Remaster oddities

[Degiorgio]

I'm in the process of selling my Blue Note vinyl and going with the current RVG and CONN re-issues.

I was A/Bing some of the RVG's against my vinyl and I like the way Van Gelder has narrowed the stereo field (gives some of them more impact like the Mono vinyl editions), the brightness takes a bit of getting used to - and I can hear some compression working in places.

I can live with all that but I noticed 2 little features that bothered me a little:

Wayne Shorter: Infant Eyes... the first piano note isn't steady. Like the tape takes time to get to speed or something. Anybody else notice this?

Less bothersome but noticeable is the RVG remaster of Lee Plus Three on Tyners 'Tender Moments' omits about 3 seconds of the bass intro. Its a fade-in intro so maybe again this is a beginning of tape reel problem?

I guess using the original tape sources is going to throw up some of these problems. Has anybody noticed other examples like this?

KD

[Claude]

I like the way Van Gelder has narrowed the stereo field (gives some of them more impact like the Mono vinyl editions), the brightness takes a bit of getting used to - and I can hear some compression working in places.

The brightness and slight compression are present on almost all RVG titles, but narrowing of the stereo field only appears on a couple of remasters, for example Go, Unity, Somethin´ else, Moanin´.

[Degiorgio]

I don't have the ones you list - but I can tell you nearly all the ones I have compared to stereo vinyl editions are narrower in the stereo field. Some more so than others. On some its clear to hear the drums panned hard left on the original stereo vinyl issue - they are almost dead centre on the RVG remaster.

I know some RVG's have come under fire for being too harsh and over-compressed, but I do think Van Gelder has gone for that particular 'crunchy - on the verge of distortion' sound that some of the original Mono vinyl editions have. Possibly it works better on some albums more than others - but overall I like the sound on most of them. I must also say the ballads are sounding better than ever - eg: Jackie McLean: A BALLAD FOR DOLL from Jackie's Bag... sounds more beautiful than ever, especially Kenny Drew.

KD

[Jay Jay!!]

Are you KirkDeGiorgio?? your "hall of fame" was a big influencie for me!! thanks!!!

[Degiorgio]

Hi Jay Jay

yes... glad you liked the Hall of Fame.

I've taken it down recently - just not enough time to update it...

KD

[Bluesnik]

Are you KirkDeGiorgio??

I was wondering about the same thing. Great to have you around! I really like your stuff.

But back to the thread. I always felt there should be a corner for specific remastering issues. I don't know if you intended this thread to run in that direction. But anyway...

With all the talk about K2s vs. SBM, 20bit-excellence vs. 24-bit sound accuracy and more general bitrate discussions I always wonder if anybody noticed we already have 32-bitters around, and have had for quite a while.

Ahmad Jamal's But not for me in its Chess 1997 reissue is one example. I discovered it while giving that excellent piano trio date a relisten some months ago. And I must say I was positively surprised about the sound before looking at the sleeve. But I'm no expert in that matter and maybe the wordlenght is just one parameter that can easily be pushed at the expense of another one. I don't know. But the sound I must say is great.

I don't know if that was a rarity or ahead of its time. But if the technology exists I wonder why today's standard is the 24-bit remaster.

[J.A.W.]

In my opinion it's the remastering (i.e. how it's done) that makes the difference, not the number of bits. A good 16- or 20-bit remastering job sounds better to me than bad 24-bit remastering.

[mikeweil]

McCoy Tyner's Tender Moments is one example where I regret selling my 1970's German stereo LP before comparing with the CD reissue. Both the first CD and the recent RVG sound worse than this LP. Tape deterioaration may play a part in many a case, the ones you mention seem to me like tape stretch at the beginning of the reel. Cuscuna has reported one instance where they had to edit on the beginning of a different take, so bad was the stretch.

[Parkertown]

You'll be sorry... B-)