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

Hi JohnT,

I have mastered for vinyl but that was long, long ago (in the mid-'70s).

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

 

Hmmm... this thread explains a LOT for me. Short story long, I stumbled upon the 8 track of this album in a box at my Grandmother's house when I was 15 years old. I used my birthday money that year to buy the CD of it (oddly enough, at KMart). It sounded SO much better than the 8 track... I remember making a cassette of it and listening to it through headphones I clamped down on my head so I could hear each little nuance and detail. I remember thinking that hearing this record like that must have been how it sounded to be in the room when they were recording it. Now I know why. Sir, you have my thanks for an excellent job on this recording and I am proud to own a copy of it.

 

I went to record shop today and came across a used CSNY "So Far" cd by Bill Halverson/Joe Gaswirt. The matrix is 3-82648-SRC ##01. It is silver cd with(Atlantic logo) 1/2 green top and 1/2 orange bottom. Does this sound as good as the Barry Diament cd? If not I will keep looking.

 

Of course not, or this thread wouldn't exist right?

 

The Gastwirt cd sounds OK but the Diament cd sounds great. It was this thread that started me on tracking down Diament mastered cd's of artists I listen to (Zeppelin, Genesis, Townshend, etc.).

 

It's made from the same copy tape, but it doesn't sound as good as Diament's. It's hissier and I don't like the EQ as well as earlier version.

Derek

 

What copy tape? Barry's CD used the same digital masters (tweaked, IIRC) as the original CDs for the first two albums, Ohio and Find The Cost of Freedom obviously excluded.

 

No, he did not use the same masters. See Barry's post #24 - the "So Far" album master was assembled from copies of the original songs. I'm baffled as to why for the remaster they didn't use the new digital copies of the original masters rather than go back to this analog dub reel and "remaster" it.

Derek

 

No.

See posts 87 and 55. The tracks are either digitally identical to the earlier CDs or the same transfers but level adjusted. The tracks from the first two albums are *not* unique digital transfers on Barry's So Far.

 

Strange. I remembered Barry's original reply, but forgot about the digital checking from later in the thread. It looks like what Barry did was reassemble it from pre-existing digital masters. But my other point still stands, the remaster sounds like crap - avoid it.

Derek

 

Feel free to disagree, but I think the best sounding version of Ohio I ever heard is the HDCD version on Neil Young's Greatest Hits.

 

I got a copy of this disc last year around Christmas. It sounds wonderful.

 

Thay may very well be. But the Diamanet mastered cd of "So Far" as a complete listening experience is highly enjoyable.

 

I'll do an A/B on "Ohio" right now.

 

I must say I like the Barry Diament mastering of "Ohio" from So Far better than the one from the HDCD Greatest Hits. The Diament mastering has a more pleasant sounding lead guitar, the GH HDCD sounds a bit harsh there. Vocals also sound a bit more muddy on GH, at least to my ears. I'll agree that both of them are very good, but the Diament mastering gets my vote.

 

Drbryant did you ever find out who mastered this version?
I also have the Japan AMCY-137 and would be interested know whether it is the Diament remaster.
Anybody know?

 

The AMCY-137 is the Japan 1st Pressing and is not the Gastwirt remaster.

 

Would you know what year this was released and if this version has a different EQ to the US Diament release ?

 

1991

 

Thank you for the info yesstiles.

 

I don't know. Would be interested if someone has the info.

 

Listening to this right now.. When the vocals came in for Find The Cost of Freedom, the hair on my arms stood up. Phew. Great sounding CD.

 

Found a Columbia House/Diament version the other day for a buck. Ohio is still such a powerful record as it came out in my freshman college year and the then seemigly overnight appearance of this song(wiki dates a 5/21/70 recording after the 5/4/70 incident). That coincided with my first real paycheck blue collar job that summer and Ohio was an AM/FM crossover so it was in my head regularly as the Beatles flamed out and the Woodstock movie went to the masses. Fortnightly missives from Rolling Stone and Downbeat while I wouldn't be able to pick up weekly updates from the music biz via Billboard till I returned to college weeks later and caught up. And Doonesbury everyday in the funny pages of the only paper my Pop read(hey,in Philadelphia,nearly everybody read it,too). It seemed to be going so quickly.
Yesterday the grandkid got her first cellphone and has already gone through one Kindle Fire. Sigh. If I had a lawn I still wouldn't want you kids on it.

 

I located the Japan for US CD pressed by Matsushita yesterday. I have the US pressed CD and AMCY-137 as well.
AMCY-137 sounds obviously compressed.

 

James, your CD was pressed by Denon in their Georgia plant. Their discs sound great and some of the finest glass mastering out there.