The new Aja and Gaucho reissues are for shm-sacd and were part of a 100 reduced price shm-sacd pre-order potential reissue if they get enough orders for the album thing posted here in August [I can see now my post you quoted was not clear about shm-sacds as I was originally talking about shm-cd]. I don't know if they have done anything like that for shm-cd only albums if you are asking about straight reissues of the three you named. If you are asking about a remaster of those three, or any other SD albums, who knows, I certainly don't expect word anytime soon and I accept the two we got this year as the bonuses they are and am leaving it at that.
Haven't been on the forum that long but read your old post about a month ago and came across this Katy Lied cd today in a used bin.Couldnt exactly remember what the matrix was but what the heck,it seemed similar to what you wrote.Sure enough its the same you recommended tracking down and it sounds sweeeeet. Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I apologize if this bump goes a bit too far, but I'd like to ask: When Steve Porcaro mentions the clipped cymbals on the Katy Lied album, does his observation apply only to the vinyl version, or was the problem impossible to fix for any CD version? That is, was the clipping a permanent flaw in the original tapes, or was it fixed in--for example--the Steve Hoffman-mastered CD?
Jeff Porcaro just for the record right? He mentions that about the DBX issues with the mix-down of album which is a whole can of worms wrapped inside yarns shrouded in dollops of legend, see here amongst surely other Dan tales. If you choose to believe it, it is the tape; if you don’t worry about it, it is a great album and sounds great on the Hoffman CD. Whatever it is I love it on that CD especially and certainly clipped cymbals are the last thing on my mind.
(Whoops, yes it was Jeff, not Steve.) Oh I love the CD as well, but I was curious whether the vinyl LP version has some cymbal clipping and distortion issues that the CD versions (noticeably) fixed.
You can hear the cymbal clipping on all versions if you listen for them. However, if you're an optimist you can see it as an opportunity to hear the other instruments better
The crash cymbals do sound a little like spray cans, to borrow somone else's description of them. Anyway, thanks. The issue is in the recording.
http://www.steelydan.com/dennys3.html Here's a cool article by Denny Dias about Katy Lied. Sorry if it's been posted here already.
I compared "Black Friday" from Steve's mastering to Glenn Meadows on "Citizen Steely Dan". Glenn's version is sounds far crisper and clearer than Steve's, which sounds kind of dull. Not sure which version is the intended way for it to sound. I like the clearer sound on Citizen, but it might be a bit too bright. Thoughts? We all know the long story about the recording problems with this album, and that the mixes sounded dull. Did they get it right this time? I believe they used Rogers Nichols 1982 PCM transfers as the sources and EQ'ed them?
I think they are both good sounding versions, I have a slight preference for Steve's but totally accept that in a different room/set up it could go the other way. However, my go-to for Katy Lied is a rip of the vinyl.
Well the drums are irreparably clipped on Katy Lied as far as I understand, and high end on the tracks in general might have been lost.
I remember that on the whole that most Citizens versions were a little more upfront and eq'd a bit brighter. Perhaps that works well for that album in particular. Not that DR explains much, but I notice for that track it is a 12 on Citizens vs. a 14 on Steve's, both good to great of course but maybe that little difference helps for you. I have come to accept this album for how it is, it is like All Things Must Pass to me; sure there are some flaws baked into the cake, but man it is a genius thing to wear and just feels like a warm sweater by the fire in the winter. I think Steve's maintains all of those aspects the best.
I have Steve's mastering 3 but recently read on one of these threads that our host stated that the "plaid back" 31xxx discs were the go to's because they're sourced from analog masters. Something about this title just doesn't sound right.
Are you talking about this quote maybe, how much greater do the old steely dan discs sound over the remasters » I cannot speak for the man, but I am not so sure he is making a distinction that the plaid backs themselves are the sole analog masters, but rather more that the early CDs, many of them plaid backs, are. It seems the work done in this thread should tell you Steve's mastering 3 uses the analog masters and that will be the case whether it is a plaid back or not. The tape supposedly has some funkiness to it if you have read any of the lore about it.
That's the SH comment in question. My wiring got a bit jumbled on this one. It is funky sounding at times.
It is but I love it nonetheless. I think I would have a hard time getting used to it without the touch of mossy-ness it has if they even could accomplish that. If the stories about the state of many Steely Dan tapes are true this might be the best it will ever sound depending on your tastes.
"Mossy-ness" is a good descriptor. It's such a great record. It should have the clarity of Kamakiriad.
So there's a better version of Katy Lied than the Citizin Steely Dan Box set? Which sounds good to me.
So - Katy Lied is interesting. There's basically three masterings as Steve details here: Katy Lied By looking at EAC peak values - the Citizen Steely Dan appears to use the 2nd (Roger's and/or Glenn's) mastering: Steely Dan CDs Different Masterings: Katy Lied So - Steve describes his mastering as follows: Katy Lied Thuddy and dry is a great way to describe it. The other two masterings appear to have some extra high end dialed in. Which you'd rate as "better" is up to your personal preferences. I actually like both the original CD and the Citizen Dan mastering for this one - but for completely different reasons. The original CD is probably closest to the way the original tape sounds - but can sound kind of dead on non-reference systems. The Citizen EQ adds a little sparkle to the mix - maybe not the way the tape sounds - but a good balance for most systems. Denny Dias does mention liking the Citizen specifically: Katy and The Gremlin The 2000-era (1998) final remaster is brighter than the Citizen Dan mastering - like many others in that series. Nothing wrong with it per se, but my least favorite of the three. Cheers, Paul
Maybe THIS? Notes © 1975, 1985 MCA Records Inc., ℗ 1975 MCA Records, Inc. Manufactured in Germany by Record Service GmbH, Alsdorf • Pressé en Allemagne par Record Service GmbH, Alsdorf (on Inlay and Booklet) Made in Switzerland (on Disc)
Thanks, I might give it a miss. Seems to correlate with Mastering 4, which is suggested in this thread not to sound as good as Steve's version.
