[klaatumail] Re: Review of Klaatunes Records remaster of Hope
- From: "Bradley, David" <David_Bradley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:08:58 +0000
Bill Mulvy,
You ask questions that are impossible to answer.
If you like a brighter, but not brittle, high end, then this is better.
If you like less hiss and want to sacrifice high end to get it, the Bullseye is
better (and DO NOT misunderstand me, I don't think there's a lot of missing
high end on the great sounding Bullseye release).
The hiss issue is hard to explain. In some places it sounds less, in other
places it sounds more. But generally there's more high end and that, by
definition brings more tape hiss into focus.
I'm NOT a big hater of tape hiss, but there are some releases that just have
way too much hiss and usually that's a problem with the way the tape transfer
was done. Either bad analog deck preparation, poor condition tape, bad
electronics, bad converters, etc. That's NOT the case here. This is a nice
clear crisp sounding release without any brittle edge to the high end.
The warmth and fullness of the rest of the frequency range is still there too.
I don't want to focus on just the high end here.
There are people who swear by the dB readings that this is better than that or
that is better than some other that, etc. I'm also not going to go measure the
hiss level in dB on the two discs and post those numbers because they'd be
misleading at best.
Loudness or "bass boost" buttons didn't just make things louder, they changed
the way audio was EQd by running through the tone controls slightly hotter.
Some liked this, others didn't.
The disc sounds fantastic. If you absolutely love the way the Bullseye release
sounds and you're concerned about buying another copy of the album, don't. But
if you're open to buying another copy of this album, especially one
painstakingly remastered by the band at their own expense and given the full
blown extra artwork treatment in the booklet and nicely sharpened front cover
art, then you can't go wrong. I'm not going to say don't waste your money
because I honestly don't believe it to be a waste in this case. I think this
disc sounds great.
If you're going to only listen to it on the car stereo at moderate volumes
while driving on the highway with loud tires and worn pavement, don't bother.
You won't notice the difference and can't (or shouldn't) look at the artwork
while driving.
I'm also NOT a fan of the loudness wars. I hate discs that are compressed so
much that they sound tiring by the end of the album. I want quiet passages and
loud passages and lots of passages in between.
Someone on this list (probably from Europe, but I'm not positive) asked why
Americans have stereos with only bass and treble controls when those two
controls have the LEAST impact on the sound of playback. Well, think about it.
If you boost the midrange, it's that the same as cutting the bass and treble?
If you cut the midrange, isn't that the same as boosting the bass and treble?
You can have a recording that has 12 to 15 dB of dynamic range in the normal
passages that has an overall loudness of -8 dB, and the same identical
recording with 12 to 15 dB with an overall loudness of -3 dB. Is one more
compressed than the other? No, dynamic range is the same.
Now imagine that recording has a spurious 3 sample long "peak" at 0 dB while
the rest is averaging -8 dB. Will you notice that peak? Not possible. But if
you squash that 3 sample long peak down 8 dB you can boost the recording's
overall level without compressing it at all and people will complain that you
did horrible things to it.
I personally love the CRUNCH of the guitars coming in at the start of Nowhere
Man by the Beatles. When they remixed it digitally for the Yellow Submarine
Songtrack a few years back, that "CRUNCH" didn't recreate itself in the new
mix. Does the mix sound good? Yes. Does the mix sound great? Yes. Will I listen
to it? Nope, that crunch is missing. I need that crunch.
So to "quantify" the difference is next to impossible. Everyone has different
things that they care about (Dean's comments about Dee's guitar for example)
and what you hear depends on your tastes and playback equipment.
YMMV.
Dave Bradley
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