Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms SACD stereo vs. West German Vertigo

I have / had 2 West Germany CD's. Both have the High Hat in the left Channel. One was a Warner Bros and the other Phonogram. Different masterings though, at least it seems that way. "So Far Away" peak is at 100 for one and 98 for the other.

Pat

 

I, too, would like to see matrix codes for the various West German pressings that folks are citing as having different masterings.

 

West Germany WB CD matrix is 824 499-2 07. High Hat in left channel on So Far Away.

Pat

 

I'm gonna do it when I get home buddy

 

CDs are 16/44, period. Anything higher, like this 24/48 DVD-A, IS Hi-Rez. It may not be high enough rez for you, but it IS Hi-Rez. There are no 24/48 CDs.

 

I think the first one sounds far superior to the second one. The second one sounds like a "modern" type mastering. Flat with no depth and more brittle and punchy. Which is the first?

 

wow! that's the first time i ever heard a properly decoded black triangle. i thought the black triangle sucked before because it was so trebley...turns out whoever ripped it didn't de-emphasize i suppose. it sounds amazing! it's got that sound i've been looking for that no other mastering has - the one that i thought didn't exist until now. you have shown me the light. and now it's going to cost me more money because i need one.

 

Thanks, guys. I think I have the 07 disc that Pat cited. Unfortunately, I am out of town and won't be able to check for sure until the weekend.

I'm probably just going to break down and run EAC on all my Japan-for-U.S. and West German pressings and also listen for channel orientation this weekend. Oh boysies!

 

The first (00:40-00:50) is de-emphasized with SoX, the second (00:50-01:00) is as-ripped.

Keith, my copy's matrix is [] 824 499-2 07 # [] -- same as Pat's, probably. High hat left, glitch in "Your Latest Trick" and sound as discussed.

 

How are u applying de-emph to a CD without the flag? and if the flag isn't there, how do we know that it is intended to be applied (disregarding the possibility that the de-emph sample is better)?

Couldn't "de-emph" be applied to any bright CD?

On a side note, I only rip to flac using dBpoweramp (for use with network music player) and it doesn't handle the de-emph, so I have a stack of CDs awaiting rescue. I'm not a complete computer idiot, but I find myself needing some hand holding on this one....

^^^unofficial cry for help....pretty lame!

 

I'm de-emphasizing with SoX. It's a command-line tool but there may be a GUI front-end out there for it somewhere...

In this case we don't know that de-emphasis is intended to be applied -- I just suspect it might be, because the as-ripped audio from BIA sounds similar to me to as-ripped audio from CDs that definitely do have pre-emphasis (as sampled in the FLAC I posted).

 

Anyone know how SoX compares to wavemph for demphasis? Or is the curve the same?

 

I just picked up what looks like an early CD pressing (P2 24499 Made In Canada). Sounds very good for CD but extremely quiet and a bit "lean" sounding. I prefer the sound of my SACD, even though it does sound a bit "hyped" . The Redbook layer of the SACD sounds terrible (and heavily brickwalled)

 

The matrix on the WG Warner Brothers cd is: 824 499-2 02

The peak levels are:

100.0%

100.0%

56.3%

41.6%

22.7%

72.6%

69.1%

89.6%

56.5%

 

I also have another one with the same results as my above post with matrix:
824 499-2 03

 

I seem to have misplaced this cd so cannot confirm the matrix!

 

Bump. I have the following early pressings of Brothers in Arms:

* Japanese Daio Kosan pressing, Warner Bros. catalog number 9 25264-2
* Japanese Matsushita pressing, Warner Bros. catalog number 9 25264-2
* Japanese Sanyo pressing, Warner Bros. catalog number 9 25264-2

* West German pressing, Warner Bros. catalog number 9 25264-2, matrix code "824 499-2 02 *"
* West German pressing, Warner Bros. catalog number 9 25264-2, matrix code "824 499-2 07 #"
* West German pressing, Vertigo catalog number 824 499-2, matrix code "824 499-2 11 *"

Have the mastering (EAC peak levels) and channel orientation for these pressings been determined? I don't have time to check all my discs tonight, and if folks have already sorted this out, I figured the results could be summarized here and save me some time.

Thanks!

 

Anybody got some info. to share?

 

My disc is a USA pressing - Warner Bros. cat. n° 9 25264-2

Matrix reads: 1 25264-2 SRC=10 M1S1

So Far Away : high hat in left channel

"A full digital recording" is written on cover (was this removed on subsequent or non USA editions?)

EAC peak values:

Track 01 100.0
Track 02 100.0
Track 03 50.3
Track 04 40.8
TRack 05 23.1
Track 06 75.6
Track 07 77.8
Track 08 100.0
Track 09 63.0

 

West German pressing
Vertigo catalog number 824 499-2
Matrix code 824 499-2 11
No Pre-Emphasis

So Far Away: high hat in left channel

EAC Peak Values:

Track 1 Peak level 79.4 %
Track 2 Peak level 79.4 %
Track 3 Peak level 44.7 %
Track 4 Peak level 33.0 %
Track 5 Peak level 18.0 %
Track 6 Peak level 57.6 %
Track 7 Peak level 54.9 %
Track 8 Peak level 71.1 %
Track 9 Peak level 44.9 %

 

How do you like this CD?

Pat

 

It's great! The dynamic range is fantastic.

Thanks again for helping me complete my collection of Dire Straits West German Vertigo CD's.

 

This could get confusing. It appears that we have two different masterings with the high hat in the left channel.

 

Make it three. The 07 # mastering also has the high hat in the left channel but adds the glitch in "Your Latest Trick", which causes it to peak at 97.4% instead of 40.8%:

Code:

Trk  EACpk%   LMin  LMax   RMin  RMax  LRMSdB RRMSdB  Indicies
T01  100.0%  -8000 +7FFF  -8000 +7FFF  -24.78 -25.05  00:00:00 00:00:33
T02  100.0%  -8000 +7FFF  -7A89 +79C3  -24.05 -24.74  05:06:13 05:12:45
T03   50.3%  -4082 +3A7F  -3F73 +403F  -24.37 -24.54  13:36:60 13:38:70
T04  [COLOR="Red"] 97.4%[/COLOR]  -4000 +3440  -79C0 +7CC8  -27.52 -28.23  17:45:68 17:51:35
T05   23.1%  -1A74 +15C9  -1AEA +1DA7  -32.12 -31.67  24:20:68 24:25:23
T06   75.6%  -5C23 +60CA  -56F3 +4A67  -25.32 -27.57  32:48:68 32:56:53
T07   77.8%  -57A7 +639D  -4C3A +57B0  -24.19 -25.42  39:53:03 39:54:58
T08  100.0%  -8000 +79FF  -7FE0 +7588  -23.17 -23.56  44:32:28 44:34:70
T09   63.0%  -50BF +3FF8  -4160 +4697  -25.85 -27.26  48:10:38 48:15:55

 

Thanks. I have the 07 and 11 masterings. Now I need to figure out what is on my 02 disc.