Hi-Res Download News (HDTracks, ProStudioMasters, Pono, etc.) & Software/Mastering Part 12**

The North American CD was a DR14 Album details - Dynamic Range Database
European DR15 dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/155934

 

Wait, when were those released??

 

Thanks for that production side input. That's what I always closely pictured but in a more umm humble (I guess is the word) way, since I was never in the studio to witness the whole process
So, just to clarify, I think "the bad" cases of hi-res releases have compression applied after all the EQ-norm-comp things at Production Master stage and the result is then downsampled for CD Production, so we end up with low DR (say most of currently released albums and reissues). And I suppose the pure mixdown aka Master is what has "the good" DR in most cases...
I wonder now if we have a case of good hi-res version and bad CD of the same album released same year - is there a thing to compress "high definition Production Master file" before downsampling it to get "CD Production file or the CD Master"?

 

Could be? I have seen some wierd stuff. One client insisted that his whole album be in mono. I don't mean a mono mix he had done. I mean the client really liked it when his overcompressed stereo mix was summed to mono. The band wanted that released! Ahhhh!

 

Haha, that's weird indeed
Thanks again for your input, I always wondered about those little details in order to have a good picture of which stage someone might ruin the sound of the album in terms of DR.

 

2011.
You used to be able to tell them apart, they used to have a little Warner logo top right on the album cover. I see HDTracks replaced all those covers with the new website for the other Warner and family bands.

 

Thanks John, looks right. I'm good with this title for digital, between the old West German and US Sanyo Club CD's.
Thing I noticed, besides the compression it seems the EQ is being tweaked for portables, I found those Fleetwood Mac remasters wayyy too bright for my tastes.
I love hi-rez, it's the mastering choices they've been employing that keeps me at bay. Sad, it had good promise at the get go.
Now it's an absolute risk with each title.
I don't consider 24/44 Hi-Rez, those should be sold as a basic lossless even if the original recording was full or mixed to digital.

 

Damn. I would have loved to have heard these.

 

Rumours may have been just the DVD-A rip. Must of been why I skipped it, can't remember.
But did grab S/T-Tusk-Mirage and Tango. All dynamic, nice EQ. Except for S/T of course, being of digital nature in the recording/mixed to- nothing above 44 on the rest.

 

Rub it in.

 

Actually I was just doing some searching. I think these 2011's may still be available at Qobuz. They will give the original album release date. Buy at your own risk

 

I'm not prepared to take that risk, but thank you.

 

I have a lot of them. They are uniformly good.

 

Must be nice!

 

I started with hi-res in late 2011.

 

The 150, 3 000, 8 000 hz curves are the most heavily used in mastering. Mastering engineers these days HATE the cloud (90-250 hz). Unfortunately most of the detail in the bass is in the cloud. And most remasters have their cloud pulled down. They used to do that in the days of vinyl because most of the systems back then tended to double the cloud. But the engineer would pull the cloud back 2 db. Not 5 or 7 db!
That is why most of the remasters lack weight. They want acoustic bass to sound like keyboard bass which had little or no upper harmonics. One way to do that is too yank down the cloud.

If you do a mix they will say your mix is muddy and you need to reduce the cloud. Be careful. Anymore than 3 db and it isn't about reducing mudiness. It is about the mastering engineer wanted your bass to sound a certain way so he can get a louder track. Less cloud means more level. If your mix or master is over bassy in the cloud you will hear it at the mastering studio. Don't let them convince you that you mix will sound better with less mid and upper bass. This is mastering nonsense. Ignore it. Tell them to leave you master alone. And if your master is that screwed up then you should remix. Too often clients expect is us to work magic. Well sorry but we can't make a pizza out of a bowl of dog scat.

 

Now I am depressed. Thanks.

 

Curious. What happened to the T2 4k disk?
Is the sound screwed up?

 

The audio side of things seems to be regarded high for that release. Its the visuals that appear to be lackluster

Terminator 2: Judgment Day 4K Blu-ray Release Date December 26, 2017

 

A good Eq would have been:
At a Q of 1.
60 hz + 1 db
150 hz - 2.5 db
3 khz + 1.5 db
12 khz + 3 db or 8 khz + 2 db.

Would have reduced the mid bass heavy mix, but not but not enough to kill the original intent of the mix. And a little brightening in the top and mid range. But no one gave me the album to remaster. They wanted to brightened up the mid bass heavy - dull top end mix of Rumors.

 

Mastering is more of an art than a science. (What bull!) Do too much and it sucks.
Take for example the bright and low bass shy 1991 ROLL THE BONES. How would you fix that mess? You can boost the low bass and bring down the mid and top end. But do too much and you would change the tonal balance of the mix.
Q of 1.
60 hz + 2.5 db
150 hz + 1 db
250 hz + 1 db
3 khz - 2 db
8 khz - 2 db

• Or perhaps a more extreme:

60 hz + 3 db @ Q of 0.5
150 hz + 1.5 @ Q of 1
5 khz - 2 db @ Q of 0.5
10 khz - 2 db @ Q of 1
16 khz - 1.5 db @ Q of .75

And yet both of these are too much
60 hz + 2db @ Q of 1
150 hz 1 db @ Q of 1
3 khz - 1.5 db @ Q of 0.5
8 khz - 2 db @ Q of 1

If it sounds like the mastering engineer had added EQ then it is too much. Other albums like Russle Hitchcock's 1988 solo album present the same problem. A bass shy super bright mix. It needs help but what it needs would radically change the sound of the mix.

 

No, the sound is fine. The video has a ton of DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) which kills detail and makes faces look waxy. They did this because they were lazy and used the 3D 2k master to make the 4k master. Heavy DNR is standard on 3D releases because they don't work well with film grain. DNR is unnecessary and should never (in my opinion) be used on a 4k master.

 

At least they finally got Predator right with the 4K version.

 

Yep...The original bluray release had everyone looking like wax fruit!

 

New Ani DiFranco Official bootleg at Bandcamp in 44/24 for $10.

Bootleg Live in Keene, NH 11.16.19, by Ani DiFranco