering.
     
  11. Flaming Torch

    Flaming Torch Forum Resident

    Thanks but are the channels swapped on the CLACDs? Thanks for your input.
     
  12. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Channels are swapped on all but Village Green :righton:
     
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  13. andrewsandoval

    andrewsandoval Senior Member

    Location:
    los angeles
    I was really happy that you compared all of the sources and provided facts for the people who care about this music.
     
  14. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Thanks for the kind words Andrew, and big thanks for digging out all those forgotten Kinks tapes!
     
  15. tables_turning

    tables_turning In The Groove

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic, USA
    Actually liking the sound of this double LP set:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Beaker73 likes this.
  16. bobcat

    bobcat Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Not really relevant here, nor in the Kinks Deluxe Editions thread, where you also posted it.
     
    Steve Martin likes this.
  17. tables_turning

    tables_turning In The Groove

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic, USA
    :tiphat:
     
  18. Maffune

    Maffune Well-Known Member

    Location:
    North America
    A little off topic but I have the Castle Classics CD of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. The sound quality is great, but there was one issue I had with it that no one has brought up yet. In "Johnny Thunder", there is a slightly audible click at the start of the vocals. There are several audio anomalies in the stereo master, but this isn't suppose to be one of them as far as I can tell. This might have occurred during the analog to digital transfer, but I'm not sure. I did find a fix, however. I used ClickRepair to remove the click (at 10.052 seconds), and it worked. It repaired 36 samples from the left channel. I have provided two samples of the song, one with the fix and one without it (the click is more noticeable at a lower volume). I also took a screenshot of where the fix occurred for reference.

    With ClickRepair
    Without ClickRepair

    [​IMG]
     
    tables_turning and NOS300B like this.
  19. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Once my copy arrives, I’ll double check it to the German PRT
     
  20. Beaker73

    Beaker73 Forum Resident

    Well, I found it relevant, I got a copy after reading that post and am enjoying this compilation very much right now, so thanks @tables_turning for the tip!
     
    tables_turning likes this.
  21. tables_turning

    tables_turning In The Groove

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic, USA
    :tiphat:
     
  22. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Just checked, the PRT has the same small click, so it's in the digital transfer.

    I've confirmed that the CLACD is exactly the same as the much more expensive PRT, just without the digital fades between songs applied.

    It's not the greatest sounding album but it's a good representation of what the stereo master sounds like.
     
    Adam9 and Maffune like this.
  23. LX200GPS

    LX200GPS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somewhere Else
    Laservampire, thanks for your very informative comparison - great post. I have a PYE album collection box set (think it was Sanctuary). Do you know if these are the same as the PRT/Castle?
     
  24. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    No, I believe those were a separate set of remasters done around the early 2000s, usually with the opposite mix (mono or stereo) than what was featured on the 1998 remasters.

    I think I own a copy of this set, stuffed in the back of my shelves. I’ll need to rip and compare!
     
  25. Maffune

    Maffune Well-Known Member

    Location:
    North America
    I just received my Castle CD of Arthur. The fidelity is far above the other Kinks Castle CDs I own so far (Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society), probably because it was just a better recording to begin with. That said, the title track "Arthur" is noticeably shorter at the end compared to what I've heard previously. I'm interested to know if the PRT CD has this early fade for the song as well? All the other songs seem to be at the proper lengths.
     
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