Swap my RVG for your old, McMaster CD's

[Trader]

I have RVG's of the following, and now I want to swap them for the non-RVG versions:

Sonny Rollins - A Night at the Village Vanguard Vol. 1 & 2 (issued

as a double-disc set so I can't break this up)

Art Blakey - Night at Birdland Volume 1 and 2 (issued separately)

The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 3

PM me if interested. Thanks!

[Brad]

Why? You must be in the distinct minority or a founding member of the McMaster fan club

[J.A.W.]

Why?  You must be in the distinct minority or a founding member of the McMaster fan club

There must be more posters who are regarding McMaster remasters as a lesser "evil" than RVGs...

Edited October 15, 2004 by J.A.W.

[Rooster_Ties]

I think Spontoonious generally prefers the old McMasters to the new (domestic) RVG's. (I shouldn't presume to speak for him, but I'm pretty sure he's mentioned that to me a couple of times.)

FWIW...

[wesbed]

I like the recent McMasters very much. I don't mean the material he did in the 1980s and early 1990s. Rather, the more recent late 1990s to current material. I believe Ron does quite a good job. The bass sounds natural and the highs sound natural. Sometimes, when listening to a McMaster, I hear a little bit of a distorted sound. Which, to me, is where Ron 'cleaned' the recording the best he could without altering the original recording.

Malcolm Addey is my favorite remastering engineer, of course.

Tamaki Beck (the Fantasy K2 series) is my next favorite choice.

In many cases I enjoy Ron McMaster as much as or more than Rudy Van Gelder.

All of these men do well with their efforts. I'm happy they continue to do their good work. I'd like to discover that Rudy Van Gelder has found a way to rid his art of its electric bass and overly-forward high frequency tendencies.

I just know Paul Chambers wasn't playing the electric bass on those 1950s/1960s sessions.

Edited October 15, 2004 by wesbed

[David Ayers]

Why?  You must be in the distinct minority or a founding member of the McMaster fan club

There must be more posters who are regarding McMaster remasters as a lesser "evil" than RVGs...

Some truth in that. I really kicked myself for selling my McMastered Dialogue before acquiring the atrocious RVG. I wouldn't dream of 'upgrading' an RMM to an RVG.

[Brad]

Different strokes I guess. I just prefer Rudy over McMaster.

[wolff]

Different strokes I guess. I just prefer Rudy over McMaster.

Have you compared Art Blakey - Night at Birdland Volume 1 and 2 (issued separately)? If so, which did you prefer? I think the RVG's are more flawed thn usual.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I prefer Ron McMaster's remasterings for some sessions, but definitely not Sonny Rollins "Live at the Village Vanguard". The original CDs were not made from the master tapes... and they sound it. When RVG got these recently unearthed master tapes, he brightened them up in his usual fashion but to my ears, it works well for this. The original CDs sounded muffled. The RVG CDs sound bright, more "live".

I would not trade my RVG of "Live at the Village Vanguard" for the older version.

Later,

Kevin

[Clunky]

Have you compared Art Blakey - Night at Birdland Volume 1 and 2 (issued separately)? If so, which did you prefer? I think the RVG's are more flawed thn usual.

With these I couldn't tell the difference between the RVG and the old RMcM. Agree with Kevin regarding the VV Rollins, RVG is significantly better.

[wesbed]

I believe the RVG of Monk's "Genius of Modern Music" is much better than the older McMaster.

[Trader]

I agree, the RVG's of Genius of Modern Music are better. Still too sharp and too bright for my tastes, but the sources are so much better it makes up for this.

Did the Rollins set really come from better tapes? The RVG still sounds a bit bright and 'compressed' - not very open, little breathing room - to me, but if the old CD's came from bad sources, I might as well keep the RVG.

Anyone know anything about Clifford Brown's Memorial Album? I have the old CD, but some of the tracks sound a bit noisy in the background, like tape damage or like it was taken from a disc instead of a master tape. Hard to describe, but I was wondering if the RVG used better sources?

My general beef with the RVG's is that they're compressed, too sharp and bright, and the stereo ones are folded down. The McMaster CD's aren't spectacular, but they're usually easier on the ears.

[Shrdlu]

Rudy's best ever were those early Monks and Buds, taken directly from the 78 acetates/metal parts. They have to be the best CD reissues ever of those sessions. I also like Rudy's CDs of the rest of the Bud BNs. He seems to have given those special care.

I like some of the old late 80s CDs of the BN sessions from the late 50s and very early 60s. For me, Rudy had an especially good studio sound on the original tapes, and the music comes through very clearly on the pre-historic CDs.

[Late]

Rudy's best ever were those early Monks and Buds, taken directly from the 78 acetates/metal parts. They have to be the best CD reissues ever of those sessions. I also like Rudy's CDs of the rest of the Bud BNs. He seems to have given those special care.

Agreed on all counts. Rudy's remastering work of Doug Hawkins' original Blue Note recordings, usually done at WOR Studios, are my favorite "RVG" discs. I just wish the Elmo Hope recordings had come out domestically in that same batch.

Rudy's latest batch, though ... Ugh. Blue Spirits = Blue Note + Gangsta Rap Bass. But, hey, don't forget Larry Walsh's stab at remastering for Blue Note! Some of the very worst (e.g. the first edition of Basra) in my opinion.

At least there's Toshiba's new 6000 series. Whew!

Edited October 21, 2004 by Late