monkboughtlunch Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 A lot of the Verve CD reissues sound thin in the bass department. Was this the way Norman Granz envisioned the sonic landscape? Or have the CD reissue producers favored "lightweight" remasterings? Example: Oscar Peterson's Night Train is extremely wimpy in the bass department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 Listen to the original issues and then blame someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkboughtlunch Posted September 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 How do the original Lps sound? Better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 The original LPs were severely criticized for having poor sound quality. I don't know if Norman was cutting cost , if he simply didn't care, or if his ears were bad. Jazz, in general, was not treated as well in the audio dept. as classical. Vanguard more or less led the way to improved jazz sound quality. Manfred Eicher took it further with ECM--the audio, that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 (edited) If you record a small band in such a large hall - Vanguard originally used it for their symphonic recordings - you have to know how to do it ..... microphone selection, room placement of the band and the microphones are much different from recording in a studio with a rather dead acoustics. Most importantly, you can forget about isolation - everything has to be done live, with no option for track replacement if someone goofed, and overdubs are tricky. Joe Jackson, BTW, recorded his "Body and Soul" LP there when he was fed up with sterile modern recording studios. Those Basie-Ites Vanguards sound terrific! I wish the CD reissues were complied with more understanding. Mosaic, please step up! Edited September 26, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 I've experimented with reversing speaker polarity on some of the 24 bit US Verve reissues and found good results (the Coltranes especially seem to yeild believable tonal balance after reversal). I find that most of the new reissues that use the Sundazed reissue team (LP by Request, Billie Holiday Master takes, etc.) sound very well balanced, rich and detailed, not bass shy, right out of the case. Good move Verve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 The Verve lps were usually "bass shy" and the cds (in some cases) have been a minor improvement. No way to know what's on the masters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 how did ECM record differenly than verve? what did verve do to make it sound bad- bad mic-ing, mixing, pressing, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 I don't have the "Night train" CD, but the Verve CDs I own (most of them recent remasters in the Verve Elite, Verve Master Edition, LPR, Verve by request series) don't generally sound more bass-shy than CDs from other labels (Blue Note, OJC, Sony) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 I'm probably in the minority here, but I never liked the Vanguard sessions - too much room reverberation, and lacking in presence, to my ears - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 (edited) I don't have the "Night train" CD, but the Verve CDs I own (most of them recent remasters in the Verve Elite, Verve Master Edition, LPR, Verve by request series) don't generally sound more bass-shy than CDs from other labels (Blue Note, OJC, Sony) FWIW, I was spinning the Jpn 24-bit yesterday and the sound in the bass dept. seemed to be quite good. Edited October 2, 2006 by Son-of-a-Weizen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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