daPrettyman said:

I just checked out some of the post-WB albums and none of those were actually mastered by Bernie Grundman himself, but indeed, some of them were mastered AT B.G. Mastering. Anyway, as i said earlier, most of these later albums are too squashed and lack real dynamics. Just have a look at the waveforms, it's all clipping. Of course it's a common problem with most pop-rock releases for at least a decade now.

KaresB said:

"I stand corrected"
Though I agree with you about some of the releases for sure. I think that is the way P wanted them to sound. Wouldn't surprise me. He has never really cared about the sound of his music.

one word :

MULTITRACKING.

KaresB said:

That doesn't mean it's horribly mastered...blame albums like Dr. Dre's The Chronic for stuff like that. It's just the style of the way music is put out now. You can't sound "professional" unless you participate in the loudness war and squeeze as much bass out of your mix as you can. =\

edit: I doubt these will sound any better than the original CDs if they're not being remastered. CDs are digital and you're just pulling data off of a disc...the real magic happens in the d/a conversion.
[Edited 6/4/09 11:59am]

thetaco said:

I didn't say they're horribly mastered because they weren't personally done by B.Grundman - i say they are horrible because they are compressed and most of them are clipping.

Believe or not: SHM does sound better than the normal CD - and a CD player is not just "pulling data off a disc". There are a tons of books written about how to "pull that data off the disc" accurately. DAC is another important part of the chain, of course, but it's not everything.

EmeraldSkies said:

I just recieved several of these CDs by another artist/group and the packaging is fantastic.I'm hooked on these things Gonna order some more.

Giovanni777 said:

So that explains why the sound quality is so flat and lifeless.I'm gonna stick with my vinyl copy,too.

.
[Edited 6/5/09 4:42am]

SoulAlive said:

I'm gonna do that till death. Word.

By the way, this is my 1000th post!!!
[Edited 6/5/09 4:45am]

Sophianestesia said:

Congratulations

SoulAlive said:

Thanks!

SoulAlive said:

Where did you guys get this nonsense about SOTT having been mastered from cassette? Ya'll can't be serious...

Anyway, as i said earlier, if ANY cassette tape might have been mentioned by some mastering engineer in any interviews, it must've been a U-matic cassette, not compact cassette...

Sophianestesia said:

VINYL LIVES!!!

The discussion about the mastering of Sign O' The Times should be separated into two... original mastering and vinyl pressings, vs. the CD mastering, which is indeed horrendously weak and flat, which was the case 4 many CDs "pressed" during that time. The vinyl original KILLS it. U R better off just making a CD from the vinyl. Again, the ORIGINAL mastering was marvelous.

.
[Edited 6/5/09 9:11am]

Marrk said:

I have Purple Rain CD and it does sound better than my regular japanesse pressing and the domestic pressing that I own.

KaresB said:

May have been a Umatic, or the smaller Umatic S, but the point is that they didn't go back 2 the original masters.

By using a U matic, there had 2 be one, maybe two levels of error correction, which degrades the sound.

Also, the A-D converters back then were laughable compared 2 now. Tons of error correction, and distortion at low levels.

So no matter how good your D-A converters R in your present system, the official CD of Sign O' The Times will always sound dull and lifeless compared 2 the original VINYL version.

.
[Edited 6/5/09 9:26am]

It would really be nice if WB decided 2 remaster all of his albums through Lovesexy or Batman, and used the vinyl looking CDs, with mini replica labels, and the replica album covers AND sleeves.

Now there's an idea!

Giovanni777 said:

I'd still buy the Japanese versions. I've never ever seen a US or European made LP-replica cover that comes anywhere near the quality and attention to detail of the Japanese made ones.
[Edited 6/5/09 10:35am]

KaresB said:

QUESTION:

I think I will buy them all, but how reliable is this site?????

does anyone know how expensive the shipping/ postage will be, Japan to Europe?

(sorry if these are silly questions). Peace.

thedance said:

I order from cdjapan.co.jp regularily and they are great. You can expect the best service you can imagine: prompt shipping and extremely thoughtful and safe packaging (not like amazon who just throw books and things into a large box). They have recently cut back a bit on shipping. The shipping cost for 10CDs to Europe will be approximately $32.-. And for each purchase you get coupons for your next order.

thedance said:

I noticed that eil has the SHM CDs listed for $57 US. That's a chunk of change. Remember, there is no way this proprietary plastic protective layer alone will help improve sound quality. No way possible. You could get the glass masters and playback would be the same. Since nothing has been done to improve the data layer, these will just be prettier versions of what you probably already have.

There have been some crazy ways to improve on the CD in past years. Remember those bands you could put on the outside edge of the disc to correct "CD wobble"? Or how about using a black or green Sharpie to color the CD edge and prevent laser-scatter?

In my opinion, this is some hokus-pokus boooolshit.

^^ thank you both for the replies,

KaresB: it sounds like this site is very reliable... thanks for the details, I think I'm convinced now,

Squirrelgrease: it's true I own these CDs already, but I just think the mini-LP cover artworks are really great, I own a few by 10CC (older british rock band to those who don't rememebr, 10CC), and these are really great.

thank you for the guidance, both..

squirrelgrease said:

You're entitled to your opinion. Those of us who actually have SHM-CDs hear the difference but obviously we're just paid agents of the Jap record companies

when it comes to remastering,(and no, i'm not talking about copying from a master tape either. anybody can do that)

here's what i'm talking about:

you need the multi track tapes OF EACH INSTRUMENT!(if they're available.if not, then one has no choice than to copy from a master tape to make the recording "brighter" so to speak.

break it down further:

limited number of copies (like, say, 3,000) straight from the soundboard. it's about those little subleties that you didn't hear the first go round.

KaresB said:

I'm starting to wonder.

Giovanni777 said:

So true. I have 2 different versions of ATWIAD (the first pressing with the original packaging) and the cd that was issued around 89 or 90. They sound totally different. I also have 2 different versions of SOTT, they sound different also. One is from the early 90s and one is from 98 or 99. They sound similar, but not the same.

Motown was notorious for this when cds were first introduced. They just threw the music on cd and didn't care much about the mastering for the cd output. I really noticed it with Stevie Wonder's SITKOL. The first copy I have (from the early 90s), sounds horrific. It is flat and dull sounding. The remastered version from 2000 (or 99...I can't remember) sounds totally different. It's not just the loudness. It's not as flat sounding and has a more pure sound.

Giovanni777 said:

MJ did that for his Visionary boxed set and it is a wonderful set.

SequentusBeta said:

You're talking about remixing (as in recreating a mix), not mastering or remastering, and remixing from the original multitracks is only very rarely part of the procedures for a rerelease. The Hendrix Experience series have been remixed, i know, and there are some other examples (the Beatles catalog is a recent one), and these are great, but reissue projects seldom have the budget for such an expensive task. But the mastering engineer *always* works with the 2-track.

serpan99 said:

Me too, I ordered all of the 10 cds last night

Japanese LP-replicas coming out in July


Any News or review ???


thanx