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

Actually, I think of them as a singles band before Sticky Fingers, which is when they became an album band - whether or not I liked the albums.

 

I can see your point!

 

I finally got a final answer from Neil's assistant, Niko. After a couple months they both had admitted in writing an error was made. Now Niko say it was intentional, & little was done to it. WTF???? DR 13 to DR7 is little????

 

Stones discography is a bit complicated, but generally the way to go is:

2016 Mono box
2002 10x5 Abcko SACD for 5x5 +1 (1964 Chess stereo)
2002 Abcko SACD Let It Bleed
SHM SACDs Beggars; Sticky and several albums following

I now have Qobuz but I haven't looked to see how many of the best versions are available.

 

Really? Is it better than the 2002 SACD?

 

It's a reissue of the 2002 mastering

 

Yeah, that's from an interview Jon Astley gave a bunch of years ago. You posted the actual quote from the article some years back. How to go broke quickly collect Reel to Reel tapes.

 

Oh, I didn't know. Thank you Plan9 for the explanation.

 

New Joni Mitchell 1st 4 album set 192/24: (Might want to hang on to your Warner Flat transfers of Blue) The 1st 2 are in their first 24 bit release (& Song is a remix. Song will likely be an upgrade from the vinyl.)
Song To A Seagull DR10
Clouds DR10
Ladies Of The Canyon: DR11
Blue: DR10

 

Which version of Blue is supposedly a flat transfer?

 

I have the Japan market 20P2. I'd guess that the DCC and the 20P2 are forum favorites (digital), but there's no excuse for a modern 24/192 to fail to easily best decades old mastering work.

 

Not "supposedly". 2013. It's from the Warner Flat Transfer Series as most of the 2013 Joni's were. DR11. I have the HDT version per the metadata.

The edition of Ladies I have is also a 2013 from the flat transfer series. Again, HDT & DR11.

 

Agreed. Loudness Wars. As good as the DCC's are, I prefer the 192/24's from 2013.

 

Thanks. Interesting. Will give them a spin on Qobuz.

 

Her early LPs all had fairly low DR values, though. Song had DRs on CD ranging from 10-12, depending on the master, and indeed it's always sounded both hollow and compressed - an odd combo.

Clouds has DRs ranging from 11 - 9, depending on the master. The '88 CD (which sounds like crap) has a DR of 11. The HDCD a DR of 10. So the new one is essentially identical.

Ladies also varies from 10-11 depending on the master. The '69 vinyl has a DR of 10, indicating it must have been heavily compressed, since vinyl typically reads 1 or 2 dB higher than a CD of the same mastering. The original CD has a DR of 11. The HDCD looks to have a DR of 10 (probably 11 unencoded). So the new master looks to have pretty much identical dynamic range to its predecessors.

Prior releases of Blue likewise range from 9 - 11. Most are 11, but the 2012 Studio Albums set has a DR of 9, and there's a '94 release "Digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt" that has a DR of 9.

These figures all look really good actually. There's nothing alarming about the DR numbers for these releases.

 

From what I've read, Joni remixed Song & it's supposed to be a major upgrade over Crosby's mix. I'm doing a TV series binge right now, so haven't had time to play this yet. If nothing else, it's good to have the first 2 in 24 bit finally. Song has always sounded pretty bad even on vinyl. I will compare Ladies & Blue to the 2013's, but I'd be surprised if it surpasses or equals them.

 

The Petty reimagining of She's the One is DR12 (digital) & Dr14 (Vinyl)

 

ProStudioMasters - Audio Uncompromised™ - High-Resolution Audio Downloads

The technical notes say the first 10 tracks were processed by a perceptual coding algorithm, some at 44khz.

 

That sounds a lot like lossy compression. Or is there something else would qualify as a "perceptual encoding algorithm" that one might reasonably use in digitally encoding music? What is the point of "perceptual encoding" if not to discard information that allegedly cannot be perceived?

 

The Reprise era Joni set is streaming on Qobuz (at 24/192 with Sublime membership). I'll check it out sooner than later.

Early first impressions?

 

Sounds like noise reduction in this case. But not sure why you'd run that at 44kHz these days. Unless they sourced this from a digital master that had been noise reduced back in the '90s or early 2000s.

Although since they supposedly remixed it, I'm not sure why that would be done. It's unlikely someone would have dubbed the multitracks to digital multitrack back in the '90s and NoNoised every individual track.

Maybe some of the tracks were nosier than others and they processed one or more of those before mixing?

Also not sure why you wouldn't go back to the original analog multitracks unless those were lost/damaged/destroyed...

 

Please share your impressions of these compared to the decoded HDCD versions when you have a chance...

 

the master tape's probably gone up in smoke, this might be the best they have.

 

Why the decoded HDCD versions when there are 24/96 flat transfers?

I guess Song is never going to have a true hi-res release?

 

With a DR OF 10?!?!?
Was BLUE mixed in the last 26 years. I always thought the Loudness War started in 1998. True, but, that doesn't mean a few stupid mastering engineers weren't making albums loud. Back in 1995 there just wasn't a competition for it.

My 1995 Remastered Styx Greatest Hits is loud. But not smashed. Greatest Hits Vol.2 a year later is smashed beyond all recognize. When some members ask, "When are we gonna get Styx remastered?" Why would you even want that?.... I believe two or more albums have been remastered but you have to go out of your way for those. 1975 - 1983 Styx is still available on the original 80's CDs. Are they copies? I don't care.
You think they are gonna do flat transfers? Wake up guys. I have three Styx albums left to compete the 1975 - 1983 collection. And I want to get them before some damn-fool decides to f!@*&$ them up with modern mastering tools.
You guys have no idea about how much crap the average master is put through. And how many digital conversions it will go through.

I know a few friends that gave away their original Iron Maiden CDs because they bought the new crappy one in 1998.