Adding to this list Whitney Houston's self-titled album released in Japan, date code is April 1, 1985. Catalog No. Arista 32RD-31. XLD detected pre-emphasis. De-emphasized it sounds sooooo good.
Maybe I missed it somewhere in the last 72 pages, but I don't see this disc listed as having pre-emphasis. The TOC says it doesn't, but it looks/sounds it does. Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run, CBS CK 33795 Matrix: DIDP 50021 21B7 (also 21B3 on another copy I have) Hub: Made in USA by Digital Audio Disc Corp. This is not the same mastering as the 35DP-21 disc mentioned previously, already known to have pre-emphasis. In this thread, the 35DP-21 disc is called "Mastering #1", and this DADC disc is "Mastering #3". In the graph below, we see the spectrum plots overlaid for the 35DP-21 disc after de-emphasis (with "sox deemph") and the DADC disc before and after de-emphasis. This seems to me to indicate that either the DADC disc has pre-emphasis (or it was mastered by someone whose EQ preferences look a lot like pre-emphasis, which seems less likely). It sounds much more natural after de-emphasis, and the differences between the two de-emphasized discs seem to me to be within the normal range of different mastering preferences.
Apologies if this has mentioned here before. I have an early-ish U.S. pressing of “Turnstiles” by Billy Joel. “New York State of Mind” is the original mix, but it’s incredibly bright (and none of the other tracks on the CD sound as bright). Audacity spectrogram also shows considerable tape noise that none of the other tracks have on the disc. No FLAGS PRE in either TOC or subcode. After applying SoX de-emphasis it sounds better, but still kind of like there’s denoising (as well as considerable tape hiss) at points. Anyone know the story behind this mix?
Thanks for your homework on this one. Think they missed the flags (it happens), it sounds natural now-especially Bruce's vocals
I don't know the story, but it always sounds worse than the rest of the album, even on the MFSL SACD, which is a considerable improvement over the older standard CD.
This one wasn't on the latest list I saw: Boz Scaggs - Middle Man CBS/Sony Japan 25DP 5017 Flagged in subcode 1988? Closest is this one: Boz Scaggs – Middle Man (1988, CD) but the matrix on mine reads: 25DP-5017 51A8 *+++ Oddly, the cue sheet says: REM DATE "1998-10-13"
Herbie Hancock Trio with Ron Carter and Tony Williams CBS/Sony Japan 1981 38DP 17 Flagged in subcode only
Can someone please check ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. Two (471956 2)? I suspect it has pre-emphasis flagged in subcode only, or not at all.
Weird, it's like the only old ELO comp I don't have It'd be interesting if it did being 1992, but I'm doubtful. However the tracks that have had pre-emphasis mastering's in the past may have it. (Carried over) Discovery/Secret Messages tracks.
That might be the situation. My question arose after hearing an absurdly bright copy of "Don't Bring Me Down" as found in the wild, apparently ripped from this CD.
Regarding ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. Two, would be interesting if someone who has this disc and has XLD can do a rip. If the CUE sheet has "FLAGS PRE," then it has pre-emphasis either in the subcode or in the TOC.
Doing another dive through my backlog of previously ripped CDs and came up with another entry for the list: Jakob Lindberg, lute--La Serenissima: Lute Music in Venice, 1500-1600. BIS CD-399+599 (BIS-Twins no. 5, two discs in a fat box, presumably also issued as singles sometime earlier, as each shows a separate number corresponding to part of the set number). Disc 1, CD-399, recorded March 12 through 14, 1988; disc 2, CD 599, recorded November 4-10, 1991.
Earlier, I added this disc to the list that I was updating: That's volume 1 of a two-disc set of Schubert overtures issued as separate discs. Volume 2, Pantheon D 1841X (Schubert overtures D. 4, 12, 26, 470, 556, 590, 591, and 648) just surfaced, and it does not have pre-emphasis--curious, given that it shows the same April 1982 recording date as Volume 1. I checked by playing it in an old Denon CD player that lights up a telltale when pre-emphasis is present, and, surprised at its failure to do so for this disc, I double checked by running it through CueRipper. Both agree: no pre-emphasis. [Edit: I just checked Volume 1 again, and it lights up the Denon's telltale. Definitely has pre-emphasis.] Two more discs that do have it (lit the Denon telltale) are as follows: Alan Hacker / The Music Party - Mozart: Serenade "Gran Partita," K. 361. nato CD 1132 (rec. 1987). Jan Panenka - Dusik: Sonata "L'Invocation" op. 77; Rondo Les Adieux; and Etudes Melodiques op. 16 nos. 3, 5, and 11. Supraphon 33CO-1853 (rec. 1985) I'll add in passing that the nato label (yes, it's nato, all lower case) is otherwise unknown to me, and the little I've seen about it online suggests Mozart is far removed from the fare it usually issues (or issued, no idea if it is still in business). The label's logo, which appears on my disc but not on the booklet or tray backer:
OK, here we go again. Two more minor label discs with pre-emphasis: Isabel Beyer, Harvey Dagul, and Guy Dagul / Carl Czerny: Original Piano Music for Two, Four, and Six Hands. Four Hands Music FHMD 881 (Volume 1) and FHMD 882 (Volume 2). The tray cards describe these two discs as "Compilation albums of music recorded between 1984 and 1986" and further indicate the music could also be had as 3 LPs or cassettes.
One more time! The above disc from the earlier list is part of a cycle of the Schubert piano sonatas (don't know if it was completed). I just turned up my copies of two companion discs. Gregor Weichert - Schubert: Piano Sonatas D. 279, 557, 655, 958. Accord 149162 (1986) does not have pre-emphasis. Gregor Weichert - Schubert: Piano Sonatas of 1817 (D. 537, 568, and one assembled from mvts. assigned D. 570 and 571, both with completions by Paul Badura-Skoda abridged by Weichert, and 604 and an unnumbered scherzo, rec. 1984) does have pre-emphasis.
Another one with pre-emphasis: Lili Kraus - Mozart: Piano Concerti Nos. 9 (with Victor Desarzens and Vienna State Opera Or., 2/1959) and 26 (with Gian Franco Rivoli and Amsterdam Phil. Or., 12/1960). Preludio PHC 1131, production date 1987. Mfd. in Switzerland by TECVAL MEMORIES SA.
And yet two more that trip the Denon "emphasis" telltale: Bernard Thomas leading Chamber Orchestra Bernard Thomas, Rose-Marie Mezac (sop.), Michel Piquemal (bar.), Laurence Cabel (harp), Jean-Michel Verneiges (organ); with Patrick Marco leading Petits Chanteurs de Paris - Faure: Requiem, op. 48; Michel Piquemal leading Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquemal, Sylvie Portal (sop.), Catherine Cardin (mezzo-sop.), Francois-Henri Houbart, organ - Faure: Messe Basse. Forlane UCD 16536, recorded 1984 (Requiem) and 1985 (Mass); disc production date 1986. Jakob Lindberg, Robert Meunier, Nigel North, Paul O'Dette, 16 other lutenists, and 8 singers - Three, Four & Twenty Lutes. BIS CD-341, recorded 1985.
I just received the first European pressing of “Turnstiles” (CDCBS 81195). Comparing peak levels, wave forms, and spectrograms shows this CD is about identical to the U.S. release (CK 33848) but “New York State of Mind” isn’t as high on the treble as the U.S. release. Tape hiss is almost nonexistent (unlike the U.S. release). Still don’t know if somehow a pre-emphasis version made its way onto the U.S. disc for that track (but wasn’t flagged as such) or if there were just Dolby issues for that one track, as mentioned above.
I just applied SoX de-emphasis to the U.S. track, and sure enough, the spectrogram looks similar to the European pressing. Top: European pressing, no de-emphasis; Bottom: U.S. pressing, no de-emphasis Top: European pressing, no de-emphasis; Bottom: U.S. pressing, de-emphasis (SoX). It looks to me like we have an example of a CD track with pre-emphasis, not flagged as such.
This may be a really unpopular opinion, but I am going to put it out in the ether — listening to the earliest CD pressing of the Carpenters' Passage (A&M CD 3199/DX 787), I and other fans have noticed that "B'wana She No Home" is bright, as are all the other tracks. A spectrogram shows considerable tape noise on all of the tracks. De-emphasized using SoX, the CD has a more balanced sound profile. No pre-emphasis flags in either the TOC or subcode.
I don’t know about your exact disc, but I’m sure that the early Sonopress mastering of Trans EuropA Express needs pre-emphasis, while it doesn’t have those flags set. See Kraftwerk – Early CD versions thread (pre-2009 remasters) for more info.
