Peter Gabriel - Best Digital Masterings?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by tlake6659, Dec 22, 2008.

  1. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    Hi Barry,

    EAC peaks can definitively prove masterings are different, but not absolute proof of a match.

    For example if all peaks are 100% [or the infamous 97.7] then no way to know if the same or just LOUD.

    Along the same lines EAC peaks can not be used to determine if tracks are the same. One example is the original Reprise "Axis Bold As Love" the track "Castles Made Of Sand", the SRC version [non SR1] has a tick/pop that is was edited out or not present in the early DADC.

    I'm sure there are other examples, that said for Gabriel's "So" it is a determiner is the same mastering. Since I will never purposely listen to "Big Time" I'd never notice the clipping. "So" is weird album for me I really like half the tracks and loathe the other half. Actually the whole Gabriel catalog is an enigma to me I think 1,3 and half of 5 [So] are great and 2, 4 [Security] and half of 5 are horrid.
     
  2. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Have you heard Us? I love that one.
     
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  3. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Never felt a tip of fatigue and listened to it through my teenage years intensively. But I was young ;)
    It is sort of muddy (deliberately, I guess) at times but not compressed.

    Never heard the remaster but DR database says it's DR9 (original DR=12)
     
  4. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Got the V/C of 2, 3 and 4. SACD for So. A Japanese sample CD pressing for the first album, and the regular issues for the later studio albums. The V/C 2CD of Plays Live is excellent.
     
  5. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Apologies if already covered, not just in the intervening years since this was posted first, but that's also a young Tom Robinson. Think the TRB were at the festival that year.
     
  6. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Heh. Indeed. Not least as the SACDs now command a hefty price while you can get great sounding V/Cs or the like for significantly less.

    No brainer, unless you're a completist.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2016
  7. Khaki F

    Khaki F Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kenosha, WI. USA
    Just for the mentioning, I do remember an article in Melody Maker decades ago, about a set of Peter Gabriel + Tom Robinson appearances, billed as "Rob & Gab".
     
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  8. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    He did a couple of tracks with TR: Bully For You and Atmospherics. Not sure if there were more but they're two great songs.
     
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  9. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    The SACD are expensive* and pedestrian. I also detected [or at least to my ears sounding like it] clipping at times on I and III . I got the original V/C's of I, II and III for $1.99 at local shop a few years back, then made good coin selling off the I and III SACD's. I'm not a big enough fan to have done extensive PG catalog compares but here are my results for the one I did; the III album.

    III
    1) original Virgin Charisma by a small margin
    2) original WB - I have both the Japan for US and early DADC. Same mastering, digitally identical and sound exactly the same natch'
    3) SACD - Not bad overall even if I do think there was some clipping, but to my ears a pretty big step down from #1 on this list. For the money these command my feeling is if you don't have them save your currency.


    *=expensive discs will always have proponents. We are all human.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2016
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  10. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    I've read (maybe in this thread as well, but it's too far to remember) that those remasters were "beefed up" in sound, made more aggressive and bassy but despite the better transfer they resulted with less clarity than the original V/C.
    Do I remember correctly?
    It's strange considering that those analog masters are not that old and how perfectionist Gabriel usually is, if nothing else in quality control.
     
  11. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Are you listening to the Redbook or DSD layers? I have found the DSD layers to better the CD part, although they must be from the same master. I also have found that these sound better as your equipment improves. YMMV. I seem to be one of the few here that somewhat like the SACDs.

    BTW, the III remaster has inverted absolute polarity compared with every other version. It sounds better when reversed back.
     
  12. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    The Hi-Res downloads only available with the I-IV vinyl reissues from last year seem to actually be quite impressive, and maybe more in line with what people here wanted. I haven't had the time to listen to them all yet.
     
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  13. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    I'm not so sure, the new downloads are pretty good.
     
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  14. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    That could easily explain why I really did not like the SACD of III. Not enough of a fan to revisit....
     
  15. agn

    agn Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Bought the new vinyls too and I haven't had the time to listen to them yet.
     
  16. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    Curious to know about 1 and 3. Maybe a revisit of the latter is something I should not have ruled out in my last post.
     
  17. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    How do they compare dynamically?
     
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  18. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    About the same as the SACDs. 2-3 DR points less than the original CDs/vinyl, DR11-12.
     
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  19. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Yes - thanks for that.
    It sounds a little like my Japan 2lp version.
    Kinda smiley faced. But that may be due to the huge hall ambience.
    The wav isn't as smooth as I'd prefer for a song about water, but that may be due to the sampling of your wav, or, more likely, the remastering or the weather.
    Either way, I do like it.
     
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  20. Ambassador

    Ambassador Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I thought the original Geffen was also inverted.
     
  21. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Comparing the US DADC to the W German, You may be correct
    Edit: for IV they are inverted
     
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  22. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Not my Geffen III.
     
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  23. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    I thought I read it here but it must have been another thread.
    It seems the mastering on the SO Jap for US CD is the same, clippings and all, just with tracks individually level shifted.
     
  24. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    What two pressings are you comparing?
    The So Japan for US Geffen and original UK Nimbus are very different sounding pressings.

    Also, the Japan for US and US for US are very different sounding.
    I remember when this first came out.
    A friend of mine had the Japan for US, and somebody asked him to trade for his US for US.
    Why this guy wanted my friend's Japan for US is beyond me. The US for US is more balanced.
    The Japan for US is smooth with great detail, but lacks midrange and bass - and I'm saying this having never looked at waveforms.
    I guess a preference is system dependent, but I've heard them all.
    The Japan for US is brighter, and not better.

    The UK Nimbus has the best sound by far.
     
  25. Channel Z

    Channel Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    For Peter Gabriel Plays Live I have a early 2 cd edition DACD the full show that's on the original vinyl. Sounds great. I hate that Highlights single disc edition.
     

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