Review: Dire Straits - Making Movies SHM-SACD

I have yet to receive my copy, are the drums weak on Skateaway, it seems to me they should have some punch to them.

 

I can't speak to the tape, I do like Skateaway, always have. They seem to have this one right except for the bass it 's like it is not present. Drums are great and the vocals are well done as well.
Tunnel of love just didn't across well on first listen, same with Romeo and Juliet
Will run through again to get more acquainted with this one.

 

The drums on Skateaway are nice same with Solid Rock.

 

Ok. thanks!

What I hope for is that it sounds more like the Lp I know.

 

I know you will like Communique and I look forward to hearing what you think on this one.

 

Yes, that's good. But I really hope for Making Movies, cause that's my favourite.

I'm thinking a bit logic now...you said some tracks are good, other tracks are...so so. I suppose the tape are equally good for all tracks.
Then the ramining thing is mastering, or in this case...lack of mastering, this is only straight tape transfer. I'm not sure, but when listening to the Bob Ludwig CD, I don't think there is much EQ adjustments from track to track.

 

I sat down last night and listened for the first time. As I stated earlier, this has always been my favorite release of theirs. All I can offer for now is my initial impression. I would say that it sounds good, but not great. My assumption is that much of this can be attributed to the sound of the original master, but I could be wrong. I will list my criticisms, but please understand that I still thing it sounded much better than any redbook version that I've heard previously.
1. The drums, and especially the kick drum, sounded muddled and slightly recessed throughout the album. As a comparison, when I listen to Money For Nothing, I can hear the stick slapping the snare and there is a harmonic resonance to the kit, but here they just seemed slightly muted.
2. No real air/spacing to the individual instruments. One of my favorite things about DS is the subtle, each note is precious playing of Mark's that is counterbalanced by an agressive rhythm section and here it's slightly lacking.
3. This kind of plays off of number 2, but the sound stage is a bit narrow. All the instruments seemed to panned just slightly to the left or right. There are a few exceptions to this (the opening acoustic guitar on "Romeo and Juliet"), but overall there's not great localization to the instruments.

Am I glad I bought this? Absolutely, it sounds good. It just isn't one of those SACDs that leaps out of the speakers and has the "wow" factor. I will try to post a more impressioned review after listening more, but wanted to at least share my initial impressions. Btw, "Love Over Gold" and "Communique" should be arriving in the next few days and will post my impressions of these....

 

Did no one else receive their copies yet? I was looking forward to other's opinions. I listened to it again last night and found it to be an enjoyable listen overall. I'm beginning to wonder if my expectations were a bit high which led me to be a bit over critical.

 

Alert! Slight thread hijack!

So far in this thread there are several posters who say that they've never heard a digital pressing of "Making Movies" that sound as good as their Vinyl pressings... but there seems to be disagreement as to which Vinyl pressings are the best-sounding.

So I've started a separate thread for the best-sounding Vinyl pressing(s) -- which can be found at:


http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=277987

 

Got it!

This does not look promising based on what i hear from a cold start-up HiFi system.

 

I am also a bit p### off by comments like "I have made an order", "it arrived", "I am wating till evening come to listed to it", "The pack was sent to me" and similar blah blah bu***hit!!!

Kid's gibberish!!!

Oh my God!!

Tomek

 

Step back from the ledge. It's going to be O.K. Deep breath.

 

Ha ha, my exact reaction. It was a question I would direct at you. This US vinyl album is a great way to show off your stereo - good round tone and plenty of depth/scale. BUT: yes, it does sound like a studio record and not a live one.

The original US cd is airless and lacks top end detail, but has a little depth. The SHM is steely sounding and flat as a pancake.

 

AVOID!

Boy, I'm dissapointed.

The copy-tapes they used for this and Communique are lowest-grade tapes**.
Now I understand why they first released Dire Straits S/T, and second "Love over Gold"...

This should never been released as an SHM-SACD!
This is only money grab, Imo.

** I don't have any other explanations

 

I have been following this thread and others discussing the recent SHM-SACD releases. It seems to me that SHM-SACDs are such a crap shot as far as overall SQ . It is too bad that this is true and at $50-60 a pop I really feel that SHM-SACDs are not worth it IMO. I strongly feel there is no reason for SHM-SACDs to cost as much as they do. Unless the SHM process adds $20-30 to the cost of these SACDs why are they so expensive?

Bill

 

It really is a crap shoot. I've been selective but I lost some enthusiasm for these and just find the price way expensive. I start thinking about all the HDAD and gold cds I can get for the price and decide to go another way. I place some value on having a wider selection of music to listen to.

 

LeeS, nearly every SHM-SACD jazz title I have bought has been absolutley terrific to stunningly good when it comes to sound quality, and many pop/rock titles too.
And no gold CDs can match the sonic quality of a good SACD, SHM or not, Imo. If they did, we have not had digital high-rez today.

But these two Dire Straits SHM-SACDs are a significant change from all other SHM-SACDs I have bought to this day. Everything is wrong with the sound. I will explain later.

PS! I also got Anita O'Day today in mono. It's an absolutley terriffic disc!

 

Lee,

I agree 100%. As much as I would like to have the SACD version of all the discs I'm interested in it just isn't possible from a financial stand point. Since joining SH I have found that doing research here on specific discs and which are the best versions has proved to be very helpful.

Recently I was ready to buy Bill Evans' Sunday At The Village Vanguard and Waltz For Debbie SACDs. But after doing some research here I found that many members thought The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 was the much better buy. So I was lucky to grab the box set right here in the Classifieds for a very fair price.

I'm definitely not as technically proficient as many members here. But I still have learned so much and this education has helped me buy the best versions of specific titles when at all possible .

Bill

 

What I said, when I received my copies last week.

 

Thanks for your post. I was concerned that you were such a SHM-SACD fanboy that you were going to give every release a high rating, no matter what.

 

US LP sounds far better then any CD release - just listen to Romeo and Juliet and compare the dynamic of the refrain on LP and CD ...

best Redbook CD is the original Vertigo, it's better than the Ludwig remaster from '96 (as with each DS-album)

 

I wouldn't say AVOID... but they are NOT worth the $$$ IMO. I thought you're a fan of local tapes

I posted my ranking last week.

 

I'm shaking my head in disbelief when listening to this.
Same goes for Communique.

More to come.

 

For the money you guys are forking out for these you could have easily purchased the 1st pressing blue swirl Vertigo CDs.

Some talk about "the original" CDs not being as good as Vinyl, but have you ever heard a W. Germany 1st pressing blue swirl Vertigo CD?

 

Appreciated.