Bogus Downloads!

Andre Marc

Member Sponsor
Mar 14, 2012
3,970
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San Diego
www.avrev.com
Thank you Andre.

Those are among my all-time favorites of all the albums I've mastered.
They also marked (for me) the first project where I felt I'd finally learned how to make EQ "disappear." Strange as it may sound, it took me 15 years of being a pro to get to that point. (All to often, when I listen to records, I can hear the EQ.)

Thank you again for your kindness.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

I know exaclty what you mean by making EQ disappear. 15 years is not surprising, considering the numerous gear choices, approaches, and philosophies pertaining to equalization. I too can clearly hear over EQ'd mastering. As much as i think Mobile Fidelity is generally outstanding with their SACD hybrids, they are IMO a bit heavy handed. Just compare their Music From Big Pink to the flat 192/24 transfer. The plus is they use none or very little compression.

Your early work was important because it was proof that that it was the methodology, NOT the medium, that was an issue with the first wave of CDs.
Your Marley CDs still hold up. No matter how convenient the format was, it eventually had to prove its self sonically. Joe Gastwirt is another fellow I would like to mention. I used to buy releases sight unseen if either of you mastered it. :cool:

Thanks again for your work!
 

anders

New Member
Sep 9, 2015
39
0
0
Connecticut
I know exaclty what you mean by making EQ disappear. 15 years is not surprising, considering the numerous gear choices, approaches, and philosophies pertaining to equalization. I too can clearly hear over EQ'd mastering. As much as i think Mobile Fidelity is generally outstanding with their SACD hybrids, they are IMO a bit heavy handed. Just compare their Music From Big Pink to the flat 192/24 transfer. The plus is they use none or very little compression.

Your early work was important because it was proof that that it was the methodology, NOT the medium, that was an issue with the first wave of CDs.
Your Marley CDs still hold up. No matter how convenient the format was, it eventually had to prove its self sonically. Joe Gastwirt is another fellow I would like to mention. I used to buy releases sight unseen if either of you mastered it. :cool:

Thanks again for your work!

Music From Big Pink, what a great album, just good old fashioned simple music. I was sort of disappointed with the Mobile Fidelity SACD (though I only listened to the CD portion), tons of bass and drab in the high end. Sounded like it was from a well worn out tape. Good to know the flat transfer sounds better. Now to buy the album twice, someone in the music industry is smiling :D

Is this flat transfer from HD Tracks?
 

anders

New Member
Sep 9, 2015
39
0
0
Connecticut
Hi rbbert,

Actually, I never said the CD masters I created were flat transfers - because they weren't.
*Others* (including a well-known colleague) have called them flat transfers and that made me smile because when I EQ, I always seek to avoid having the results sound EQd. Better to add some "bite" to a guitar solo and have the guitar solo sound like it has more bite than sound like a change was made at x Hz.

As I see it, the original CDs have two problems:
1. They were created with early A-D converters.
2. They sound too much like the tapes I was given to work with (to my knowledge primarily 1:1 copies, except for the last two which were "EQd copies" created during vinyl mastering to contain the same changes as made for vinyl.

I say they sound too much like the source tapes because those tapes needed help. Let's face it: The recordings and the mixes were not exactly like something from Keith Johnson. ;-} I did my usual bypass of everything in the room, connecting directly from the output of the analog playback deck (using my own cables rather than the studio's) to the input of the A-D converters, with only the equalizer in the path. No switches, patch bays, consoles, studio cables, or other signal degrading items.
I applied EQ but in retrospect, not enough. If I did them again today, my approach would still be exactly the same but I'd be more liberal about the application of EQ. (As always, the dynamics of the source are left intact 100%. No compression or limiting is allowed in the room. ;-})

Of course the converters (and EQ) I have today are orders of magnitude beyond what was available when I created those early CD masters. Still, I don't believe the old converters were the weakest link. As I always say, in my experience 90-95% or more of a recording's ultimate sonic quality ceiling has already been determined by the time the signals are leaving the mics.
Everything after that (cables, preamps, AC power, recording devices, signal path, mix, mastering, etc.) only determines how much we get to hear out of what was original captured.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

Barry have you had a chance to hear the latest 24/96 "Page approved" remasters? I think many of them sound just ever so slightly tweaked to give some unnatural sounding moments. I wish there were versions that split the difference between your more natural approach and extra resolution from modern converters. For now I continue to enjoy both the original CDs you worked on and revisit the new remasters now and then.

BTW this is mostly headphone listening thoughts, where even extremely minor EQ is brought out far more since there is no room effect, comb filtering and so on.
 

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