Early digital remasters could be a coin toss when it comes to quality. Also you could never trust an audio magazine to be truthful when reviewing a newly remastered album.
Luckily we have some sources on social media we can trust for the most part. It has been nice to find good releases.
Luckily we have some sources on social media we can trust for the most part. It has been nice to find good releases.
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I have a few micro groove records which are so low in level the surface noise is only 40dB down. A few 80s compilations are this way, when they crammed 10 songs on one side. Pretty bad.
I was never that impressed with most of the Seely Dan recordings. I have a few MFSL CD versions, including Aja and Gaucho, which are pretty good but not great. Their Gold compilation on MCA is pretty decent though.
I would also say most of the Carpenters stuff is horrid on vinyl and CD. They sounded like they were recorded in a bathroom stall with the built in mic from a portable cassette recorder.
Some of the best recordings on vinyl I own are the mid to late 70s Columbia stuff from Earth Wind and Fire,, as well as later EMI version of Thomas Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick. I don't really have any issues with inner groove distortion as some people do but alot of the earlier 70s vinyl has so much noise on it. The ATCO pressings were also bad.
A great record I really enjoy is Bowie's Let's Dance album. It sounds great and there's nothing I'd change about it. That one was done so well in every way.
I was never that impressed with most of the Seely Dan recordings. I have a few MFSL CD versions, including Aja and Gaucho, which are pretty good but not great. Their Gold compilation on MCA is pretty decent though.
I would also say most of the Carpenters stuff is horrid on vinyl and CD. They sounded like they were recorded in a bathroom stall with the built in mic from a portable cassette recorder.
Some of the best recordings on vinyl I own are the mid to late 70s Columbia stuff from Earth Wind and Fire,, as well as later EMI version of Thomas Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick. I don't really have any issues with inner groove distortion as some people do but alot of the earlier 70s vinyl has so much noise on it. The ATCO pressings were also bad.
A great record I really enjoy is Bowie's Let's Dance album. It sounds great and there's nothing I'd change about it. That one was done so well in every way.
90s remasters were for the most part horrible after the loudness wars started. I usually stay for away from those unless I know for sure they're done ok. I don't understand how anyone likes that distorted and slammed brickwall limited sound that many people ended up with.
The worst example of this is John Mayer's Into the Light live recording. It's so damn distorted, it's unlistenable. Plus he sings through an SM58, which is a horrid vocal mic regardless of how many people use it. What's really sad is that it was mastered by one of the best in the business, yet they were ok with this nasty sound.
Same goes for Paul McCartney's Memory Almost.Full album. That was done by Bob Ludwig (i believe) which is a shame. In contrast, PM's Tug Of War album was done superbly at Air Studio in Monsurrate on that fancy Neve console. Its a great record IMO.
The worst example of this is John Mayer's Into the Light live recording. It's so damn distorted, it's unlistenable. Plus he sings through an SM58, which is a horrid vocal mic regardless of how many people use it. What's really sad is that it was mastered by one of the best in the business, yet they were ok with this nasty sound.
Same goes for Paul McCartney's Memory Almost.Full album. That was done by Bob Ludwig (i believe) which is a shame. In contrast, PM's Tug Of War album was done superbly at Air Studio in Monsurrate on that fancy Neve console. Its a great record IMO.
yea, if you can gag down the awful music it's amazing!
I wouldn't call the music awful. I'm a funk, RnB, Jazz guy and Nile Roger's delivers on this record. He's a brilliant producer. You can chase me with extreme metal and other non-musical noise.
Hi Profiguy,
If my memory serves me well I have two :
Au clair de la Lune, first reccording of the history I found on Internet and a non official reccording of the Velvet Underground which sounds like a reccording in a cave from a cave ! Basement or cave.... something like that ! But the rythmic guitar makes it funny !
Offical reccording, well, no idea, as many are not so good or not mixed for our audio hobby.
If my memory serves me well I have two :
Au clair de la Lune, first reccording of the history I found on Internet and a non official reccording of the Velvet Underground which sounds like a reccording in a cave from a cave ! Basement or cave.... something like that ! But the rythmic guitar makes it funny !
Offical reccording, well, no idea, as many are not so good or not mixed for our audio hobby.
The recording of the Stone's Let It Bleed album was the biggest let down that I encountered. It really did sound like a garage recording. I wouldn't have been surprised if Mick's mum came out to announce "Lunch is ready!" "Mom!, we're bloody rehearsing!" I felt cheated. The songs that I heard didn't sound near as good as on FM at the time, and I can't figure out why. I now have Goats Head Soup still in the wrapper in my listening room. I really want it to be good.
Not so much a bad recording, but more of an recording error: the 90's remaster of Joe Jackson's CD Body and Soul has a number of rather loud clicks in the first track. I've heard several copies, they all had this.
Unbelievable that something so obvious wasn't noticed during QC.
Unbelievable that something so obvious wasn't noticed during QC.
Goat's Head Soup is not a bad recording. It's Only Rock n' Roll sounds like they used a cassette recording as the source.
Interesting. I bought the first edition CD in Europe and it sounded rather nice. I would use it to test a PA on gigs. Perhaps there were different versions or pressings?