Much as I like Steely Dan, we are talkin' Supertramp here, right?
I happen to know a bit about that band:
This was a unique recording in audio history. Why? Because it was recorded in left, centre and right. Nothing else.
No mere pan-potting.
I have heard the CD version. Not a scratch on the original vinyl LP version. Severly lacking in dynamic range for one thing. Just lacked that wake you up call.
I happen to know a bit about that band:
This was a unique recording in audio history. Why? Because it was recorded in left, centre and right. Nothing else.
No mere pan-potting.
I have heard the CD version. Not a scratch on the original vinyl LP version. Severly lacking in dynamic range for one thing. Just lacked that wake you up call.
I read somewhere maybe DGM Global website the tape heads were found out of alignment on 21st century schizoid man. Awesome song but sounds like Greg Lake singing through razor blades. Haven’t played it for a while but iirc the rest of the album was spot on sound wise.
Surprised no one has mentioned the original release of Vapor Trails by Rush. Not just because of brickwall compression which it has, but apparently many of the individual instrument tracks were simply recorded too hot from the very outset. There's a breakdown in the prechoruses of the song "Peaceable Kingdom" that just sounds incomprehensible. What made this album especially shocking was that Rush had a reputation of bringing state-of-the-art recording techniques to bear with every album such that you knew you were getting a very high-quality product. Not so with Vapor Trails. I got more and more ticked off about it because the album really did grow on me as far as the songs and the playing went. Thankfully the band released a remixed version that was indeed considerably improved and they included some goodies here and there like the guitar solo that was missing from the original release's version of "Ceiling Unlimited."
On Gone Hollywood, the crash is very aggressively EQed and actually sounds distorted in the top end from the mic preamp side with extra compression on top of it. The other tracks are fine, just that one rips my ears off from that 8k peak they put on it.
I was very disappointed by some of the King Crimson albums. I'm still in contact with bassist Tony Levin and he stated the tape transfer to master was to blame. They let the master slip through with that sound without the ok of the band. It was the label that pushed it through that way. Sad, because I actually like King Crimson.
It starts with electric guitar. The bass comes in about 2 bars later. Sound good to me! 😎
I bought Pink Floyd Animals when it came out and was so dissatisfied with the sound I got rid of it in a moment of madness. There’s a recent 2018 remaster now that’s quite good particularly for the drums and keyboards.
I have some tracks by solo artists like Dylan with very strange mixes.
Vocals from one side and guitar from the other. Who thought that was a good idea?
Vocals from one side and guitar from the other. Who thought that was a good idea?
Didn't manage to notice this till now. Anyway, both unison power chords right post the atonal psychedelic interlude sound badly distorted on all versions of this really great song that I know.
Best regards!
This is a great set of tunes, but not the recording imo. Not because of the mechanics of it but because they had not yet refined/honed their style. Their Paris live recording is a great production and contains all these tunes but in a much better rendition, again imo.
If this is the the early stuff, I think it's because it was originally recorded on two track for mono: one track for vocal, the other for guitar or piano. Same thing with the early Beatles, where in stereo you have vocals from one channel and instruments on the other. Those sort of mixes sound strange, especially if you're near one speaker than the other or listening through headphones. The mono mixes don't have that issue
Geoff
When I heard it first, I was impressed by the holographic 3-dimensional "surround" mix, like dogs barking from behind, etc. Kind of quadraphonics from 2 channels.
When I first listened to the 2018 remix of Animals it sounded like there were dogs barking along our hallway, out of the living room where my music is played. Even our dog lifted her head up and looked out the door for those dogs!
Well, I'm not bothered by it. It's the recording aesthetic of that period in time, and you'll have to accept it for what it is. It's like complaining that movies from the 20's are not in color and widescreen with Atmos sound.
I don't know about Dylan but the early Beatles album were G.Martin's experimentations with the possibility a new media offered. We had same things with first 5.1 mix with strange instrument location... with solo paned hard left rear or the like...
I remember 5.1 DSOTM edition where rototom make a circle around listener. Funny feeling.
IMO this kind of multichanel format never took over stereo because we are so used to how stereo 'display' scene image it have almost zero interest ( rear chanels with reverbs tails and applause... makes the whole reproducing chain installation pricey for low informations).
If you are bothered by the Beatles mixing choices it'is mostly because we are used to conventional mix ( having the scene spread left/right to mimic a band real performance) but it's an arbitrary choice which have been made a long time ago.
If other arbitrary choice have been made at the time then we could be/see the inverse situation. 🙂
The same could be said about recording convention in classical music, a grand A/B recording technique is one choice over a large panel of options...
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Not quite off topic here but it’s worth a mention that I find my MacBook Pro laptop amazing in that it does this on lots of recordings, mind you in a small space. if I’m laying on the couch with it on my chest, at just the right position it’s very holographic. It will project an image seemingly far past it’s boundaries.
Early reflection in the right amount and mix are great at making stereo scene bigger than life.
Are you sure there isn't any 'surround whatever enhancer processor' used in the mac audio core? It often happen in windows environment where they impose that kind of enhancement without asking!
Are you sure there isn't any 'surround whatever enhancer processor' used in the mac audio core? It often happen in windows environment where they impose that kind of enhancement without asking!
I have many, if not all, lp's from Crosby, Stills, Nash plus Young on some. One lp, white cover, with absolutely nothing on it, just CSNY stamp, nothing on lp itself, is some bootleg life recording. Either from tapes, or from mix board. Lots of ambiance, terrible sound quality, some terrible of key singing, but unique. Anyone knows more about this lp?