Cd quality getting better.

Yes indeed

Some of the 'early' CD's like Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' are easily embarassed by vinyl. This disc has apparently not been remastered as the original heap of shit still sells by the shed load.

Unless anyone knows differently?

What annoys me is 'arty-farty' (fashionable?) producers who deliberately create lo-fi crap such as the latest Coldplay album. Great music; ruined.

People are turning out stuff in their bedroom that pisses on this garbage.

I feel better now!

Yah, I think so too. The mastering (and engineering) on a few of the more recent CDs I have is phenomenally good:

Patty Larkin Regrooving the Dream
Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales
eels Daisies of the Galaxy
Ben Harper Fight for Your Mind (must have been ahead of its time since it's from 1995)

I'd love to have a demonstration one day of how much a well-engineered album can be screwed up by poor digital mastering.

Thomas

Thomas- what sort of stuff is-
Patty Larkin Regrooving the Dream
Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales?

quote:

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A good example also is the Eleanor Mcavoy -Yola

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Oh great you can play it on your electric doo-dah alternate format player. But would you actually want to listen to it? What a boring album - it's dire! IMHO, of course.

Somebody told me the other day that Neil Young is a big fan of 5ch DVD-A recording techniques - he prefers now to record live encirlcled by the band... and thats how one hears it through the 5ch system - on top of Neil's guitar, with band around the room. Interesting - but not remotely like you'd get to hear him at your local bar, or the Royal Albert Hall, for that matter! Can anyone expand on this 5ch stuff?

This thread strikes me as a little round-earth - what next, audiophile records? Oh, with the exception of Thomas' post... yes indeed Fight for your mind's sound matches the music.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

PS - rant over.

quote:

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Some of the 'early' CD's like Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' are easily embarassed by vinyl. This disc has apparently not been remastered as the original heap of shit still sells by the shed load.

Unless anyone knows differently?

---

FWIW, that title has been remastered once and remixed once. You are probably listening to the remaster and remix. The original CD (from way back when) sounds pretty much like my '1A' US cut. The CD available now is a POS.

Rich,

Larkin pens and plays very adult folk-pop tunes. IMO, this is the state-of-the-art for the genre. At first listen it may sound very conventional, but the songs are well-structured and exceptionally well arranged. Her slightly raspy vocals can be haunting, and her guitar playing is dead on the mark. This is gritty, gutsy and accomplished folk, nothing like the peace-love-happiness stuff that is often ridiculed. Surprisingly, hardly anyone here knows her.

When my best mate introduced me to this music (he played me one of her earlier albums, Perishable Fruit, I was absolutely gobsmacked. That particular album sounds rather unconventional, though. It's the kind and quality of music I always aspired to writing and playing myself.

Regrooving the Dream is two years old now. Her latest album Red = Luck is to be released on Vanguards Records any day now; seems to be in the same vein. Check out the soundfiles -- you'll notice the recording quality even through your PC speakers.

AFAIK, Jack Johnson has only released this one album. It's plain and simple beach-folk-pop (I just made that term up), catchy tunes played by an extremely tight band. The album was produced by the same guy who produces Ben Harper. It's similar to, but a bit tamer than G. Love and Special Sauce, if that rings a bell.

BTW, Rico! New Ben Harper due in March!

Thomas

Quote:

"I wonder is it because the new formats DVD-A and SACD are teaching them that the consumer wants qualtiy 1st. A good example also is the Eleanor Mcavoy -Yola which comes as a Hybrid sacd an cd and the cd version sounds great as good as anything I have ever heard on any format."

I bought some of the new Rolling Stones 1960:s stuff remasters on CD. These are made with the same technology as the SACD:s (DSD bla bla). Probably the best sounding CD:s so far, but my original vinyl still has the edge, if rather small now.

Quote:

"With analogue in its twilight and with the onset of superior digital mediums like SACD and DVD-A I guess the question is rather academic."

Maybe it should be ...with the onset of inferior digital mediums like MP3...

Free downloaded music on the internet is most probably the future and SACD and DVD-A will die with the music industry as whe know it.

JohanR

sorry to Rico if the statement is too mature for you to discuss.

quote:

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sorry to Rico if the statement is too mature for you to discuss.

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Sorry Richy, I should have more clearly and politely pointed out that this appears to be a thread dedicated to discussing how good music sounds, rather than how good the music is - which all seems somewhat round-earth hi-fi, and rather puzzling.

It's just that the whole notion of listening to music in 5.1 gives me the giggles. Sorry.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

Rico,

I would like to add that today's recordings do sound more tuneful.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
Linn Binn Sinner

Quote:

"It's just that the whole notion of listening to music in 5.1 gives me the giggles. Sorry."

Agree! To me, 2 channels is one more than necesarry.

JohanR

quote:

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Originally posted by JohanR:
To me, 2 channels is one more than necesarry.
JohanR

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I think this fella would agree if he were still around!



Steve

I'me very satisfied to listen to the TV thru my 92. Extra speakers on my end tables and the wires to get them there, what a hassle and expence.

Where's Vuk when you need him? I'd love to hear his opinions of whether remastering Furtwangler such that one would listen in 5.1 from the conductor's podium would add anything to the experience.

Vuk? Ross?

Andrew - does everything sound more tuneful on a Classik?

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

I'd agree that CDs are not so universally awful as they once were. There are some listenable examples around. Whether this is to do with those involved in their production getting better at it and/or simply taking more trouble is anybody's guess. The problem from my POV is that 15 quid spent on a single CD could also buy up to 7 quality LPs, so personally I need to be convinced that I really, really want that CD before I buy it. They need to by truly excellent, and mostly they aren't. IMHO naturally.


Best;

Mark

I've been down Virgin Megastore snapping up all the Verve reissues in the gatefold sleeves for £6.99. Things like Oscar Peterson's We Get Requests, Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson, Night Train, Bill Evans' Conversations with Myself and Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd Jazz Samba. I have one or two of these on vinyl and original reissued CD and these new cuts are just fantastic! They're fun, they have snap and rhythm and they're fabulous quality to boot. They're all 96khz remastered with either 20 or 24-bit engines. I haven't bothered trying to work out whether the 20-bit ones are worse than the 24-bit ones. All I can say is they're way better than the original CD's and arguably better than the vinyl...

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Frank,

I am trying to cut down my monthly CD budget. It is this sort of post that causes all the problems.

Are they really that good?

David

Yes, Frank,

Stop it! Can you tell me more about We Get Requests - it it this version? UK or US pressing?

I think the older (non-remastered) Verve CD version is fabulous, but it's no longer available. Listened to a friend's remastered version and didn't think it was better -- just more hiss, not more music.

Thomas