SH Spotlight What are the differences between the AP stereo remixes on 45 RPM LP & SACD of Nat King Cole?

I am still enjoying Steve and Chad's Analogue Production SACDs of Nat King Cole 10+ years later and, not surprisingly, it turns out I can't get enough Nat in any form! (I've done the requisite search but couldn't find the info I was looking for.)

Steve has stated that there are slight differences between the stereo remixes he made for the SACDs and the 45 RPM LP versions of Love Is The Thing, St Louis Blues, Just One Of Those Things, and (I would presume) The Very Thought Of You. I am wondering if anyone could elaborate on what the slight differences are between the stereo remixes on the different formats. Also, does anyone know if there are different stereo remixes between the two formats for The NKC Story and Where Did Everyone Go as well, or are those ones the same?

Paging, but certainly not limited to, @MLutthans, @jtaylor, @Clark V Kauffman, @dale 88, @MMM, @McLover, @Arkoffs, @CBackley, @rangerjohn, @stevelucille, as well as the mixer/masterer himself, @Steve Hoffman. Sorry to any other Nat nuts I might have missed...

 

That's interesting as I would have thought that the dynamic levels would be written into the score for the orchestra players. Composers routinely increase dynamic level markings (say, p to mf) those times the vocalist pauses more than a couple of seconds. Even if they were prerecorded the orchestra arranger would know the places where an extended vocalist pause would be occurring.

 

Nat king Cole was a massive talent .
The first black guy to own a house in Beverly Hills. He was a fantastic piano player who is remembered as a crooner.
Cat ballou

 

This is a huge thread hijack and I apologise in advance - but has Steve H put out his mastered version of Something Makes Me Want To Dance - on CD anywhere? I know it he did a bonus vinyl cut...

 

I’ll have to do that soon. I’ve tracked down the SACD and 45 rpm versions of all the albums you and Kevin did. That wasn’t my goal when I set out. Ha. I got all the SACDs first. Then a couple of years later I got Just One of Those Things on 45. It was all over. I just enjoy playing vinyl more, so I knew I was done for. I ordered all of the rest! A fellow member here alerted me to the last MSRP copy of After Midnight pretty much anywhere. And I grabbed The Nat King Cole Story off Discogs for a decent price because the box had a slight tear on the top. What a treasure that set is. Man.

BTW, Acoustic Sounds recently restocked the 45 of The Very Thought of You. In case any NKC fans here don’t have it yet, get it while you can!

 

The latter is the one 45 I don't have, though I have the DCC.

I have both the 45 AP and the 45 S&P Steve and Kevin did many years ago of Just One Of Those Things.

@Steve Hoffman, you and I chatted years ago just as the AP of this was released. You were urging me to get the AP because you acknowledged that you had failed to rein in the extreme dynamics of the album. You were much happier with the way the AP ended up.

 

You were sort of regretful about the S&P, as I recall. With the double copies I had amassed up till that time of Cole's work that you had mastered, it was the only time that you privately (via email correspondence, as we were friendly through the Phonogram group) strongly urged me to upgrade from a previous copy. I had the DCC LPs, and you were always happy with them and the way they turned out. When the APs came out, you were thrilled with them (and for good reason), but you were still good with the DCCs in their own way.

But the S&P was one you just thought was TOO dynamic. And it is. The brass breaks just blows everything in the soundstage out of the water. The AP version is better balanced.

And I have said to you that I think the AP Cole series on 45 is one of the best sounding collections I own. The albums are mesmerizing to listen to in these versions.

 

I have that S&P reissue of Just One of Those Things. It’s a very good listen, but I reach for the AP reissue every time. Or the SACD because I like to listen to both the stereo and mono mixes. That said, it’s been about two years since I spun the S&P.

Those AP SACDs were my first real steps into truly caring about audio quality, even within the constraints of my budget.

 

I'm new to this album so I looked it up on Discogs and their YouTube samples never work so I searched on YouTube which at first the album cover never showed up in a Google search until YouTube AI seemed to understand what I was searching for -WEIRD!- and gave me the full album which I'm assuming from the sound in regard to 3 track as to mean
Left/Right/Center. NKC in the center. The orchestra L/R. Very realistic and balanced orchestra sound almost mono with the way NKC is surrounded by the orchestra behind him but doesn't drown him out and yet sounds 3D. I can feel the distance between him and the band without the wide stereo effect I usually hear in Capitol recordings.

Let me know Steve or anyone else here if this has the intended sound by the Hoffman/Gray remaster. Damn good sound for such a loud style performance without destroying my ears.
Nat "King" Cole – Just One Of Those Things (2011, SACD)

 

I bought all of the 45 rpm AP LPs when they came out and now also have the SACD's of NKC Story, Love is theThing and After Midnight.

Side 1 of Story is in the top 5 of all LPs I have ever heard from a sonic standpoint (I have over 2000, a few hundred are MFSL, AP, Org, etc). The phrase "in your room" is quite overused, but not in this case. The SACD, while very good sounding, sounds quite different to me. I can really hear the difference between analog and digital when comparing these. But again, both are very enjoyable.

Oh, and the mono mix of Love is the Thing on the SACD is really great to hear. Thats the version of that album I play the most.

 

One of the wonderful benefits of the NKC SACDs is the choice of mixes available. I have a 3-channel setup in my living room just for these and the LIVING STEREO classical titles that have the 3-channel option.

 

OK! HUGE improvement in all three videos you posted. The first one of the 45 RPM vinyl sounds live and right inside my head like my head IS the room listening on Sony studio monitor headphones on a 2010 MacMini.

There's no distancing except by the high frequency portion of the strings rolled off so it doesn't clash and add scratchy noise with NKC's tiny phlegm smacks which is like he's right in my ear. This must sound great on good speakers and a home system. The piano distortion was hard to spot except maybe at the beginning which sounded like cupping from mic positioning. It's a very short segment.

You really know how to control directional frequencies like Edgar Bergen throwing his voice. And NKC's low end throaty bass tone doesn't over power and resonate like the Christmas album I got which is loudness war-ed to death. I gave up fixing that.

Just a note but after years on this forum I haven't heard much of your work except the Ray Charles instrumental CD I bought which I couldn't find an alternate remaster to A/B against. This thread makes it all clear to me you do have golden ears.

Are there any SACD versions on Youtube?

 

For those of you who don't have the SACD of this, try to get your hands on an original mono. It's a unique mix, different than the stereo. The cello line in the intro is front and center.