Roland's favorite CD versions of Black Sabbath albums (part2)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MilesSmiles, Sep 16, 2011.

  1. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    The 32PD is great, but what’s up with the clipping on that one?
     
  2. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Some clipping, but better than the whole album being boosted. :)
     
  3. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    I had and liked it for sure.

    But it goes for huge $$$, right? Guess it depends how much one wants to spend.

    The Deluxe can still be had for cheap and far outdoes the WB, Castle, Rhino, etc.

    I really only listen to this album on vinyl these days. Got a few different pressings and they are all great.
     
    Holy Diver likes this.
  4. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Boosted bass compared to what?
     
  5. Jam757

    Jam757 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    My apologies if this has already been discussed in this thread but are there SACD versions that are better? I see that Sabbath Bloody Sabbath has a few different SACD listings, are these the same mastering?
     
  6. MrEWhite

    MrEWhite Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    The SACD versions are all the same mastering. All of the SACDs are the best digital version, minus H&H and Paranoid.
     
  7. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    32PD-129 and 23PD-123.
     
  8. Can you post links for those different releases? I am pretty sure there is only one SACD for each of those 6 albums. (There are many SHM-CD releases, but they have nothing in common with the SHM-SACD releases.
     
  9. I think it is a good question: since we don't have (a flat transfer of) the master tape of this album, we don't really know if the bass has actually been boosted on the 2009 mastering OR the bass has been tamed on the 32PD-129 and 23PD-123 masterings. How about early LPs? Any opinions on which CD sounds closest to which LP?
    Also, is the 23PD-123 the same mastering as the WG Vertigo or original WB CD? Or is it a unique mastering?
     
  10. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    For me, it's what sounds most balanced.

    Never had it on LP.

    I believe the WG is the same as the Spectrum (there is one of HH, too), but the 23PD is unique. I think the WB is different still.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2019
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  11. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    The 23PD of H&H is unique as I recall, but I seem to remember it sounds very close to the WB CD.
     
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  12. MrEWhite

    MrEWhite Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Does anyone know what masters the "The Rules of Hell" box set on HDTracks uses? I bought it for Dehumanizer, but if it uses the same masters as the deluxe sets, I might just switch to that as my main one, as I use the WG Vertigos for both H&H and MR currently.
     
  13. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    I'm not so certain on H&H Jerry. This one is released 7 years before the Spectrum and it's my go to pressing. It just might be similar to the 32PD you prefer being released the same year. It has the same attributes you described being the most balanced I've heard so far.
    [​IMG]
     
  14. The HDtracks Rules of Hell releases have unique masterings. Thus, confusingly, they differ from both the CD box set of the same title (which uses overcompressed masterings while the HDtracks aren't) and the Sanctuary Deluxe CDs. IIRC, both HaH Deluxe and MR Deluxe were better-sounding than their HDtracks counterparts, while Dehumanizer HDtracks sounded better than Dehumanizer Deluxe. I haven't checked the Live Evil HDtracks yet, and I seem to remember that sathvyre mentioned the Live Evil Deluxe was suffering from tape problems.
     
  15. The trouble is that what we find "most balanced" often depends (partly, not 100% of course) on what mastering we are used to because we have listened to it for decades.

    Dave, the 32PD sounds different from the WG Vertigo.
     
  16. OK, I just listened to "Lonely is the Word" and the song "Heaven and Hell" from the following releases:
    • original UK LP (needledrop, non-processed)
    • original German LP (needledrop, non-processed)
    • original US LP (needledrop, non-processed)
    • original Japan LP (needledrop, I don't know if this was processed and how)
    • Japan 32PD CD
    • original US WB CD
    • WG Vertigo CD
    • Japan 23PD CD
    • Sanctuary Deluxe CD
    • HDtracks
    • SACD
    First of all, these compare quite differently depending on which song, and which part of the song, I listen to. And I have done this test with headphones - I will have to repeat it with speakers sometime. Here's my overall impressions so far: The UK, US and WG LP-rips sound relatively similar to me, I like them a little better than the Japan LP-rip (which is the only one of these LP-rips that might have been processed). The Deluxe CD is indeed the most bass-heavy one of all these. The other CDs are all brighter and/or (at least a bit) less full-sounding than the LP-rips (especially the UK, US and German LPs); the LP-rips tend to have more low end and overall fuller sound than all the CDs - except for the Deluxe CD which has an even stronger low end than the LPs, and significantly so. I think it was a good idea to boost the low end a little more than it was on the original LPs, but maybe not quite as much as Pearce does here. Anyway, after listening to the LP-rips, my former favorite, the WG Vertigo CD, sounds a bit harsh now (though I find it clearly better than the WB CD, but that's no news I guess). All in all, I feel the Sanctuary CD is the best-sounding digital version now, even though Pearce overdid it a little with the bass. On a system that is a little heavy on the bass, I can imagine it would be too much.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2019
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  17. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    My guess is that Martin Birch simply liked Geezer up in the mix. Both the Deluxe Heaven and Hell and WB Mob Rules CDs have loud bass guitar.
     
    blacksabbathrainbow likes this.
  18. No doubt about that - I always loved the fact that the bass guitar is so easy to spot on HaH. However, mixing the bass guitar up front is one thing, boosting the low end in the mastering is quite another.
     
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  19. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Some of the other Sabbath WB CDs are pretty neutral, unfutzed with, or not very futzed with: Technical Ecstasy, Never Say Die, and Live Evil.
     
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  20. Anthrax

    Anthrax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Who doesn't!
     
  21. Music_dude

    Music_dude Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Has anyone else noticed that Ozzy's voice sounds harsher on the 2009 of Sabotage than on the original WB cd, or is it just my imagination?
     
  22. I don't hear that on Megalomania. Any other song where you find it more obvious? The difference I do hear is that the 2009 seems to have a little more weight on the low end while the original WV CD has more higher mids and highs. Still undecided which I prefer.
     
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  23. Music_dude

    Music_dude Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    It was most noticeable on Hole In The Sky and somewhat on Symptom Of The Universe, I thought anyway...
     
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  24. Music_dude

    Music_dude Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Then again, those two songs pack a lot of highs, anyway... Perhaps I was just suffering from ear fatigue by continuously comparing the two versions back to back.
     
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  25. Jam757

    Jam757 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I just wanted to report that I’ve had a chance to listen to SBS, Vol. 4, MOR, and self titled SACD lossless rips at 16/44 and these indeed sound absolutely incredible!! I’d love to hear the highest resolution version on my big system but for now these will do nicely. I’d say a great mastering job on the SACD’s.
     

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