The Complete Elvis Presley Masters - Sony

This is the first time I've seen The Beatles remaster boxes presented as a bargain!

 

It's Elvis.

 

Publishing royalties are paid per song in the US, regardless of how many CDs they are spread over. There are hundreds more songs on the Elvis set than the Beatles one, so it makes sense that it should cost substantially more (not that I'm saying what they are charging is a reasonable price).

 

How do you guys feel about the missing song situation?

 

413 songs on The Beatles stereo and mono sets. The Elvis set has 814 masters.

If - and that's a big if - I'm figuring this out correctly, assuming a standard mechanical royalty rate of 9.1 cents per song, The Beatles pay $37.58 for each pair of mono and stereo sets, and the Elvis camp pays app. $74. The difference is only $36.42 in mechanical royalty fees.

 

It costs more because the demand is more.
Plus they are limiting the number available which also drives demand up.

 

See post #112

 

Interesting. I e-mailed them and they confirmed it's not there.
Well that's good news.

 

As beautiful as this set is, I'm probably only missing a handful of songs on here. Sure, the Elvis Country tracks will be available again in their raw form, but can the remastering be THAT much better than most of what's already out there? I'm sure that the soundtrack recordings will be an improvement over what's available on FTD, but do I really need to here Clambake, Harum Scarum and Frankie and Johnny in pristine sound quality (for that kind of money)?

 

Yeah I wish they would release this in hi-res or SACD format. Even tho Sony has basically disowned sacd, Elvis' catalog needs that extra touch, especially since they are using 24-bit tech to do this.

I'd like to hear the new 24-bit sound, but $800 is too steep. In a way maybe it's good that it's not in hi-res because I'm not REALLY tempted to get it now.

It just seems a little off to me that this red-carpet treatment of his catalog is only going to be done on cd, and later vinyl I assume.

Blu-ray Elvis gets the purchase, but I guess it's not to be.

 

If this was SACD or Blu-ray, it'd be a lot more than $800.

 

It would be the last Elvis music purchase I would ever buy.

 

My concern and reason for avoiding this set (at least until those "in the know" have had a chance to review it and provide details) is the uncertainty of what stereo mixes were used for certain tracks. The American Studios tracks alone exist in several different stereo mixes. My hope is that Vic Anesini used the correct mixes throughtout, but with the mess of different mixes that have been released since the late 1980's, one can never be too certain.

 

Have we been told who the engineer is for it yet?

 

I don't understand why people are complaining about the price of this set. It's being marketed to the "uber" fan to whom money is not really an object when it comes to collecting Elvis. It's also a limited edition - of course it's priced high! Frankly, I expected this to be closer to $1000. (I mean, you can buy a Honda Civic or a special edition Lexus - they're both cars that will get you from one place to another.)

My take on it is, well, that's nice. If I want all these songs in a set, I'm sure I'll have an opportunity. Sony would be insane not to market this in a less expensive set later on. When that happens, then we can complain!

Dexter

 

I'm not complaining about the price; it's Elvis and it's limited numbered so of course it'll be really expensive.

I just wish it was in higher res then cd.

 

As was posted several times earlier it's Vic Anesini, whose latest masterings were used.

 

Well the latest masterings are fantastic. I just went to the site and all of those songs sounding the Anesini way, wish I had the money, even tho it's only on cd I still want the set.

 

It could be priced at $200....someone would complain, no doubt.

 

Why? The license, pressing, distribution, and engineering costs are the same.

 

The technology, for starters?

Same reason blu-rays cost more than DVDs and Neil Young's Archive blu-ray cost more then the CD version. Look at the blu-ray of Tom Petty's "MOJO." It's not about license, pressing, distribution, and engineering costs.

 

They have the technology. Sony mastering studios must all have blu-ray and SACD hardware/software available. Ok, maybe they charge more per hour to remaster in hi res but not that much.

If you're argument is that they charge more because it is a niche market, then ok, call it profiteering. Blu-ray movie titles are coming down in price.

 

I wouldn't! I'd buy two, and keep one sealed.

Meanwhile...1000 units, up for pre-order worldwide for almost three days now...doesn't seem to be sold out yet, does it?

 

After the "1st run"...maybe the next issue will be much cheaper? (next year?).

Glad to read that Ernst say"s that no songs are missing,mistake on the (new) web site!.

Johnny BE.

 

that's what i was figuring, how could they leave off one song, ya know?...just seemed ludicrous to me somehow...thanks for the info on that.