Drugs in Classic Music! Speed. Talk about the conductor being "high". The NAXOS Brandenburg Concertos by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra Helmut Muller-Bruhl. (number 8.554607. Just so you can make sure you avoid it!) I play Baroque music to relax after the Led Zepplin and WHO etc. This was way to fast. I played some 4 or 5 seconds to my wife and her reaction was to burst out laughing!
Is bad mastering responsible for so much of the bad CD sound?
Was it so much harder to master vinyl that you had to get it right, or lose your job?
On the flip side. One of the best sounding recordings I ever owned was a 45 RPM single of the Cure "Close to Me." What a fantastic sound! Never did buy the CD version, tho. Has anyone?
Was it so much harder to master vinyl that you had to get it right, or lose your job?
On the flip side. One of the best sounding recordings I ever owned was a 45 RPM single of the Cure "Close to Me." What a fantastic sound! Never did buy the CD version, tho. Has anyone?
I have the "closer mix" on the Mixed Up CD. I just had a listen with some in ear monitors. Whoa, theres some deep bass in this! You'll feel that in your chest in a decent system.
the breathing at the start is pretty cool. They put in some fake vinyl crackle which is a bit annoying. When I get home in a few days I'll have a listen on some speakers.
An instrumental version of this song was used as the theme for a childrens animated series about the Incas.
You must see the Why Can't I Be You video clip, theres an incredibly crude joke in it. Look at the letters, look at the one that isn't a letter.....
the breathing at the start is pretty cool. They put in some fake vinyl crackle which is a bit annoying. When I get home in a few days I'll have a listen on some speakers.
An instrumental version of this song was used as the theme for a childrens animated series about the Incas.
You must see the Why Can't I Be You video clip, theres an incredibly crude joke in it. Look at the letters, look at the one that isn't a letter.....
Rush - Snakes...
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
I grabbed the CD almost as soon as it was available. This is probably Rush's best work in 10-15 years, and it sounds great in the car...really a great work IMO. BUT stick it in at home and it sounds like a compressed noise machine. I was really bummed.
BUT!
I learned that they pressed a 180gram double LP for a limited time! What a rare chance! I had to grab it on da bay and.... I set the 'needle in the groove'...and... the dammm thing sounds just like the CD (+ surface noise). Geez ya can't win
-I think so. These guys are mastering masterpieces into the dirt. We were better off prior to advancements(!) in limiting and compression.
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
I grabbed the CD almost as soon as it was available. This is probably Rush's best work in 10-15 years, and it sounds great in the car...really a great work IMO. BUT stick it in at home and it sounds like a compressed noise machine. I was really bummed.
BUT!
I learned that they pressed a 180gram double LP for a limited time! What a rare chance! I had to grab it on da bay and.... I set the 'needle in the groove'...and... the dammm thing sounds just like the CD (+ surface noise). Geez ya can't win
panomaniac said:
-I think so. These guys are mastering masterpieces into the dirt. We were better off prior to advancements(!) in limiting and compression.
Wow, the Cure, there's a blast from the past.
I have both versions on CD. I'll have to dig the original out and have another listen.
I do remember the closer mix on Mixed up. I think the fake vinyl crackle was a sampling artifact. I agree it was annoying. That whole album had tons of bass on it. A walk was probably had the most bass (although only just).
I think their stuff sounded alright in CD. My system wasn;t as good then as it is now though - perhaps I should reinvestigate.
I have both versions on CD. I'll have to dig the original out and have another listen.
I do remember the closer mix on Mixed up. I think the fake vinyl crackle was a sampling artifact. I agree it was annoying. That whole album had tons of bass on it. A walk was probably had the most bass (although only just).
I think their stuff sounded alright in CD. My system wasn;t as good then as it is now though - perhaps I should reinvestigate.
Just about any new pop/rock CD sounds horrible. I bought the Killers "Hot Fuss" CD, popped it into my PC and played it on some studio monitors. It sounded squashed and harsh. So I opened a song up in an audio editor and learned why. Since then I have heard much worse offenders (Greenday sounds horrible!).
I don't buy new releases anymore. If I like the band, I just grab the mp3's from a torrent site and listen to them in my car. When it comes to serious listening at home I listen to older music, on CD.
I don't buy new releases anymore. If I like the band, I just grab the mp3's from a torrent site and listen to them in my car. When it comes to serious listening at home I listen to older music, on CD.
panomaniac: "Is bad mastering responsible for so much of the bad CD sound? "
mpmarino: " ... I think so. These guys are mastering masterpieces into the dirt. We were better off prior to advancements(!) in limiting and compression. ..."
I am searching for sources of old masters' master tapes, etc. to build a personal library ... Anyone got links?
mpmarino: " ... I think so. These guys are mastering masterpieces into the dirt. We were better off prior to advancements(!) in limiting and compression. ..."
I am searching for sources of old masters' master tapes, etc. to build a personal library ... Anyone got links?
I wish with all this high density harddrive technology someone could figure a way out to use it as analog storage.... I guess the catch is that this media can just record the two binary states... not sure about this last point though.
I'm so tired of compressed crap, where you need to turn the volume to uncomfortable levels before it starts to sound like something.
Edit
from wikipedia
"Crap is a slang word meaning excrement. The word is used to mean not only excrement, but anything of low quality, or as a negative interjection. Note that this word can be considered a curse word, yet is considered mild enough that even a child may use it informally."
I'm so tired of compressed crap, where you need to turn the volume to uncomfortable levels before it starts to sound like something.
Edit
from wikipedia
"Crap is a slang word meaning excrement. The word is used to mean not only excrement, but anything of low quality, or as a negative interjection. Note that this word can be considered a curse word, yet is considered mild enough that even a child may use it informally."
" ... I'm so tired of compressed * excrement *. ... "
Ditto that.
To appreciate uncompressed music:
* Purchase your favorite music in the form of sound tracks of DVD video.
* Seek out the DVD-A or SACD versions often available in Europe on esoteric labels.
* Get the vinyl record, play the new disc through a good cartridge, "capture" or "rip" the music through a quality ADC and burn your own DVD-A. (Repeat for your friends ala "Deadhead distribution" techniques.)
* Obtain a quality copy of the original studio master tapes or original studio quality digital sources prior to mix down for mass merchandising. (This is my method of choice, 24bit digital is best.)
Ditto that.
To appreciate uncompressed music:
* Purchase your favorite music in the form of sound tracks of DVD video.
* Seek out the DVD-A or SACD versions often available in Europe on esoteric labels.
* Get the vinyl record, play the new disc through a good cartridge, "capture" or "rip" the music through a quality ADC and burn your own DVD-A. (Repeat for your friends ala "Deadhead distribution" techniques.)
* Obtain a quality copy of the original studio master tapes or original studio quality digital sources prior to mix down for mass merchandising. (This is my method of choice, 24bit digital is best.)
IMO, digital isn't the problem. I can make perfectly nice listenable CD copies of nice listenable LPs. Also, digital mastering for LPs goes back way further than I once thought it did. So, those ones and zeros are far less of a problem than widely believed. The problem, I believe, and this is strictly a guess, is a combination of the fact that audiophiles aren't the target audience, the people doing the work haven't been exposed to what's really possible (or don't care), and too much reliance on measurements. Gasp! Did I just say that? The fact is, with digital, it's way too easy to confirm that response and such are ok, without really listening. I have more test capability at my fingertips (nearly for free), than was possible with $100k of dedicated test equipment 20 years ago. 40 years ago you couldn't have bought that capability for any amount of money, because it didn't exist. So what did sound engineers do? They listened. Carefully, painstakingly, and in detail. They adjusted until things sounded good, and tried to remain true to the dynamics of the performance. Compression was probably a dirty word. Thus, the sophisticated systems for previewing the master tapes and adjusting the groove spacing on the fly. There was a hi-fi community large enough to matter, and given a market need, someone will attempt to fill it. My guess is today they cram as much stuff into the pipe as fast as they can, and crummy CDs pop out at the other end. You make money with volume (no pun intended), not quality. The economics and business models are not the same as they once were.
Conrad Hoffman: " IMO, digital isn't the problem. I can make perfectly nice listenable CD copies of nice listenable LPs. Also, digital mastering for LPs goes back way further than I once thought it did. ..."
If you are starting out with the original digital studio masters, many if not most of which are in a 24bit format, then altering the format to 16bit (for CDs) would put you into the same dilemma that the publishers are in = the required use of at least some compression technics to squeeze those 10 pounds into the 5 pound bag as it were.
DVD-A rules, man! ...
"CDs suck ..." - Bob Dylan.
If you are starting out with the original digital studio masters, many if not most of which are in a 24bit format, then altering the format to 16bit (for CDs) would put you into the same dilemma that the publishers are in = the required use of at least some compression technics to squeeze those 10 pounds into the 5 pound bag as it were.
DVD-A rules, man! ...
"CDs suck ..." - Bob Dylan.
I think exemplary sound is possible with 16bit. Listen to almost anything on the GRP label, for example. These guys were all digital in the seventies. I'm not saying that it can't be better, It's just that there seems like there is enough to work with there to get a satisfying experience. Blame the guy at the desk, IMHO....
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.