Noodled24 said:

The SOTT CD sounds like shit. It always has. The volume very low.

.

Just turn it up.

And do not be surprised when the louder parts rattle the ceiling.

anangellooksdown said:

breakdown2k14 said:

There's a sign of the times album coming out on vinyl august 23rd .its suppose to be remastered

Thanks. And thank you to all who educated me so much more about all this.

I meant to also say, your car stereo can probably adjust the max output volume. Toggle around with the settings a bit, I know I've used vehicles where you could increase it.

udo said:

Noodled24 said:

The SOTT CD sounds like shit. It always has. The volume very low.

.

Just turn it up.

And do not be surprised when the louder parts rattle the ceiling.

SOTT on max volume is equal to to Purple Rain on half volume. But that's not really the issue. It's been a known issue with the album for decades. The version on Tidal is much better.

Noodled24 said:

The version on Tidal is much better.

.

Because it has been normalised?

Becaused it has been compressed a bit more?

Or why?

I "remastered" it myself, years ago. Well...I evened out the levels and raised the volume...sounds very good, though the bass is a little too much, but I just EQ it down.

Yeah...of all the Prince CDs that were just direct transfers from analog, SOTT sounds the absolute worst. Not sure why that should be, but it be.

udo said:

Noodled24 said:

The version on Tidal is much better.

.

Because it has been normalised?

Becaused it has been compressed a bit more?

Or why?

The version on Tidal sounds louder certainly. Also brighter from what I remember.

Didn't someone contact Tidal and establish almost everything had been remastered?

[Edited 7/11/16 12:42pm]

KingSausage said:

The Black Album sounds like ass too.

I'd say TBA sounds worse than SOTT, but they both sound criminally bad, for an artist of Prince's stature.

Much as I want vault tracks, I agree with Alan Leeds that this is the material that must be revisited first, because the majority of those 80s cds sound like a fart in a jar.

... just to clarify, for a fair amount of you, "good" or "bad" sound is basically determined by how loud something is or isn't?

WhisperingDandelions said:

... just to clarify, for a fair amount of you, "good" or "bad" sound is basically determined by how loud something is or isn't?

It's funny 'cause it's true!


Also, all the songs on an album being the same volume is good. Having both quiet and loud songs on an album is bad. Or so it seems...

WhisperingDandelions said:

... just to clarify, for a fair amount of you, "good" or "bad" sound is basically determined by how loud something is or isn't?

No.

It's specifically the SOTT album on CD. The overall loudness of the CD is an issue but it's nothing to do with the loudness war. The albums before and after SOTT are fine. However the SOTT CD itself is abnormally quiet.

Noodled24 said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

... just to clarify, for a fair amount of you, "good" or "bad" sound is basically determined by how loud something is or isn't?

No.

It's specifically the SOTT album on CD. The overall loudness of the CD is an issue but it's nothing to do with the loudness war. The albums before and after SOTT are fine. However the SOTT CD itself is abnormally quiet.

Okay, but, you said "no," then your following reason ("abormally quiet") relates to volume.

Do you have any other issues with the SOTT CD other than it not being loud, comparatively or otherwise? I'm just trying to learn, I always see this album pointed out as the worst "sounding", but it always sounded fine to me? And I've heard the vinyl, the sound itself is very similar...

[Edited 7/11/16 17:39pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

I learned SOTT from cassette, so that's the version that I think of as "the right one"--my cassette's now long gone, so I can't compare, but the CD's always sounded "weak" in comparison, and I don't mean just the volume. I don't think it's an accurate representation of what I used to hear, as far as all the sounds that used to be there. But, you know, I could be remembering wrong.

graffiti bridge dont sound so good either

luvsexy4all said:

graffiti bridge dont sound so good either

.

Turn it up!

udo said:

luvsexy4all said:

graffiti bridge dont sound so good either

.

Turn it up!

doesnt work.....

WhisperingDandelions said:

Noodled24 said:

No.

It's specifically the SOTT album on CD. The overall loudness of the CD is an issue but it's nothing to do with the loudness war. The albums before and after SOTT are fine. However the SOTT CD itself is abnormally quiet.

Okay, but, you said "no," then your following reason ("abormally quiet") relates to volume.

No - I don't judge how good or bad an album is purely by how loud it is.

The overall loudness of the SOTT CD has been a known issue for decades. If you can't hear it then your CD is either from a different source or you've never heard the CD.

Do you have any other issues with the SOTT CD other than it not being loud, comparatively or otherwise? I'm just trying to learn, I always see this album pointed out as the worst "sounding", but it always sounded fine to me? And I've heard the vinyl, the sound itself is very similar...

Put on Parade, and it sounds fine. Put on Lovesexy and it sounds fine. Put on SOTT and don't touch the volume dial - it's abnormally quiet compared to the albums which came before and after it. Which suggests there is an issue with the CD.

luvsexy4all said:

graffiti bridge dont sound so good either

Can't say I've ever noticed a problem with that album.

Noodled24 said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

No - I don't judge how good or bad an album is purely by how loud it is.

The overall loudness of the SOTT CD has been a known issue for decades. If you can't hear it then your CD is either from a different source or you've never heard the CD.

Put on Parade, and it sounds fine. Put on Lovesexy and it sounds fine. Put on SOTT and don't touch the volume dial - it's abnormally quiet compared to the albums which came before and after it. Which suggests there is an issue with the CD.

No, no, no, I'm not saying anything about the quality of the album's musical content. I think we can assume at least 95% of Prince fans think SOTT is a great album, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about good or bad as it relates to the sound quality.

And yeah, I know it's the quietest Prince CD, I'm not disputing that, I'm just asking if anyone has any other reasons why they think it "sounds bad" and.... based on your response again talking about volume, I don't think anyone does have any other reasons.


ha, I wouldn't call it an "issue" though, unless your volume knob is broken.... I mean there's catalogues on disc put out from third generation copies of the masters with wonky smley-face technicolor EQ... Prince's early discog is good... and certainly better than that ear-bleeding brickwall mastering he favored in the late 90s and 00s, no?

I think it's probably something simple as perhaps SOTT was the first album put out on CD in tandem with the vinyl, maybe? And the others (the louder ones) were maybe released after the fact as volume progressively increased. Does anyone know what was the first album to come out in all three formats at once?

WhisperingDandelions said:

Prince's early discog is good... and certainly better than that ear-bleeding brickwall mastering he favored in the late 90s and 00s, no?

This is a point I've tried to make many times. I can work with SOTT, a little EQ & volume adjustment and is sounds great, on vinyl AND CD.

I can't do anything to improve the sound of say HitNRun Phase One. It's so brickwalled it just sounds bad. No amount of EQ or volume adjustments can improve it.

Most of you want the 80s albums remastered. I want the ones from the last 20 years remastered. Just sayin'...

djThunderfunk said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

Prince's early discog is good... and certainly better than that ear-bleeding brickwall mastering he favored in the late 90s and 00s, no?

This is a point I've tried to make many times. I can work with SOTT, a little EQ & volume adjustment and is sounds great, on vinyl AND CD.

I can't do anything to improve the sound of say HitNRun Phase One. It's so brickwalled it just sounds bad. No amount of EQ or volume adjustments can improve it.

Most of you want the 80s albums remastered. I want the ones from the last 20 years remastered. Just sayin'...

Ok can we have all remastered

djThunderfunk said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

Prince's early discog is good... and certainly better than that ear-bleeding brickwall mastering he favored in the late 90s and 00s, no?

This is a point I've tried to make many times. I can work with SOTT, a little EQ & volume adjustment and is sounds great, on vinyl AND CD.

I can't do anything to improve the sound of say HitNRun Phase One. It's so brickwalled it just sounds bad. No amount of EQ or volume adjustments can improve it.

Most of you want the 80s albums remastered. I want the ones from the last 20 years remastered. Just sayin'...

That was what I was trying to get at it with the last post.... I think a lot of people actually want his 80s stuff to be mastered like his modern stuff.

Like, that intense intro to "MPLS" came on my playlist the other night. Wow.... Just wow. I'd rather have to gently reach to turn up my volume than have to spazzily dart across the room like the Flash to immediately turn it down.

Have never had this problem with mine, either. But this thread inspired me to listen to The Ballad of Dorothy Parker while reading the Susan Rogers interview about the recording of it. Highly recommended, it really puts you in the room. I've been sitting at the bottom of the stairs while Prince works his way around me. So far, I haven't gotten up. Just kinda sitting there watching.

Guitarhero said:

djThunderfunk said:

This is a point I've tried to make many times. I can work with SOTT, a little EQ & volume adjustment and is sounds great, on vinyl AND CD.

I can't do anything to improve the sound of say HitNRun Phase One. It's so brickwalled it just sounds bad. No amount of EQ or volume adjustments can improve it.

Most of you want the 80s albums remastered. I want the ones from the last 20 years remastered. Just sayin'...

Ok can we have all remastered

That would be great but won't happen. They'll remaster the first 20 years and keep the rest I'm sure.

our lifetime wont get any of this stuff.....

luvsexy4all said: