There has been a lot of criticism of the mix/mastering of Rapture-especially the drum sound and Gillans vocals. This seems to have been attributed to Michael Bradford's recording and mixing technique...see this quote from DPAS "I've read nearly all reviews about Rapture of the Deep and I must say that I agree with most of them : it's an awesome album. But there's a low point. A big one that doesn't seem to bother many people: the sound quality. If Michael Bradford is a good producer, he's a poor engineer. On Bananas we had a preview, with the distortion spots in Haunted and Contact Lost. On RotD, it's a nightmare. Really. Each song sounds like a poor quality MP3. The worst of all is "Clearly Quite Absurd". On this one, the great voice of Gillan sounds passed through a tube, which makes it really difficult to appreciate the song. It's a shame, because there are some wonderful gems on this album, but for every nice musical part, there are technical low points: too much treble on the vocals, the mix packed in the middle of the speakers, too much reverb on the drums, and the overall sound quality. I just can't understand why those old professionals have allowed this Bradford man to do this, especially in 2005! Hey, Machine Head sounds better than that with the technology of 1972! Please, someone, tell me that my copy of RotD is the problem, not the master!" Nicolas Houle
I don't hear this distortion on the U.S. version (Sanctuary 060768635128). The production is still what it is (Gillan's vocals mixed too high, a lot of compression) but at least it doesn't appear to be screwed up by copy control technology. As I understand it, copy control degrades CDs so these CDs actually don't meet the minimum "red book" standards for CD quality control!
Interesting, thanks! Now I wanna track down a copy to listen for myself... It'll be good if we can get rid of that distortion just by purchasing an American copy... but, as you said, the general bad quality of Bananas and Rapture will sadly remain...
I have both UK and US copies of this and to me, they sound identical. The distortion is present during the keyboard intro to "Sun Goes Down" and during "Contact Lost". That's the only places I recall hearing it. I really think it has more to do with the mastering rather than copy control.
Hmmm... I always figured the mastering was to blame, but the post above has made me curious... I seem to remember Haunted was affected too...
Yeah! The other day I played Abandon after yeeeeears of neglecting it and, having got used to Bananas and Rapture over the past few years, Abandon seemed as clear and fresh as drinking from a mountain spring...
Purpendicular is well recorded, but unfortunately also poorly mastered. I just can't listen to it loud. I start out with the slow intro on "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", then the drums/guitar come in, and I always have to turn it down more and more, it is just way too compressed.
What are you taking about? Rjstauber, no offence, man, OK but judging from you posts either you have an extremely purist taste in mastering or simply there is something terribly wrong with your system if you cannot listen to almost any remaster out there and consider Purpendicular poorly mastered and compressed. I mean this one of the most open and powerful sounding CDs out there. Ted the mechanic, Rosa Cantina and Hey Frisco are system-test tracks for me for many years. On my current system they simply leave my jaw on the floor.
As I said, I think Purpendicular sounds full and rich, and is well recorded, but unfortunately my ears are very sensitive to digital compression, and I cannot enjoy listening to the album at a louder volume since it hurts my ears. It is miles better than Bananas and RotD for sure, but it is compressed nontheless. I wish I wouldn't have that "problem" with regards to digital compression and could enjoy it just like you can. I guess you could say that I have an "extremely purist taste in mastering", at least regarding the use of digital compression during mastering. It's just my personal taste and preference, so there is nothing wrong with having a different opinion.
No problem with that! Everyone has different ears. Once again, it could be your system. Some systems are much more sensible to compression than others. In my experience tubes and floorstanders are much more sensible than solid state and monitors. With my current system I can enjoy CDs that were almost unlistenable on my old one.
Yes. It could be that Rolands system is a more revealing system than yours. At least that's my experience. When listening on a revealing system flat mastered disc really shines while use of compression ruins the holography and makes your ears tiered. IMO if compressed music should sound good on a system you need a system that doesn’t let everything through or is colouring the sound one way or another.
I'm not sure about more revealing system: Roland's: (I hope he doesn't mind me posting his system since it's in the profile anyway) Digital Front End: CD: Rega Apollo; DVD-A/SACD: Denon DVD 2200 Amplification: Sony TA-F 830 ES Headphone System: Sennheiser HD-650 Speaker System: B&W CDM 1 Mine: Digital Front End: CD/SACD - Sony XA9000ES Amplification: McIntosh 6900 Speaker System: Spendor 1/2E Acoustic Zen cables. He definetely has a "warmer" CD player but I don't know the rest of his set up enough to come to any conclusions. Anyway, when my system had the same Sony but was driven by tube McIntosh 275 through floorstanding Sonu Faber Grand Piano speakers it was MUCH more sensible to compression - the compressed CDs sounded very "heavy" on the ears and caused immediate fatique. Now most of "moderately" compressed CDs cause me no problem. Anyway, it's all very personal and I have great respect for Roland (as I do for Jeff) for their research, even if I disagree with some (or even most) of their conclusions.
Hi, people! Having read this marvelous forum, hurry to report by everything concerned that is found references to the 1st press Japanese albums!
4. Deep Purple in Rock I do like the early European EMI version best (UK or Holland are the same, I had them both). This version has the intro to Speed King (which is not on the US or Japanese Warner Bros. versions). I never heard the early Japanese version, but Owasi (progmog) confirmed that the EMI sounds better. The remaster sounds really bad in my opinion, and the early EMI CD is much better. Still, it is not an audiophile recording, and I really wish Steve Hoffman could get his hands on the master tapes to get the best possible result. Until then, the original EMI is a good choice.
The In Rock remaster sounds pretty good to me. Years ago, when I compared the cymbols of the original CD to the remaster, I thought the remaster sounded better. Plus, the remaster has lots of great bonus tracks and remixes. But I do agree dbz, I wish Mr. Steve could get his hands on those master tapes.
Well, the cymbals are definitely louder on the remaster after that approx. 10 dB boost of the treble. If you listen to the original EMI and the remaster side by side on a good stereo, it is very obvious what they did to the remaster. The bonus tracks are nice to have (but for the most important ones, like "Black Night"), there is a better version available somewhere else.
I agree, this is the best place in webs for melomaniacs! To all interested people: If you have appear questions (technical or other) concerning of links to 1st press Japanes albums in the past indicated by me, please not hesitate to demand them. Sorry for my English.
I have the original EMI for Machine Head, Shades, In Rock and Fireball. They're all good, but I find them bit dark and slightly muffled. Shades probably being the worst of them. I'm using foobar2000 to de-emphasize using the EQ so that might be the problem, but I haven't been a fan of SoX. I do think they're miles better than the remasters though. And the AF Gold and AF SACD are both exceptional.
Dear jpak, pls find my links to the 1st press Japans albums, download them itself (for example: Mashine Head, it is desirable of image album in WAV format), burn to qualitative blank CD (special for Audio CD) used CUE-file (recommended program Burrrn) and compare sound. Rolland spoke at the beginning of this topic that Japanese 1st pressing albums is the best as to sound. Of course, not on computer speakers in plastic you must compare sound... And sound-card in computer should not be ordinary too... )) Hear this music on stationary equipment!
