The same bloke mastered the CD and the vinyl. Amaury Cambuzat. It's in this thread back up there a bit. He did two different masters (Cd and Vinyl), he says. Faust 1 to 4 were mastered from digital files given to him by the label. The Musicland stuff came from the tapes.
This guy Amaury Cambuzat who mastered the Faust box is not an audio engineer. He’s a guitarist in a Krautrock-influenced band called Ulan Bator. Looking at Discogs, he’s got ZERO commercial experience in professional mastering and mixing from what I can see. I can’t believe they did not get a pro to do the box. Also it sounds like he’s followed his own band’s aesthetic interests in mixing the Musicland material. I wanted to hear what it might have sounded like when it was recorded not reinterpreted by a modem musician with his own idea of what Krautrock sounds like today . Why didn’t they use the engineer who mastered the Cluster box, at least for the mastering? Trust Faust to mess it all up. NB . Ok @Neonbeam has corrected me to say that the Cluster box’s engineer has sadly passed away
Because Willem Makkee is no longer with us: Der Mann mit dem sicheren Schnitt – Zum Tod von Willem Makkee
The more I'm reading, the more I've decided to keep my box. Asked in several stores and they all told me the same: "No chance! We are sorry but you need to go to the secondary market!" Even though I already paid for it, it seems unlikely that the one local store will be able to fulfill my order......
OK, I didn't know. They could have asked Bob Drake. He’s excellent and would have done a more respectfully period-sounding mix and more balanced mastering. Anyone with some experience.
I think you’ve made the right choice . If the second box shows up you can either tell then you don’t want it, or sell it later.
When I saw that sealed set I knew I had to take it after reading about those backorders everywhere. I could indeed flip one if I should end up with two. I guess I'll be looking out for vintage copies of "Faust", "So Far" and "IV". "Tapes" I have as original UK.
As he was a member of Faust during some of their later records, like " C'est Com... Com... Compliqué" I guess he must have some insight in their previous works, and know the first four album well. Agree with you that they should have used someone with knowledge.
worth having if you can find them. There are other options than purely vintage. For example there’s a good modern usa master of IV that sounds like the original
Yes, I think that’s why they chose him. I think he just has his own modern angle on what krautrock should sound like. He’s made it a too personal an aesthetic, in my opinion.
I guess my versions of "So Far" and "IV" are quite good reissues. Faust – So Far (2010, 180g, Vinyl) Faust – Faust IV (2009, Vinyl)
Well, that’s all fair and well but I don't think an archival boxset is the appropriate place to give the audience ones very own take on things. It's not Steven Wilson after all. Nevermind: If nothing else this box might end up as an interesting curio. People are going to buy it anyway.
Not sure what you mean by the Wilson comparison, but Wilson dont do remastering, only remixing of other artists, and the remixing is most of the time very faithful to the original release. And almost all of his remixing/surrround releases includes the original master as a flat transfer. So for the sake of argument, if the multitracks for the original four albums could be found, I would not have any problem with Wilson remixing them.
Excellent long review of the box set in The Quietus, including some info on the current state of Faust or rather the various existing incarnations: The Quietus | Features | Reissue Of The Week | Reissue Of The Week: Faust's 1971 – 1974 Box Set Reviewed
It may be time to grab vintage copies of the Wumme releases and IV if you want them, they are not too expensive yet, looking at Discogs. I consider myself lucky to have discovered Recommended early in its existence so have vinyl copies of their lovely re-releases of the first two and also those 2 Slapp Happy albums they made using Faust as their backing band. Cutler had a great knack for sniffing out copies of Faust records, my copy of IV is from a box of original Virgin releases that he somehow acquired. I also bought a vinyl copy of the Faust/Conrad LP from Recommended, it's a Polydor Promo pressing in a Caroline records sleeve. He was selling them for a tenner! Cutler has such integrity, always puts the customer first.
....still reminiscing.... Recommended used to have a shop on the Wandsworth Road in London, I happened to live about 15 minutes walk from there so would hang out there quite a lot. I was happy with my Virgin Faust Tapes LP but coveted the packaging of their re-release so he just gave me the packaging for nothing. I bought my first Zappa LPs there, he had a bunch of Old Masters box sets that he broke up and sold the albums individually so I was even able to snag the Mystery discs on their own. Recommended really extended my musical horizons!
L I have the first one on Recommended. Great sounding and faithful to the original. Bought at a fair and came with a single with Faust 'Party' extracts, numbered and signed by Chris Cutler.
Go on, I'll tell yer, you'll cry. Donks ago, in the MVC shop in Basingstoke, I found the Wumme cd box in the sale for £2 I thought it can't be right, must be an empty box. So I took it to the counter and they said no its legit. And couldn't find the contents! Man. Anyway, I left a telephone number more in hope than expectation. But they rang and said the discs had been found! So I drove back the next day (15 miles). They actually had three sets. So I bought two. One for me, one for ebay, and one for the next lucky person to find. Three winners, the eventual ebay winner got his at a decent price! Not £2 though...
Well, it's not really a review of the box, just another of those reissue "reviews" where all they are doing is talk about the band and the history surrounding the albums in question. Everyone can look stuff like that up easily. There's zero information about sonics, exact features of the box, the overall presentation. Everything that would really be of interest isn't in there. MOJO does these kind of "reviews" all the time. Unfortunately.
Well, I found it interesting and insightful, especially the "Punkt" infos. YMMV. Maybe I should add that The Quietus is certainly not a place you would go to looking for audiophile infos etc. They obsess with music, sonics not so much I like 'em.
Well after my previous posts about it not shipping when you got yours and updates stating that it was expected by 25 Nov, yesterday I received a mail from Amazon saying mine had been shipped, and it was delivered yesterday afternoon. No idea what's been going on but I now have it in my hands. Mine is numbered 621.
Yes, right from the Virgin era. One of my friends used to go there for his CDs. But I bet he’s a tad more expensive than Bob Drake in the Pyranese. Drake’s a recording musician too and also does mixing which would give him an advantage. But it’s all hypothetical now and too late. It’ll never be redone again.
