SH Spotlight "In The Wind" stereo SACD by Peter, Paul and Mary from Audio Fidelity. Mastering secrets post #271

Rhino Best of PPM has clean version of Puff

 

I think it's so cool your son loves to listen to this stuff. You taught him well!

 

If I would have had a girl that cute by my side at that young age (and also THAT head of hair), along with having a father who must have some of the most impressive playback equipment of all time, I would've been the "coolest" kid EVER! When that boy gets home from school today I say sit him (and that young lady) down and crank up some Dave Clark Five and report back on their response. I remember how I felt alone in my bedroom after hearing "Try Too Hard" the first time ..., ALIVE!

 

That is a gorgeous record. Whoever set the compressor on the mono mix hit the sweet spot - it's perfection!

Your son has good taste in music! I'm not quite as young as him, but I'm 20. Good to know there are other guys roughly my age that dig "Because"

 

I’m terrible at guessing kids ages (my wife makes fun of that fact all the time when I even try) but when I was in middle school and into high school I really gravitated towards that well made 60s pop music - mostly UK, but we made some good stuff in the US too! “Because” was always one of the best. WDRC in Hartford always had a great Oldies channel which is where I heard most of it initially. I still love that stuff and am happy to share it with my teen kids.

 

Paul's voice sounds stangely muffled or distant from the mike on the PPM and ITW discs, both the redbook and AF SACD's. Has anybody else experienced this? Is it a problem with my system or something? What could possibly cause this?

 

I mean it's got to be me somehow or I'd see similar comments from others here.

 

Yea, I'm not hearing this at all.

In The Wind is reference-level stuff...

 

Could possibly be you. Not hearing it, but only play sacd, not rb.

 

I don't recall "muffled," but I do remember Paul tending to sing pretty close to the mike on some albums, causing either overload or pops. However, I don't remember it specifically on ITW, which is one of my favorite Steve Hoffman discs. I'll listen again after work. On which particular cuts of ITW are you hearing this, and on which layers?

 

Muffled might be the wrong word. Distant from the mike is more like it. I'm listening to it now and I hear it on the very first song, Very Last Day, and Long Chain On. A couple of places on PPM too. I hear it on the SACD's and separate red book discs of those two albums too. Weird. Maybe it's just the softer quality of his voice but I don't hear it on the Live at Newport or See What Tomorrow Brings albums.

 

It probably is just me. Aside from that it, the SACD's sound awfully good to me. and nobody else has mentioned it. Might be time for me to buy some Q-Tips and ear wax remover. Ha!

 

I hear it on A Soalin' on the Moving album too so it must just be the quality of Paul's voice and I just never noticed it before. Or I need to buy those Q-Tips.

 

The Movin Warner CD is woefully remastered by Yarrow and is a weak data point. You should get the Rhino 2CD hits set for the best masterings of the Puff and other gems from that album.
If I recall correctly, Paul's voice on ITW is mostly left channel, so you might verify your system's LR balance.

 

Thanks. I'll do that.

 

Well I'll be darned. My problem was the way I had the balance set. I didn't have it very far off center so I assumed it wasn't the problem but just that little bit made all the difference. Problem solved. Thanks for your help, folks.