1998 Steely Dan Remasters

It's the one thing music people everywhere don't like to talk about, but should. We are in a hobby/profession that constantly threatens our hearing, not to mention that we are all getting older. I was very, very upset to find that my HF hearing has gone down to 15,000 KHz over the last year. I will need to get it rechecked, but just two years ago, I could still hear 17,000 cycles. I also suffer from allergies, and am frequently exposed to damaging high frequency tones at my workplace. So, until I get a professional checkup again, i'm worried. My parents have hearing like bats.

 

I do. he has been one of the most open guys about his work. It's kind of unusual, as most engineers don't like to talk freely about their technical work, especially with major artists.

 

He even admits his mistakes (and how he fixed them). Ever read his "What Happened to the Drums?" article on his website regarding the mix error in the first pressing of Kamakiriad?

 

Well the fact is that the '98 remasters sound hard and glassy.

So what's that got to do with deterioration of the analog masters?

 

I missed that one. It will give me something to read when i'm bored.

He has a lot of articles I missed in EQ mag.

 

I just read the January 11, 1992 Billboard article for the first time. A few questions I have:

* In the article, MCA admitted to using the wrong tapes for the '91 remasters and they claimed they would fix the error. To my knowledge, the catalog was not remastered again until 1998. Was the catalog remastered between 1991 and 1998, even in "secret" form?

* In the article, Roger Nichols claims that MFSL was furnished the incorrect tapes for Aja and Gaucho. Is this true? Steve has said that MFSL definitely used the correct tapes for Aja. I remember him saying this a few years ago when I and others were complaining about the sound of the Aja gold disc. To my ears, it is bright, and I prefer the original MCA mastering. I don't recall if Steve ever commented on the tapes used by MFSL for Gaucho. The Gaucho gold disc sounds great to me.

 

I *think* I read that those '98 remasters were made from the digital copies.

I think the first time they actually went back to the analog masters was when Universal issued the Definitive Collection CD, which, BTW, sounds very good! There was supposed to have been yet another round of remasters made from the original analog masters, but they never materialized.

Listen to Steve's "Aja", then compare it with the '98 remaster, and the differences will be startling.

 

http://www.rogernichols.com/EQ/EQ_93-08.html

 

If you have SACD, get the SACD/CD remaster. I think you'll like it.

 

Cool! I have a collector's item! Now, I have to re-buy the CD to hear those damn fills!

 

Without a doubt.

I dumped my remaster when I heard Steve's original mastering.

 

I bought the CD within a few days of its release and had no idea Countermoon was missing any fills until I read that article a few years ago. I have since picked up The Nightfly Trilogy box which has the "fixed" CD.

 

I think the re-masters are fine. I give my box to my nephew. I do like a little more treble to my music. I always have. Now, with some hearing loss, I like them even better. As one poster as already said, we hear things differently, our rooms are different, so are our speakers, CD players and turntable sylus. As usual, sorry if this doesn't help.

 

The Citizen Box is a definite yay. There is a thread about it from the past couple weeks. Some say it is NR'd but if it is, it is the best application of it I have ever heard. Denny Dias is reportedly a fan of it. It's the most economical way to get their entire catalog plus a couple non-album tracks.

 

I've had it for years. The SACD layer is great. I haven't listened to the CD layer. Does it use the DSD mastering or the 1998 CD mastering?

For CD, I still like the MFSL gold disc.

 

OK, I'll look for the old thread.

Is there any more current yay'ers for the Citizen Box ?

 

I like it although the beginning is missing from "Rikki" how that got past the QC folks is beyond me. I do think there are better pressings on CD out there of "Aja" and "Gaucho" individually but overall, it's quite good sounding for the most part.

 

Not a fan of the box. I don't like the way "Glamour Profession" fades out at all. It's totally unnatural. The whole box has this issue. I prefer the vinyl to any of the remasters. No clue why the saw fit to use NR. His is not the devil.

Ed

 

The original 37XXX discs have a more natural high end and they're a bit more dynamic. Overall the 1998-2000 discs aren't bad, they easily beat the Citizen remaster.

 

If you like a lot of treble on your Dan, go for the latest remasters, but consider yourself warned.

 

To each his own, I guess. I respectfully disagree.

 

That issue was corrected on later pressings of the box, and you can send your disc in to MCA to get the corrected disc.

What happened was they pulled the single master for Rikki, which doesn't have the vibes intro, instead of using the album master.

 

But, the single was also sped up.

 

hee hee hee I like this guy

 

Is there really no way to tell the difference between the first and second run of the plaid back editions? The reason I ask is that there is a copy of Can't Buy a Thrill at a local consignment store that I've been thinking of getting.