Hawkwind Space Ritual Reissue with DVD? Surround?

So all this back and forth, and still no word on how the new deluxe reish w/DVD sounds? I have a copy on backorder and am interested to know if it's any better than previous issues/remasters.

 

Thanks for this. I'd hoped they were just ripped from the Griffin discs without any interference. I might have to go Warrior.

 

Why would it be any good? Do you figure EMI has changed their policy about how to remaster Hawkwind? If you want to know you'll probably have to take the plunge. Most of us here avoid anything remastered by that crowd.

I recently put the Space Ritual remaster to the test against the original One Way, and it failed pretty miserably. The remaster was no-noised and had upper midrange boost.

 

I have the Warrior 'boot' and it DOES sound rather good...better than many of the official remasters, though I always liked that album better than most anyway. Keep in mind that I myself have never compared it directly to the original Griffin (too damn expensive), but I was told this by a reliable source.

 

I happen to have both a 1992 Dojo version of Warrior and the Rock Fever pirate edition on hand at the moment, so I compared them.

The Dojo version sounds great!

The Rock Fever version is jacked up with some more treble and has been pretty heavily limited. Sorry, but it turns out that the Rock Fever pirate is not a decent alternative to forking out for one of the OOP versions. I would have figured they would have just copied the older CD, but they couldn't leave well enough alone:

 

I found this on Wikipedia:

CD Masters

The original UK master tape for the album was apparently lost or destroyed some time after the original release. The album was eventually released on CD in Britain on the Dojo label apparently as a vinyl dub. A second version was later released on the Canadian label Griffin Music, apparently taken from a first-generation copy of the original master. The Dojo CD's booklet does not reproduce the fold-out cover design; the Griffin CD does, but with the shield on the reverse in black and white.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_on_the_Edge_of_Time

Does the Dojo version sounds like a needledrop?

 

This is the EAC numbers for The Griffin Music version of Worrior on the Edge of Time.

Track 1
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(01)Assault & Battery Part I.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC B93DE12C
Copy OK

Track 2
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(02)The Golden Void Part II.wav

Peak level 99.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC CAB389F4
Copy OK

Track 3
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(03)The Wizard Blew His Horn.wav

Peak level 90.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 6C795E1E
Copy OK

Track 4
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(04)Opa-Loka.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 86D013C2
Copy OK

Track 5
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(05)The Demented Man.wav

Peak level 78.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 57091079
Copy OK

Track 6
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(06)Magnu.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 354C9E4E
Copy OK

Track 7
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(07)Standing at the Edge.wav

Peak level 93.2 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 51468A43
Copy OK

Track 8
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(08)Spiral Galaxy 28948.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 36EDD59E
Copy OK

Track 9
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(09)Warriors.wav

Peak level 86.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 8340C6C4
Copy OK

Track 10
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(10)Dying Seas.wav

Peak level 91.4 %
Track quality 99.8 %
Copy CRC 9ACA5496
Copy OK

Track 11
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(11)Kings of Speed.wav

Peak level 99.3 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 838E3C90
Copy OK

Track 12
Filename I:\H\Hawkwind\Warrior on the Edge of Time\Hawkwind-Warrior on the Edge of Time-(12)Motorhead.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 87059358
Copy OK

No errors occured

 

Based on the waveforms the Griffin Music version doesn’t appear to be compressed but I find it to be a little hard on the ear. Some of the songs are a little loud.

If you find the time I will appreciate a sample from the Dojo version to have something to compare to.

 

Fantastic. Booming, but in a good way.

 

I'll post a sample later, but it sounds great. If the Dojo is a needle drop, it was well done. I'll check and see. Is the Griffin CD bright? Because the Rock Fever CD is much brighter than the Dojo. Perhaps the RF CD was taken from the Griffin release and only hard limiting was added?

 

Just sat down to do some A/B'ing of the CD vs the 24/96 DVD...and I must say the DVD sounds thick. You can feel it in your solar plexus.

Bigger fuller, with more definition and oomph on the lower frequencies, although the CD is mastered a touch louder...

 

Well I managed to find my copy of the '96 remaster so I figured I'd update this thread with some XLD logs to compare the new(er) DE of the album to the prior issue using a random sampling of tracks from disc one.


Born To Go:

1996 remaster:
Track gain : -5.01 dB
Peak : 1.000000

2007 remaster:
Track gain : -7.78 dB
Peak : 0.992004


Down Through The Night:

1996 remaster:
Track gain : -2.92 dB
Peak : 0.984253

2007 remaster:
Track gain : -5.78 dB
Peak : 0.989746


Orgone Accumulator:

1996 remaster:
Track gain : -3.84 dB
Peak : 0.985718

2007 remaster:
Track gain : -6.47 dB
Peak : 0.999969


Brainstorm: (keep in mind the '07 is about 4 minutes longer)

1996 remaster:
Track gain : -5.68 dB
Peak : 1.000000

2007 remaster:
Track gain : -6.26 dB
Peak : 0.998474


Hope this helps!

 

Also, should anyone want clips to do a more detailed comparison (EQ, etc) let me know. Not sure how to go about doing that myself.

 

This is the 2007 UK EMI set. The surround sound DVD mix is simulated; an "upmix" from the stereo mix. The DVD is PAL Format/All regions.

 

No offence intended but I think I'd lay down quite a few ducats (or whatever else) to not have to watch Stacia dancing. An observation borne of experience of having witnessed her spectacle live back in the day.

Best Wishes
David

 

Looking at the waveforms in Audacity and reconciling the data I posted above is giving me a bit of trouble. Based on the peak values I'd expect the '97 remaster to be "louder" yet the '07 remaster is clearly a "bigger" waveform. Again I don't do much of this sort of empirical work so some (gentle) prodding would be appreciated.

 

Well I did some more testing today (thanks to kevin5brown for some help!), and while I'm still sorting that out some good ole fashioned listening (in Audacity for quick swapping between versions) reveals a "hashy" quality to the '96 that isn't on the '07 remaster. Most noticeable on the cymbals. I've noticed this on the other '96 remasters as well. Its clear the '07 has more bass, but it beats me if that is artificial or the result of better balance. The '07 is clearly louder but in quick comparison testing I preferred it to the '96, at least on the few tracks I tested.

 

dig this, this will be the first thing I buy at Disk Union, Shinjuku in 12 days, the day it's released!
http://diskunion.net/st/special_contents/hawkwind_201007/index.html
click on the pic of the box and you can see all angles, I'm psyched to get a replica of this massive foldout LP !....Flying Is Trying Is Dying.....

 

Looks cool.

 

The One Way is the only one I've heard. Is that as good as it gets on CD? There are drop-outs here and there, but maybe other masterings have them too.

 

Same three bonus tracks as the 96. Do we assume the same mastering?

 

I'd love to get a copy of that set. To bad they don't ship outside Japan.

You're a lucky man to be going over there Chris, I guess I've helped contribute to your cd funds for the trip so maybe you could lend it to me.

 

cdjapan.co.jp do. (They're advertising it as a mini-lp release rather than a box - I assume it's the same one?)

 

To (partly) answer my own question, the diskunion link says the cat. no. is BOX360, whereas the cdjapan release says TOCP-95062.

They're both SHM-CDs but I'm not sure they actually are the same thing.

 

The Disk Union box contains all five albums shown, not just Space Ritual. The individual catalogue numbers are different from the standard ones, but I'm sure that's just because of Disk Union's packaging; from what they write about bonus tracks etc. it sounds like the same data as the regular SHM-CDs.