Bryan Ferry - Boys And Girls SACD Still hoping for a refreshed "Bête Noire" with the same treatment, but the anniversary went by...
The Residents -Not Available remastered Us 1997 and Europe 2005 remastered cds are so much superior than the 1988 original cd that has the most muddy sound I have ever heard on a recording. Strangely, the bonus tracks soundnus tracks are Selections From Title In Limbo. In most cases I will prefer an original cd version ( but there are few remastered cds that I do like)
I had to post again, the first post became a mess and It was too late to delete,Sorry The Residents -Not Available remastered Us 1997 and Europe 2005 remastered cds are so much superior than the 1988 original cd that has the most muddy sound I have ever heard on a recording. Strangely , the bonus tracks sound great on the original cd,they are missing from the remastered cds, those tracks are Selections From Title In Limbo. In most cases I will prefer an original cd version ( but there are few remastered cds that I do like)
Well I know the original too and the differences may be not that "dramatic". Ferry's solo work has good sound in general. But the SACD puts on a shovel here, the transfer sounds more analogue due to better A/D conversion, the original has some digital characteristics. Great balanced EQ with soundstage and instrument separation improved also.
I know it has been said many times, but Tull's "Benefit"... S.Wilson... he took a fantastic album and elevated it. Of course its also a remix...
You sent me on an investigatory music SQ adventure after hearing your posted "Go All The Way" YT vid which I hadn't heard in ages which seems much quieter than the version I have on "Guardians Of The Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1." CD which is just over the top loud at -9db RMS in some parts. Hunted down a similar quiet version on Qobuz from Capitol Records "The Raspberries Collector Series" which also has Overnight Sensation but that song is louder than your YT vid with a much better, beefier bass response which I prefer over your YT version. Album Capitol Collectors Series, Raspberries | Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality Worked in Audacity on my loud copy of "Go All The Way" from Guardians Of The Galaxy CD and noticed a lot of smearing of detail in background vocal high frequencies with lead vocal drop outs and weird rapid panning back and forth of L/R channels in some parts. Both your YT version and my loud version don't have a lot of clarity between instruments/vocals and sound like it was recorded in mono from a '70's single speaker AM radio cranked to 11. Geez! Does the guitar have to be that up front and loud?! So I worked in Audacity on Qobuz's CD quality quieter version from the "Collectors Series" and I was amazed at how much detail I could pull out of it compared to the loud version. This version responded better to a subtle reverb plugin I use to remove the muck that seems to create this murky lack of clarity between individual sounds that removes this AM radio feel while maintaining stereo imaging and preventing wide stereo effect. And I got a beefier kick drum hit with an EQ increase between 40-60Hz! without screwing up phasing of low end punch. This is the first time I worked on a brickwalled version and couldn't make better improvements than the quieter version. Could be they're slightly EQ'ed differently but both quiet and loud sound identical A/B'ing. It's just one is louder than the other.
Capitol Collector Series presumably used the original masters (see here) but this is the first time I've heard the albums mastered from them (again, presumably). In particular, the improvement for the first album compared to previous CD editions is striking to me. As for "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" - Capitol Collector Series has the single mix, not the album mix (as heard in the link I posted).
In most remasters I don't really hear much improvement, but remixing is usually very evident on the first listen!
Wow! Thanks for the Ron Fermanek backstory on The Raspberries remastering. I mean really from his words to my ears in how he describes the sound especially the echo on the stereo cuts which is the main cause of the lack of clarity on "Go All The Way" and made even worse on my way too loud copy from Guardians Of The Galaxy CD. And that was Fermanek back in 2004 on a 1991 Capitol compilation release and they still thought it needed to be made even louder in 2014 "presumably". And the ending tag line of the Fermanek SHF post is "Play it loud". REALLY!? Don't encourage them, PLEASE!
Time machine setting to 2014, wasn't it...? Before postal rates had to jump again, and Amazon started re-pricing Marketplace offerings just so that, adding the shipping charge that was free on the same title new, came out about equal...?
Don't forget Tim...whenever you heard a radio station throughout your memory, that also came with the processing artifacts brought to you by a Chief Engineer, as well as a Program Director, whose jobs as far as "sound quality" were often at odds. One of them may have wanted the cleanest sound possible in the metro, based on the location of the transmitter, and the potential for eliminating signal anomalies endemic to its' particular pattern over years of studying the characteristics of weather, topography and the local market... ...while the other one, with little training, but armed with a key to the transmitter shed, perhaps just wanted his signal to be louder than his competitors' across the street, no matter how crappy it sounded in the Delta that's standard equipment in a Chevy Vega...because he got his bonus from the ratings quarterlies.
Both sets of CDs are flawed. Perhaps they’ll (whomever that is) will get it right if there is a 3rd attempt.
Exactly, we are six years down the road here. And we all know that you can find colossal stiffs like "Monster" that everyone bought and then got rid of. I am finding most used CDs that I am seeking out to be pricey at this point! Of course the idiots in the industry are giving away some of the newer releases. Not that I'm complaining about that!
They're magnificent. Some of the earlier ones, Mr Tambourine Man for certain, are faithful to the original stereo remixes from the multi tracks.
Indeed, which isn't surprising: my understanding is they are mostly taken from 3-track submixes, which were basically 3 channel versions the original stereo mixes were derived from. A notable exception is the title track, which was remixed from 8-track.
I didn't know that. I thought the whole album was remixed like the title track. As much as I like the CDs, which is a lot, I still like listening to Mr Tambourine Man on the UK mono LP. It's cut loud and isn't perfectly clear but it's exciting. The 12 string guitar really cuts through, especially at the end of Don't Doubt Yourself Babe. It was my first Byrds record and I love it. I didn't know what it would lead to, I became a Byrdmaniac!
FYI: "Bob Irwin: “Only part of the Tambourine Man and Turn, Turn, Turn albums were mixed. They were "mixed" by me from the three-track reduction masters, with ALL original processing - compression, eq, reverb , etc., PRINTED TO TAPE. No liberties taken, none needed. Same for a third of Fifth Dimension, because of oxide loss problems. Lastly, only three songs on Younger Than Yesterday were remixed, because of the same oxide issues.”" byrdsremasters Note that's not entirely true, as some tracks, like Mr. Tambourine Man itself, were in fact remixed from 8-track.
The 1999 mastering, which is also used on the Deluxe Edition, takes away the layer of murk. Well worth getting
