Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young "So Far" orig. CD. An old friend back again!

Thanks!

 

It's on the 4-disc CSN boxset though.

 

But does it sound as good?

 

Thanks Rick and Dam! These values all match my disc also.

 

Isn't the original master tape of Deja Vu missing? So is it possible that the Deja Vu songs on So Far sound better than the same songs on the Deja Vu album because the So Far tracks were copied flat to 1/2" tape from the original master so many years ago? Or is everyone confused now!?

 

So Far was the first C, S, N, & Y CD I purchased. After I purchsed the CDs these songs originally appeared I almost gave this CD away. I am glad I held on to it.

 

Oh no.....there go the prices upward for this CD!

Evan

 

Per above, the tracks from Barry's So Far CD were taken from the Crosby Stills & Nash and Deja Vu digital masters. So no, not in this case anyway.

 

Hi lukpac,

Where is this information from?

I had a 1/2" source for "So Far". While this was assembled by copying from the masters, as were all compilation albums, I don't know that it came from digital sources and suspect analog based on what I hear. We certainly had analog for the first album - I mastered the CD from it. "Deja Vu" was mastered from a 1630 copy.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

From earlier in this thread:

After posting I see that Deja Vu isn't explicitly mentioned, so I guess somebody would have to compare. But at the very least the tracks from the debut are from the CD master of that album.

 

Hi lukpac,

It was so long ago, I won't say it is impossible that I used the tracks from the master I'd already made, since those were from the original tapes and didn't have the added generation of copies made for assembling the compilation.
I'm not sure. It could be.

As to "Deja Vu", I don't know.

Geez. I've said this before: If I knew 25 years ago I'd be having conversations like this one, I'd have been sure to save those notes. In any event, if you ask me 25 years from now about anything I'm currently doing, I'll have details. I promise.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

It looks like this is the case for the Deja Vu tracks as well, albeit with a possible twist. I ripped the songs from both discs, and the peak levels were different. Yet when I lined them up, they *did* stay in sync, and not only that, they null out when the levels are matched. Thus the same digital masters *were* used, but the levels on one disc or the other were changed digitally.

Deja Vu - 1 dB louder on So Far
Helpless - 2 dB louder on So Far
Our House - 1 dB louder on So Far
Teach Your Children - 1 dB louder on So Far
Woodstock - 2 dB louder on So Far

Here are the EAC logs if anyone wants to compare to their discs. I'm not sure if one or the other was redone at some points (besides the Deja Vu redo that spliced in bits where the dropouts were).

Track 1
Filename So Far\Déjà Vu.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track 4
Filename So Far\Teach Your Children.wav
Peak level 90.4 %
Track 7
Filename So Far\Woodstock.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Track 8
Filename So Far\Our House.wav
Peak level 91.4 %
Track 9
Filename So Far\Helpless.wav
Peak level 98.9 %

Track 2
Filename Deja Vu\Teach Your Children.wav
Peak level 80.6 %
Track 4
Filename Deja Vu\Helpless.wav
Peak level 78.5 %
Track 5
Filename Deja Vu\Woodstock.wav
Peak level 79.7 %
Track 6
Filename Deja Vu\Deja Vu.wav
Peak level 87.9 %
Track 7
Filename Deja Vu\Our House.wav
Peak level 81.5 %

 

Do the tracks on Deja Vu that are also on Carry On sound better than the tracks that are not on Carry On? It's possible the digital masters of Carry On were used for Deja Vu, not the other way around.

 

Barry would know, but that seems doubtful to me.

Plus, the original CD of Deja Vu has lots of dropouts, seemingly due to a poor or damaged tape. I know Teach Your Children was affected, and some of the other songs on So Far probably were to. If a different tape was used for So Far those songs shouldn't have problems.

 

Hi PaulB,

No, that is not the case.
"Deja Vu" preceded "Carry On" by something like 28 years.
The latter came out more than eleven years after I left Atlantic and probably close to 15 years after I did the "Deja Vu" CD.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Sorry! I meant to say So Far, not Carry On! I mean when you mastered them, maybe you mastered them all around the same time? The catalog numbers of the couch album, Deja Vu and So Far are 19117, 19118 & 19119...pretty close so probably released around the same time, maybe the same date! And maybe you used the 1/2" reel of So Far for some of the songs on Deja Vu because they sounded better than what you had for the 1630 copy of Deja Vu.

 

Hi PaulB,

"So Far" was not digital, the "master" was on 1/2" analog.
Despite the catalog numbers, I mastered the CD for "So Far" quite a while after doing "Deja Vu".

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

That's what he said, actually.

Although it would seem that you only used that tape for Find The Cost of Freedom and Ohio anyway.

 

Doh!
Thanks Luke. (Apparently my reading comprehension skills are temporarily compromised.)
Sorry PaulB. (That'll learn me to get on the forum after a day as long as today.)

In any event, I mastered the CD for "Deja Vu" quite a while before mastering "So Far". For "Deja Vu", all I had was a digital u-matic (1630) tape, which I took to be a copy of the original mixes. That was the source I used to create the "Deja Vu" CD master.

Time to get some rest.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Do you have any idea what source you used when you inserted the corrected bits to fix the dropouts for the secret remaster?

 

Those memory cells left town long ago.
I don't know that I did "Deja Vu" after the initial mastering, publicly or secretly.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Ok, I think there was some question of that in the past. Whatever *somebody* did was make a 1:1 copy of the original CD and digitally splice in small sections from another source to fix the dropouts.

I guess I should see if So Far uses the fixed versions or not. I *think* it uses the fixed versions.

 

Those #'s carried forward from around (I think) 1977 or so. Atlantic changed the catalog #'s to those albums then, and they held thru to the old CD's.

 

Great thread, I lucked out and picked up Barry's "So Far" long ago and I think it sounds great. Now I've got to go through my collection to try and identify other titles Barry has done. The knowledge one gains around here is incredible.

Barry, should that list be confined to CD or have you mastered LP's as well?

 

The Japan pressing that I have (AMCY-137) has very different peak values. I am assuming that it is the Garwirt remaster. Ah, something to look for. Does anyone know whether the Diament remaster was released in japan?