Listen to Steve Hoffman mastered Katy Lied

You guys are going to dig this!

Steely Dan "Everyone’s Gone To The Movies".mp3 (2.16 MB)

Katy Lied
MCA 1985 CD
DIDX 373
Made in USA – Digital Audio Disc Corp
Mastered by Steve Hoffman

Great work with the midrange Steve!

Send P.M. for .wav files.

Enjoy!

 

Now here is a 32 second clip of "Everyone's Gone To The Movies".wav (5.44 MB) from the same CD. Now you can really hear Steve's mastering - "magic" midrange! This is the best pressing, IMO.

 

Thanks Leppo!

Nope, no lack of mids there. Sounds a little bright to me though, but it's probably my crappy peripherals. Maybe I'll get to hear it on the home system one of these days.

 

Damn!! I just got a copy off that is definitely NOT the SH version. Night and day.

Why, oh why did they switch?

 

Which pressing do have?

 

I don't know about you guys, but the .wav file played back with a BUNCH of low-level hiss in it.

 

Becker and Fagen claim that the sonics on the original master tapes were badlly compromised. Apparently they refuse to listen to the record in any form, even to this day.

 

That's due to the accidental DBX processing, right?

 

Yes I believe so.

The only thing that really stands out when I listen to that album is the weird sound at the very beginning of "Doctor Wu". I don't think the record sounds bad at all, but it doesn't sound as good as "Gaucho" or "Aja".

 

I hear an odd "sizzle" throughout the album. Listen to the vocals on "Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More". Do you hear that sizzle or raspy quality to Fagen's vocals? There is a sizzle throughout the album that isn't natural.

 

I have a 1985 made in Japan copy. #MCAD-37043 DIDX 373. Just got it on Ebay. It definitely does not sound like that mp3. I don't have the ability to put one up for comparison or I would. It's just like Steve says--the mids have been sucked out.

 

Could you post the matrix code on your copy as well as the individual track times and the total time?

Could you also elaborate on the missing mids? What's lacking?

 

I think someone needs to combine threads....

 

My Katy Lied CD:
MCD 01800
(c) 1975, 1985 MCA Records, Inc.
Distributed by BMG Ariola
Printed In Germany

Everyone's Gone To The Movies (32 seconds clip) is bit-identical to the one posted by Leppo (.wav-file). If Leppo's is Steve's, then so is mine.

 

Interesting. If Leppo's is Steve's, it's the first time a Made In USA pressing has been a candidate for that honor. IIRC, all earlier threads had insisted that Steve's mastering was limited to the first Made In Japan pressings.

 

Steve's mastering has appeared on many US pressed MCA cds.

NOTE: I removed the "Movies" .mp3 and .wav files. You can still request them via P.M.

 

Understood, but I didn't think anyone had said that his Steely Dan CDs could have been pressed in the US. All along we've been quoting Steve that only the first 5000 CDs of Aja and KL were his mastering, and that whole pressing run seemed to have been confined to the Sony plant in Japan. I'm not saying you're wrong about your pressing, just that it leads in a different direction from the previous detective-work. Would MCA have used Steve's mastering for the first run, switched to Roger's, then switched back when the USA plant came online? Possibly--but that's a new theory.

 

Here's a 32 second .wav of "Dr. Wu" from the ABC LP. Listen closely to the drums.

Also, take a look at the EAC extraction:

 

Now, here's a .wav of "Dr. Wu" from Steve's CD. Again, listen closely to the drums. Do you hear the difference?

Here a look at the EAC extraction:

 

I'd like to hear a clip of the non-SH original MCA cd as well. Can this be arranged? Preferably of the same clip of Dr. Wu...thanks.

 

Yes please someone post it. I don't have it or I would. . .

 

Boy, that's not subtle, is it? One sounds 'okay' and pretty close to what I'm used to for Steely Dan...the other one is definitely worlds better in the drums, at the very least...

 

And this is exactly the difference that Steve described between his mastering and Roger's.

 

Please make an ABC 'Wu' available that has peaks normalized to 100%.

 

In the Steely Dan bio Reeling In The Years, an insider remarked that if you could have heard the original, pre-processed version, it would have blown your mind. I don't think the album sounds bad, but we will never know how it originally sounded, the way Becker and Fagen wanted us to.

And let us not forget the great lost SD track "The Second Arrangement," originally intended for Gaucho, but accidentally erased by an engineer who apparently was asleep at the wheel. The track was recut, but it didn't have the same feel and it was put on the shelf.

Also, has anyone heard the rumor that Gaucho's "Third World Man" was actually an Aja outtake...???