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Author Topic: READ! How to find good sounding music....  (Read 2371 times)

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LFF

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READ! How to find good sounding music....
« on: January 18, 2012, 04:44:53 PM »
When people hear my retail collection of CD's one of the first questions I get asked is the following one:
"How did you find this recording?"

Well...it's no big secret!! I read what is on the case! In some instances, I'll actually research a particular recording looking for certain information.

I have been saying this for years! Buy (re)masters done by engineers who know what they are doing and who give a shit about the actual music. Once again, here is a list of people I recommend going from best to worst (relatively speaking as they are all great and this is strictly in my humble opinion):
 
Steve Hoffman
Alan Yoshida
Roy DuNann
Barry Diament
Kevin Gray
Joe Tarrantino
George Horn
Paul Stubblebine
Bob Ohlsson

George Massenburg
Keith O. Johnson
Andrew Mendelson

Bob Ludwig
Bob Katz
Larry Walsh
Doug Sax
If any of these names are associated with what you are buying, chances are it will be a cut above the rest of the compressed crap out there.
The only mastering engineer I avoid like the plague is Bob Norberg UNLESS is was produced by Ron Furmanek. That's proof right there, that the producer can have a major impact as well. I would also consider the purchase if Bill Inglot was involved.
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Questhate

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2012, 05:12:33 PM »
Cool. This gives me an excuse to run over to Amoeba this weekend.
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LFF

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2012, 05:27:23 PM »
Quote from: Questhate on January 18, 2012, 05:12:33 PM
Cool. This gives me an excuse to run over to Amoeba this weekend.

Ha! Maybe I shall see you there.... 8)
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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2012, 03:45:38 AM »
Do you have any opinion of Rudy Van Gelder's remasters? I always see "RVG Edition" plastered all over old Blue Note and Prestige recordings. I always assumed those were the ones to get, but also remember reading somewhere that Charles Mingus didn't like using him.
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LFF

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2012, 06:42:24 PM »
Quote from: Questhate on January 20, 2012, 03:45:38 AM
Do you have any opinion of Rudy Van Gelder's remasters? I always see "RVG Edition" plastered all over old Blue Note and Prestige recordings. I always assumed those were the ones to get, but also remember reading somewhere that Charles Mingus didn't like using him.

Did you see his name on the list on top?

'Nuff said.

Actually....

In his day, RVG was a brilliant engineer. He knew exactly how to EQ those LP's to sound amazing on those old console systems and low-end phonographs. His recording techniques were quite good as well and he was constantly experimenting. RVG didn't record something and re-dub it adding compression, echo, EQ, etc., he did it all live in real time while the music was being recorded. That's why all releases have echo, some compression, etc on them. If you have a flat transfer of the master tapes, you need to do some reverse mastering to get them to sound natural and sweet.

His current remasters are totally crap though. I avoid them like the plague. He had the actual STEREO masters to work from in most cases and he chose to collapse the stereo to nearly mono. As if that weren't enough, he really raised the high end on them. EQ'd them to sound unnaturally bad. Too add insult to injury, he compressed them by quite a bit as well. Some are much worse than others and you really have to judge them on a case by case basis.

It's a shame I am not at home or else I would post actual samples....

Anyway...here is a sample waveform of the typical RVG remaster compared to a nearly flat Japanese transfer:


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LFF

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2012, 06:47:37 PM »
Here is RVG vs. my remaster of Lee Morgan's "Tom Cat":




RVG:



LFF:

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2012, 01:05:35 AM »
Oh wow. Those graphs really illustrate the story there. Thanks for that.

It's a shame it's so hard to just tell from the CD case what's the good recording or not. You pick up two copies of the same CD, the average person will usually go for the "Special RVG Master Series Edition".

This list of engineers certainly is a good reference.

Now, the real question is, where does one buy the LFF version?  8)
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RexAeterna

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2012, 03:42:53 PM »
i hate the loudness war. i still don't understand why it's still going on since lot of people already complained to the record labels about it especially after the most horrible sounding Metallica's Death Magnetic album came out. these people should be punched in the face and be set on fire. no wonder people my age tend to have severe high frequency hearing loss cause bad dynamics=bad piercing/sharp,unbearable treble/top-end response. listening fatigue never existed till the loudness war began. you never heard someone during the 70's say something sounds ''fatiguing''. you hear it all the time though nowadays but they still do it.
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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2012, 04:09:02 AM »
I don't agree with that.  The fatigue I get from headphones isn't from the loudness war.  If I have a problem with a peaky headphone I have it no matter when the album was recorded, mastered, etc.  Compressed music isn't great, but it doesn't sound nearly as bad as something like a GS1000. 
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RexAeterna

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Re: READ! How to find good sounding music....
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2012, 02:04:14 PM »
i know that can be it of course. speakers too. just saying it was not much of a problem back then as  it is now.
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''I'm a music lover. Not an audiophile.''

''The World is Study.''

''I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.''

''Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.''
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