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Post by julesd68 on May 4, 2016 17:13:04 GMT
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Post by MartinT on May 4, 2016 17:47:56 GMT
It seems a shame then if they don't release it in a hi-res digital format.
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Post by Stratmangler on May 4, 2016 18:20:07 GMT
I'm waiting for my copy of Solid Air to turn up. It's been put back once already, but with a bit of luck it gets sent out on Friday .....
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on May 4, 2016 18:34:57 GMT
Thanks for the heads up, have bought a copy too.
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Post by daytona600 on May 5, 2016 7:19:37 GMT
Comedy half speed mastering & not exactly new Decca used this in the 50s abbey road & miles showell can & do half-speed mastering in AAA if they want
& they are not selling as price has dropped 3 times on pre-orders they started @ £ 35 , then £30 now £25 wait a few weeks & under 20 quid or less average record buyers are not going to pay £30 a pop & audiophiles stick with AAA premium audiophile labels like Mofi if they want half-speed masters
180g audiophile used to mean quality - now every crap record has this printed on the label
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Post by Stratmangler on May 5, 2016 15:36:26 GMT
My copy is on its way - I had an email notifying me I'm looking forward to it landing, despite Scott's enthusiasm.
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Post by julesd68 on May 5, 2016 17:50:40 GMT
I take Scott's point about the price and I'm happy to wait to see if it drops further...
However it's good to see that Back to Black have been more transparent about the mastering process than usual. If I understand the interview correctly New Gold Dream would have been a digital cut in the first place so I think it's worth a punt.
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Post by Stratmangler on May 5, 2016 18:55:58 GMT
The impression I get is that New Gold Dream was recorded onto analogue tape, and fed through a digital delay in the cutting process.
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Post by julesd68 on May 5, 2016 22:12:25 GMT
Yes that's a more accurate description of what I meant..
I didn't realise that using the digital delay was pretty commonplace with analogue recordings in the late 70's and early 80's before full digital production took over..
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Post by MartinT on May 6, 2016 5:24:53 GMT
Rather like FM radio relays via digital links. There is very little real analogue material available these days. Perhaps people shouldn't be so precious about it. After all, recording and microphone setup far outweigh the recording methodology.
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Post by julesd68 on May 6, 2016 9:41:23 GMT
I can't really disagree with you there Martin!
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Post by Stratmangler on May 6, 2016 10:05:09 GMT
Solid Air has landed. I am immediately impressed with everything as I open the packaging. There's an OBI strip in English. Inside the record section of the gatefold (the front is glued together) there is a download code, and a certificate of with mastering details (EMI did similar with The Beatles recent mono vinyl cuts). The record is in a cardboard sleeve. Hmmmm, not so impressed. Pull the sleeve out and peer into the sleeve and ......there's no antistatic sleeve, so I'm really not impressed. OK, so that's a minor let down, but it's no biggy, I still have a few of the MoFi sleeves left.
The record label is nice - it's the pink rimmed Island label. The vinyl is flat. Pop it on the turntable, and I'm not impressed at at with what I'm hearing - it's flat and lifeless. I wander off into the kitchen to make a cup of tea with the record still playing, and when I come back into the room the sound has gained life and presence where there was was none initially - oh the joys of analogue replay systems. My initial thoughts were the cart just needed 10 minutes to remind itself what it's supposed to do, after all the poor thing hadn't been played for a couple of weeks.
When the side came to the end I went over to lift the arm and turn the record over, and I spotted an accumulation of fluff on the stylus - oh the joys of analogue replay systems. Dug out the carbon fibre stylus brush, gave the stylus a careful brush clean, dropped the stylus back at the beginning of the record and played the side again. This time it sounded magnificent from start to finish. Oh the joys of analogue replay systems.
I haven't managed to download the files available, as there appears to be a server problem. I hope the download issue gets sorted out soon, and that the files are 24/96000.
We'll see ....
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Post by julesd68 on May 6, 2016 17:38:51 GMT
Damn, that might have to be another £25 purchase ...
Why these guys can't issue decent poly-lined inners god only knows.
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Post by daytona600 on May 16, 2016 11:02:04 GMT
skimping on a 10p poly liner on a £35.00 record Major labels do take liberties
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Post by julesd68 on May 16, 2016 19:47:59 GMT
I ordered the Simple Minds today and will report back on how it sounds ...
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Post by julesd68 on May 20, 2016 17:28:04 GMT
Here's my review of 'New Gold Dream'. I was too busy listening to Metal in the 80’s and could never understand why my mate bought this album. But recently I have started to enjoy some of the best of 80’s pop, especially 12” singles of which there are many gems, Simple Minds included. This is a quintessential 80’s album and so evocative of the early 80's scene - sure it’s nostalgic for those of us who were teenagers in the era but does the music stand up now? For me it certainly does - top quality song writing, instrumentation & production. It has a bit of quirkiness and invention about the songs that they would soon lose. I really like the sense of optimism and Jim Kerr’s vocals are strong throughout. Love the cover art - apparently they had to get rid of the crucifix for the Balkan release! The packaging is good - a quality cover, a certificate for the mastering and a download card. The only slip up is the gold card inner - the vinyl hadn’t suffered yet from hairlines so I put mine straight into a nice poly lined inner after cleaning. So onto the sq. More good news is that the pressing is flat and quiet. Yes, it can still be achieved when proper care is taken. The vinyl is half speed mastered for “superior treble, solid and stable stereo images”. I would certainly agree with that and overall this 35 year old production sounds remarkably fresh. But surprisingly for me it’s the bass extension I found most impressive - rock solid and especially well defined on tracks like ‘Colours fly…’ and my fave, ‘Glittering prize’. Makes me wonder what Martin's Ushers would do with all that bass! It has been mastered from a hi-res digi transfer as made clear by the studio, but in this case it has been done very well and isn’t spoilt with heavy compression. The sound is nice and airy but turn this up loud and the kick / snare drums really thump with great slam and dynamics. If this particular lp isn’t to your taste there are a number of others in this series which might be worth checking out. shop.abbeyroad.com/Half-Speed/Congrats and thanks to Abbey Road for a superior product.
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Post by Stratmangler on May 20, 2016 20:06:35 GMT
Don't forget to download your digital copy. There was a cock up with the John Martyn files, but this has now been sorted out.
I downloaded my files today, and found that they're 16/44.1 WAVs. I think they're dithered down and resampled from the 24/192 transfers done for these releases - the tape hiss at the start sounds slightly different, and is less intrusive (not that it particularly made a nuisance of itself to start with). Being WAV files there are no tags, so I've ended up having to label the lot and apply FLAC compression.
Other than that it's Solid Air, a great album with some great tunes and some fantastic playing, and the files will probably see more airings than the vinyl will.
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Post by julesd68 on May 22, 2016 10:48:42 GMT
I do hope there are a few more releases in this series...
I don't actually have any facility to stream digital! I presume you are only allowed to download the files once?
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Post by MartinT on May 22, 2016 14:11:17 GMT
Usually, yes. You can save up them somewhere safe like cloud storage.
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Post by Stratmangler on May 22, 2016 20:34:23 GMT
I do hope there are a few more releases in this series... I don't actually have any facility to stream digital! I presume you are only allowed to download the files once? Can you not burn an audio CD? It's not exactly rocket science ......
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