So the CLC has the same drop outs but less noticeable? I quickly listened to the sample on my computer so would have to listen again
To these ears, the drop-outs on the 1991 CLC sound identical to the 1986 Castle. I mean, the EQ of both releases differs, which may affect how the drop-outs sound. But they are there, and clearly so.
I can’t see the master tape having damage to it sine the 2016 seems to be a clean transfer. It probably had to do with the tape they were given or the transfer they did back in the 80’s
As I’ve mentioned, the 2016 has dropouts in the same exact 4 spots in Iron Man. They are barely noticeable but they are there.
Ok How about favorite masterings if any at this point? It is weird that the tremolo effect (tape damage) shows up in the same spot of the song where the vocals are distorted as well
Mine is the Intercord. I fixed the dropouts and otherwise I think it sounds really good. I find the castle to sound muffled and I don’t find the 33pd to sound quite as good as the intercord, plus it has some issues that annoy me.
Yes that Intercord is nice sounding I know you mentioned something about Electric Funeral that bugged you on the 33pd. Anything else?
I think you should not confuse the "which releases don't have those drop-outs in Iron Man" discussion with the "which releases sound best" discussion. The 1986 Castle, 1986 Intercord and 33PD are highly regarded by many people here for a reason, which is their overall sound. Many Sabbath releases have drop-outs (see BLACK SABBATH - SV06 SLEEPING VILLAGE for some examples), that doesn't necessarily mean they sound bad. IIRC, it was our former fellow member Jeff who once said something along the lines of: I wouldn't worry too much about a few little drop-outs, given that some of the other releases are mastered so badly they sound like one huge drop-out all the time. I agree with that. I do find the discussion and research into the Iron Man 'tremolo' etc. drop-outs very interesting, not least because they can potentially improve our understanding of which tapes in which conditions were used when and where. But the only way for each of us to find out which release of Paranoid sounds best is listening. Discussing sound and flaws and tape generations etc. can help us contextualize and better understand our preferences, which in turn, when re-listening, may sometimes result in a change of preferences; but it certainly cannot replace listening. (That's a lesson I learnt from collecting and comparing unofficial live recordings: sometimes a transfer of the master tape simply sounds bad, for whatever reason (bad transfer, deteriorated tape...), while a transfer of a 2nd generation copy of the very same tape sounds very good. It happens, and it would be stupid to listen to the bad master tape transfer rather than the superior 2nd gen tape transfer just because we know it is from the master tape.)
Yes of course I get that!!!! But not everyone’s preferences are going to be the same. Check some of my previous posts about the WB Greenie Vinyl having the same volume spike as the cd on War Pigs and the 33pd I believe matching the Vertigo Vinyl as well
Of course, I didn't mean or imply that everyone's preferences would be the same. Quite the contrary: By suggesting that listening is the important thing, I was emphasizing the subjective dimension of musical/tonal etc. preferences - given that we all have different ears, experiences and brains, so we all hear differently. In this thread, with so many posters over the years, I doubt that any two of them have the exact same preferences for every single Sabbath album. To be honest, I am not sure what your comment on the WB Greenie etc. has to do with the topics at hand? I don't collect vinyl, though I have some needledrops; anyway, two needledrops of the same LP release often sound so different that I am very cautious with claims about similarities between CD and LP releases.
Because those cd’s are supposed to match the Vinyl pressings warts and all.In other words nothing was fixed
OK, but there are multiple vinyl pressings of each Sabbath album, many of them with more or less pronounced differences in sound, including differences between individual LPs from the 'same' pressing, depending on about a billion of factors of all kinds. Sure, the sound of an early LP may often tell us something about how the recording was originally supposed to sound - I mainly use that kind of comparison in order to remain critical of marketing claims about remasters like the 2012 Pearce ones or people who think that a Sabbath recording should sound super-"detailed". But again, a (supposed) similarity between the sound of a certain CD and LP alone does not tell me whether I will like any of the two. Let's not forget that analog and digital audio media have different benefits and drawbacks, so a CD sounding different from an LP is not necessarily a bad thing. So you like that volume spike on War Pigs?
Iron Man is at a much lower volume than the rest of the tracks. Overall, I just don't like the sound as much as the Intercord but they're very close for much of the album.
Yeah it is probably one of the better Paranoid cds plus the S/T even though incomplete sounds nice as well Where does the CLC disc fall into the Paranoid ranking then better than the 86 or worse?
Where do you think the 33PD falls short? That’s my only CD copy, so I’m open to checking out alternatives. I do have the recent blue vinyl release as well.
I still consider the 33PD to be one of the best available versions of Paranoid - there isn't anything close to a 'definitive version" of that album yet. As for flaws, IIRC, "Iron Man" has a an unusually low volume level on the 33PD; also, at least on Electric Funeral (I haven't looked at the other tracks), there's a significant imbalance between the volume levels of both channels. And there maybe more, see rnranimal's post quoted below. Nonetheless, I do like the overall sound of the 33PD quite a bit (more than rnranimal does I think); ATM I am leaning towards the Intercord, but I am far from decided yet. As for alternative versions, if you go through my recent posts in this thread, I've posted several sound samples, maybe check them out. I think the Intercord, Castle 1986 and 33PD are the best digital releases of Paranoid so far, and apparently the ones that have most often been mentioned in this thread as being someone's favorites.
