Nick Drake

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Fishoutofwater, Aug 16, 2016.

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  1. bleachershane

    bleachershane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glasgow, Scotland
    When it comes to capturing what's on a master tape for archival purposes, it makes sense to capture at the highest sample rate and bit depth as possible, also bearing in mind source limitations. But yes, further mastering of that transfer is where a release can fail or shine.

    I have heard wonderful recordings that were made at a time when 44.1kHz and 48kHz were the limitations of the equipment used, as well as awful recordings made using much higher specced systems... I'm most certainly not a sample rate snob :D
     
  2. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    Yes, 48kHz might still be marginal for some (OK by me,) but 88.2 and up should be fine.
     
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  3. lucan_g

    lucan_g Forum Resident

    Speaking of digital... is the 2013/14 Five Leaves decent on vinyl? I've been holding off, but don't really want to go to the ends of the of the earth to track down a clean analog vinyl pressing either....
     
  4. The Acid Mouse

    The Acid Mouse Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    In my opinion yes it is. Certainly the copy I have (Back to Black series) is a quiet and flat pressing with nice clarity. I paid £13 - what's not to like?
     
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  5. Yes, I've already this. The reissue is better than the earlier AAA Fruit Tree. The latter sounds a little bit boxed in and closeted compared to the reissue. Or put another way, you can't tell the reissue is sourced from digital.
     
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  6. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Drake tapes are at Abbey Road I believe. US copy tapes may have been in that fire. Who knows? I'm sure there are production masters of a lot of that stuff presumed lost as Universal are clueless.
     
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  7. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Agree. No way it sounds digital (FLL).
     
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  8. I know Nick's entire catalog got a DSD transfer in the early 2000s - that is how the compilation SACD was created. I believe an earlier 24/96kHz PCM transfer was made for the earlier CD remasters.
     
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  9. pianoman

    pianoman Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    As a huge Nick Drake fan - and River Man being one of my favourite songs of all time - I've been listening to the surround channels of the 5.1 SACD 'The Treasury' which I've converted to high resolution PCM in my studio. Despite the mix being a little odd in surround, isolating the channels and listening to the elements has been fun.



    The center channel sometimes reveals just Nick on his own, sometimes with guitar - sometimes just with vocals. 'Black-Eyed Dog' and 'Northern Sky' for example - place Nick's vocals alone in the center channel - and River Man's center channel blends his vocal with his acoustic guitar, but no strings. Incredible musicianship.



    What moved me the most was how beautifully recorded these tracks are, and how much they would benefit from a multitrack-to-high res remix to bring out all the glorious detail.



    The best listen for me (as a 2 track transfer of the master tapes) is the SACD 2-channel layer, then original CD (pre Island remasters), then my 2nd pressing vinyl copy. The 24/96 download of Five Leaves Left sounds really bad in my opinion. All the natural high end has been removed, thereby removing detail.
     
  10. It's a shame we didn't get all three albums on SACD - that was supposed to be the plan after the Treasury SACD.
     
  11. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    I would have loved that. So sad...
     
  12. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    You must adore Townes Van Zandt.
     
  13. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    I only have Drake's first three albums. Haven't made it through the whole thread yet but are there any comps/re-issues, etc that I need to fill out his discography?

    Incidentally, I didn't know Molly Drake was his mom. The Unthanks put out a nice e.p. of her work recently-ish.
     
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  14. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    *adds trip on list of things-to-do*
     
    EddieMann likes this.
  15. Thanks for taking the time to share what you've established. Both interestng and useful.

    Best Wishes,
    David
     
  16. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    :laugh:

    Nonsense.
     
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  17. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Time Of No Reply should do it, in my view.
     
  18. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Forget any better release of Five Leaves Left material. Tapes not in usable shape. I think those DSD transfers were the last pass on a playable tape. Used for the last vinyl reissue in preference to an analogue safety copy. If only original minty pressings were affordable.
     
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  19. Beyond Salvation

    Beyond Salvation Forum Resident

    Exactly - why bother with SHM when they could have been SACD - or both!
    Adore Treasury.
     
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  20. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I wonder if the lost master was lost in the umg fire? And did Fine Leaves Left literally crumble?
     
  21. pianoman

    pianoman Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    If the Treasury was made from the multitracks, which clearly it was - then they may have done a high res PCM transfer (or DSD) of all the original tracks - praying they did, because if John Wood has access to those multitracks - even the simplest 4-track - it could bring about a stellar remix. Also if John remixed it, staying faithful to the original masters (as he no doubt would), it would be a beautiful thing.
     
    Beyond Salvation likes this.
  22. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Nick Drake's music never depressed me. In fact, most of the time, I'm overwhelmed by its beauty.

    Your depressing dour post is more harmful than any Nick Drake track.
     
  23. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Yeah, that's what you "hear"... sure.

    Like a lot of folks, you listen with your eyes... You don't like Nick Drake's "story" or the fans that have amassed around him in the ensuing decades. So you "hate" all these factors surrounding the artist -- factors that have nothing to do with the music.
     
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  24. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    So not much left in the can, eh? Just as well, the sad reasons for such a small discography notwithstanding, sometimes it's nice to have a concise amount of material for an artist and not have to track down 18 different comps, with wildly different masterings, to get 19 bonus tracks or alt takes, etc.

    What's that Family Album release?
     
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  25. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    To clarify, I don't think adding Time Of No Reply gets you everything; Made To Love Magic has a couple of things No Reply doesn't, and vice versa. But they overlap. It's just my subjective feeling that if you have the three albums and Time Of No Reply, you're set.
     
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