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The Art of quality recordings


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G'day maties, greetings from down unda- unda isolation...
Well not too shabby really, restrictions are slowly easing off but we can never be too relaxed, Covid is still on the loose!

Was just listening to some old jazz fusion by Job James and his crew Fourplay. I've heard them live in Chicago many years ago in a galaxy far away... or shall I say at a Jazz club in Naperville. Anyway, that type of sound always remained as one of my reference points, of which I built many great systems from over a few decades.

So I pulled out a few CDs, one was the Journey Album and the other called Heartfelt. Although the sound was a blast! The music was not that great I must say. I ended up with a headache within the first few mins and after nearly 2hrs of listening I had a thumping headache. I realised that both these CDs are heavily compressed. To such an affect that loudness is way over the top, everything is loud, normal passages, regardless of soft/loud, transients and the whole presentation is just loud! Also the level controls set on the preamp were only around 30 but it was still loud, that's about it!

Took out an older Fourplay CD, Between the Sheets, probably one of their best albums overall. Now, this was much nicer, smoother and had the subtle variances that one would expect from good recordings. So ended up listening to that for the next hour.

Then I selected a Ray Brown album series called My best friends are... piano players, on Telarc. Hit play and oh! Now that's what I call music! Every note, every detail rendered in its most natural form, with superb layering and tonal pitch, plus the musicality was marvelous! And another marvelous thing, my headache went off!

Basically, I realised what a drastic difference in recordings, and one that I was so used to in the past, I just simply don't enjoy any more. The Telarc labels are great, and then I have a few ECM and many Verve labels, all of which are outstanding on digital playback. Those subtle differences on Telarc, ECM and say Blue Note are only subtle variances that still make the music most enjoyable and rewarding.

However, the compressed stuff is really bad and I don't see myself ever heading in that direction again, unless there was nothing else to listen to. Ah! But then there's always vinyl and quality reference recordings are mighty fine!

I was just wondering if anyone else has come across this loudness, compressed material I'm referring to? And if so, how do you address it and do you just ignore it and focus on the music..., which I find bit difficult to do.

Listening habits is certainly an important criteria in audio playback, at the same time I firmly believe that re-creating quality recordings is definitely an "art form!"
Once that quality of re-creation has been established, the listener is rewarded with fine music!

Interesting to hear your thoughts...
Cheers, and keep safe

big woof, RJ 

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5 hours ago, Big Dog RJ said:

I was just wondering if anyone else has come across this loudness, compressed material I'm referring to? And if so, how do you address it and do you just ignore it and focus on the music..., which I find bit difficult to do.

On a daily basis unfortunately. The more revealing the system the worse it is - as those tracks we refer to, were likely mixed with radio in mind!

Having the luxury these days of hundreds of thousands of tracks at your fingertips (Roon, for example) and playing less and less full albums, I find myself hitting Next Track far more. Even music I loved or grew up with, some I just can't bare to listen to now unfortunately.

 

I can understand why "audiophile" music exists, and why we gravitate to it as our system's resolution gets better.

 

Chesky, Telarc etc - you generally can't go wrong with most of those although the content on those labels is usually not my cup of tea.

MoFi offers far more commercial and popular artists, but even those mixes can be hit and miss.

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55 minutes ago, Marc said:

On a daily basis unfortunately. The more revealing the system the worse it is - as those tracks we refer to, were likely mixed with radio in mind!

Having the luxury these days of hundreds of thousands of tracks at your fingertips (Roon, for example) and playing less and less full albums, I find myself hitting Next Track far more. Even music I loved or grew up with, some I just can't bare to listen to now unfortunately.

 

I can understand why "audiophile" music exists, and why we gravitate to it as our system's resolution gets better.

 

Chesky, Telarc etc - you generally can't go wrong with most of those although the content on those labels is usually not my cup of tea.

MoFi offers far more commercial and popular artists, but even those mixes can be hit and miss.

Spot on!

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Japanese vinyl, ok.

 

Where can I pick up these, do you know of any good stores?

 

The few albums I have from Three Blind Mice records, also on Impex limited edition is superb! However, these aren't readily accessible, I was fortunate to get one full box set and another single LP called Green Sleeves from ARR on Nepean Hwy. 

Apart from those few, I've been searching but not much luck...

I'm not too keen on online orders, waiting for shipment and getting jittery if something goes wrong. Guess I'm a bit hesitant after facing a few raw deals... but if that's the only way to acquire such quality labels then I may have to change my thinking.

 

Cheers mate,

RJ

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7 hours ago, Big Dog RJ said:

Japanese vinyl, ok.

 

Where can I pick up these, do you know of any good stores?

 

The few albums I have from Three Blind Mice records, also on Impex limited edition is superb! However, these aren't readily accessible, I was fortunate to get one full box set and another single LP called Green Sleeves from ARR on Nepean Hwy. 

Apart from those few, I've been searching but not much luck...

I'm not too keen on online orders, waiting for shipment and getting jittery if something goes wrong. Guess I'm a bit hesitant after facing a few raw deals... but if that's the only way to acquire such quality labels then I may have to change my thinking.

 

Cheers mate,

RJ

Nothing is coming in from JPN due to virus anyway.

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On 31/05/2020 at 12:57 AM, Big Dog RJ said:

G'day maties, greetings from down unda- unda isolation...
Well not too shabby really, restrictions are slowly easing off but we can never be too relaxed, Covid is still on the loose!

Was just listening to some old jazz fusion by Job James and his crew Fourplay. I've heard them live in Chicago many years ago in a galaxy far away... or shall I say at a Jazz club in Naperville. Anyway, that type of sound always remained as one of my reference points, of which I built many great systems from over a few decades.

So I pulled out a few CDs, one was the Journey Album and the other called Heartfelt. Although the sound was a blast! The music was not that great I must say. I ended up with a headache within the first few mins and after nearly 2hrs of listening I had a thumping headache. I realised that both these CDs are heavily compressed. To such an affect that loudness is way over the top, everything is loud, normal passages, regardless of soft/loud, transients and the whole presentation is just loud! Also the level controls set on the preamp were only around 30 but it was still loud, that's about it!

Took out an older Fourplay CD, Between the Sheets, probably one of their best albums overall. Now, this was much nicer, smoother and had the subtle variances that one would expect from good recordings. So ended up listening to that for the next hour.
 

Job must have been standing in for his brother Bob that day ?

 

I've got most of Fourplay's CDs and felt likewise that their later albums were not as "well recorded/mastered" as their earlier ones....though my rusty memory seems it was most apparent after Journey (2004).  When i get some spare hours i'll spin them and refresh my thoughts.

 

Cheers

2B

Edited by 2Brix
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14 minutes ago, candyflip said:

Not quite true.

 

I'm getting small shipments in almost weekly.

Using DHL.

ok. Nothing from Japan Post.

Same as Germany and elsewhere.  It works if it's sent  some way clever.

My stuff is stuck around the world in the 'normal' post.

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Ah! Can't believe it, I didn't notice that I had missed the name Bob for Job...!@#$!

Silly smart phones...

Thanks for pointing that out 2Brix.

 

As for imports, I'm not too keen on paying for vinyl and waiting for delivery, not knowing the unknown... bit apprehensive on the condition of the item upon arrival, plus exchanging items if the LP's are warped. This has happened before on a few occasions and it wasn't an easy task to get a replacement either. I rather visit an actual store and spend my time browsing through plus the ability to have a quick listen on their TT rig before purchase. Also saves the hassle of the unknown... I also prefer to have a chat to the store owner just to exchange notes and learn something from them. Basically I prefer the human interaction. This online business is great! But it's so cold...

 

The Fourplay albums are actually not the only ones with such variances in playback quality. I've got quite a number Bob James himself on his own albums, plus plenty of Larry Carlton and George Benson as well. Some great recordings and some very mediocre. This compression stuff is becoming more apparent simply because I started pulling out these CDs which I hadn't listened to in while. So I've placed all of those "loudness" ones in one CD rack in order to identify the naughty ones. Funny thing is they're great music selections but simply not enjoyable any longer, it's a shame.

 

At least the other ones are fine, so the primary collection is still in good nic...

Will definitely keep an eye out on these Japanese labels, they're mighty fine indeed!

Cheers, RJ

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Ah no worries at all RJ...i couldnae resist teasing ya....hey my own posts are often riddled with typos ?

 

I'm feeling likewise starting to feel a little jaded on imports.  In the past 10-15 years i've had a very good run with importing a modest number of CDs, but bought the Japanese ones when holidaying.  However more recently with LPs my experience has been mixed.  Online secondhand sellers can tend to grade in their favour, some seller responses are excessively slow i feel (e.g. tracking number still not provided 72+++ hours after shipping despite a couple of polite requests at 24+ hrs and 48++ hrs .....and counting...hopefully it turns out ok).    And from bricks n mortar stores i've returned 3 of the last 7 LPs purchased new due to bowing or warpage.  However the local shop staff (in 3 independent shops) were all great, very helpful and readily exchanged or ordered in replacements.  So i'm thinking i might stick to local shop purchases only.  Yes I will miss out on some rarer/older/better? editions but so be it.

 

Re recording/mastering issues i tend to go with the flow a bit.  If i feel the recording is 'good' then it gets more time in dedicated listening, if the recording is lack lustre/heavily compressed but i like the content then it gets time in the car or used casual headphone/commuting.  'Horses for courses' as it were.

 

2B

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