Hey, Steve! Any future SACDs from S&P?

[editorpf]

Howdy Steve...

Just a quick question or two for you: now that S&P is launching, I know that there are a lot of us who would really like to see some SACDs with the "Hoffman Magic Touch"!

How soon might this happen?

Is anything in the works?

Let me know what's what, amigo!

All the best,

Ye Olde Editor

[Steve Hoffman]

Hi David,

Thanks for registering. Loved your last issue of Positive Feedback Magazine. We are all missing Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg. He was a great guy, eh?

Regarding S&P Compact Classics (what everyone is calling it now) and SACD's, well, lemme tell you:

Bill Straw, founder of Blix Street Records ( the "S" in S&P) got quite a kick out of the Sony Surround SACD Room at the CES. After we heard the demo, Engineer Gus picked out a few "extra" things for us to hear. Sounded great. Most of the SACD Surround mixes we heard there were quite subtle, thank goodness. Sony used these nifty British monitors (forgot the name) with big ole 15" woofers, just the way I like 'em!

Sony's David K. had a nice conversation with Bill, Sam P. and I, and we discussed Sony's plans, and our plans and the general state of Hi-Rez and music in general. Quite a nice time, and Bill Straw came away, I think, with a clear picture of what a good Hi -Rez format can do, both in stereo and multi-channel.

David was very helpful to us, offering us DSD multi-channel recording gear that could be shipped to our studios here in LA, anytime we were ready. Great guy, as always.

I think we initially want to start slowly, and do an SACD of Eva Cassidy's great album "Songbird". Her definitive version of "Over The Rainbow" begs for a Hi-Rez format. Not sure if we are going to do a surround sound DSD remix, or just use the straight original stereo mix yet.

Now, folks, we couldn't find any kind of good demo room for DVD-A at CES (we only had a day with Bill Straw, and wanted him to see and hear everything in the "Audiophile World"). We spent a lot of the day at the Alexis Park Hotel, introducing Bill to Chad K. of Acoustic Sounds, Jim Davis of Music Direct, David Fonn of Cisco Music, Kevin Hayes of VAC, Peter B. of Symposium, Bill D. of Legacy, good old Marshall Blonstein, etc.

But we couldn't show Bill anything about DVD-A, 'cause we couldn't FIND anything, darn it.... That's for another meeting, I guess. We will probably all go over to Warner Bros. in the next few months and get the bird's eye lowdown (as Nick Danger would say).

[feinstein]

I have owned a Sony SCD-1 for a long time (since it first came out). Since I find it to be a very revealing player (revealing both how GOOD well-done CD's/SACD's are and how BAD poor CD's/SACD's are), I really wonder how much SACD will really benefit us.

I've heard some really BAD SACD's (Lady In Satin, My Fair Lady Soundtrack on Columbia/Sony). I've also heard some really great CD's (such as some of Steve Hoffman's work on DCC and MCA and some other well done CD mastering jobs).

I don't see how SACD could really improve the sound. Is SACD really a panaceaand a new "marketing hype" thing? I just wonder whether SACD will simply add more expense, delays, and complications to the planned new releases on this exciting new label.

Isn't the MASTERING what's really important and not the MEDIA?

[Jeffrey]

Hi,

Originally posted by feinstein
Isn't the MASTERING what's really important and not the MEDIA?

Me thinks, media is also important. Listened to many 8 tracks lately?

The Music Never Stops,
Jeffrey

[GregM]

First, thanks for that detailed response, Steve. It was nice to get your perspective on CES. I for one would be perfectly happy if you just release stereo SACD's and steer clear of the whole multichannel business and DVD-A. But I applaud your interest in the high res formats.

I have owned the SCD-1 for about 1.5 yrs and I have the opposite reaction as Feinstein. I don't care for Lady in Satin because Lady Day's voice was shot to hell by then and the performance is emotionally devastating. . .AND THE SACD CAPTURES THAT SO CLEARLY compared to CD. It brings much emotion back into the music. I am impressed beyond words by even the worst sounding SACDs, because they do things that no CD can do--most clearly audible in the treble on my system but really throughout the dynamic range. Even the DCC's of Miles' '50s quintet pales in comparison to the Sony Round About Midnight SACD recorded around the same time and remastered by Mark Wilder.

It's a big mistake to think that format doesn't matter, and as soon as we get an SACD from Steve, we will hear just how much better than CD digital can get.

[Paul L.]

I read somewhere, maybe in the liner notes (!), that Lady in Satin was Billie's own personal favorite of all her records. I love the SACD of it.

Now of course one could argue whether the most revealing transfer is what is most desired, when the recording is filled with so much pain.

I generally see two camps of Holiday fans: The ones that prefer her early years when she had more range, and the ones that prefer her later years when she did wonders with what she had left.

[feinstein]

I'm pretty amazed that you guys like the SACD version of "Lady In Satin". It was accidently mastered incorrectly using the wrong playback equalization setting on their tape deck (apparently Columbia in the late '50's used a customized form of tape equalization called "CBS Master Equalization" which was meant to minimize the effect of tape hiss at playback. Ampex offered an analagous form of equalization called AME which, although similar in purpose and function, had quite a different equalization curve. It seems that they used AME instead of CME when playing back the master tape for this SACD release!).

Unless they've recalled it and re-done it, it is absolutely horrible. Thin, with no orchestral separation whatsoever, it sounds like an old KTel compressed LP from the 1980's!

I have a very early copy of it, so it's possible that they've redone it without telling anyone.

If you compare it with the Classic Records LP version (for example -- early Columbia pressings also sound decent), you'll hear the difference. While the recording was by no means an audiophile masterpiece (at least on the releases of it that I've heard), at least the Classic LP has a full rich sound with good separation of the orchestral instruments and timbre to Billie's voice.

[feinstein]

I apologize. There's an error in my last posting. Rather than using Ampex's AME, it appears that Wilder and company used the standard NAB equalization curve for playback rather than CME. Thus the "peakiness" through the 5 kHz "presence" range.

[GregM]

Actually, thinking back, I recall this SACD did sound pretty bad at first, but that was before I was tipped off to the whole polarity inversion thing by Lars of Ultimate Audio. Playing the SACD with the polarity "reversed" made a world of difference, improving depth and detail in the orchestral backing, and fleshing out what remained of Holiday's voice. It is a lot better than any CD version, let's put it that way, but still not an album I love by any stretch. I should have known better than to revisit it, and I have long since sold it on e-bay.

Sony will be releasing Holiday's Greatest Hits on SACD soon, and this is more to my liking. I always scratched my head when reading Holiday's comment that this was her favorite album. Maybe her mind was as lost as her voice by this time, or maybe she was just being quotable so the guy who wrote the liner notes would have something good to say. Anyway, no matter what one thinks of Lady in Satin, it's a mistake to compare well recorded performances on CD with frightful, poorly recorded performances on SACD and make the conclusion that the format doesn't really matter. It matters big time.

[patricku]

Hello,

Do you have compare , the My fair lady,cd vs the sacd ?
I did,both are bad,but the SACD is miles better.

[feinstein]

Actually, there is a much better release of the movie soundtrack to My Fair Lady. My laser-disc restoration deluxe set of the film came with a bonus gold CD which actually sounds OK, much superior to the SACD mastering.

The SACD contains many more elements from the film (Freddy Eynseford Hill's intro to "The Street Where You Live for example), but the sound is MUCH degraded from this gold CD that I have. They are obviously from totally different masters.

If you want to E-mail me, I can arrange to send you a copy of this gold CD so that you can compare for yourself.

I just wonder why they didn't choose the wonderful sounding Original Broadway Cast from 1956 (or was it 1955?) or the stereo Original British Cast recording from 1959, both of which are much more worthy of re-release in the SACD format.

[patricku]

First, I totally agree,with your comment on ,lady in satin.

And now,first let me thank you , for you offer,but...surprise..I have this gold cd..and I compare it with the SACD...
And I stay with it,the last one,is far better,beside that this laser disc with all the supplements is splendid...I will keep this boxe,even if the DVD,looks far better...
My pleasure to correspond with you.
Patrick.

[patricku]

You mean, the one with Rex Harrison in his original Broadway show ?
Gee,I want I had this one!