Steve's update RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS Amazing sounding analog masters for LP confirmed

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! The songs are great, even on the "compressed" sounding CD. Can't wait for the vinyl version. May have to get both 150g and 180g!!!!!

 

This is great news!!!!!! I'm completely surprised to read that the masters have great dynamic range. I listened to some of the cd today and you'd NEVER know it came from a dynamic recording. Very excited about this. Thanks for sharing, Steve.
Fagen, and now the Chili peppers mastered by Hoffman/Gray. Doesn't get much better than this. These were the 2 cd releases i was really looking forward to this year. To have them both given the royal audio treatment is more than I could have asked for.

Note to anyone who's been on the fence about adding a turntable to their rig. DO IT NOW!!!!

 

Why both? Why not just the 180 gram version?

 

Like a couple others on this thread, I'm not a huge Chilli Pepper's fan, but I am excited about this release. 28 songs...wow. I wonder if both vinyl versions will be released at the same time? What kind of time frame are we talking about for the vinyl release? I want to keep up with Steve's new work, as I feel the DCC releases are too out of control price wise for me, so is it only the Fagen and this Chilli Pepper's that I need to get? Anything else that has slipped through my radar?

 

Because it seems that the 150 gram version is going to be on red vinyl.

Which makes it all the more frustrating that the CDs sound so bad...

I would've preferred it was being mastered by Hoffman for a high resolution digital format. But I'm going to buy a new turntable for this release alone.

 

Steve's done a number of other recent projects including but my no means limited to Nat King Cole's After Midnight sessions from Pure Pleasure Records.

 

Yes and no. While vinyl is usually the best ticket in town if your goal is fidelity, there definitely is a "price of admission". Getting a cheap plastic 'table won't cut it... and good records aren't usually cheap either. Besides that, I feel you really need to love the aesthetic, or else it will probably feel like a PITA.

JM2C.

 

It will be so nice to hear some new RHCP without that brick wall of compression! Hats off to the person or people who realized, "hey, we need to do a version that sounds great." I will definitely be picking this up!

 

That's RED HOT news...looking forward to your work!! When will the 180g version be available and how/where can I order a copy? I live in Toronto, Canada and a lot of specialty items are hard to get up in these parts.

TIA

 

Yeah, I want to know the usual suspect online retailers for buying limited edition vinyl as well.

I was listening to Hump De Bump off the CD today... all I could do was try to imagine how good that must sound straight off the master tape...

 

You can bet it'll be cheaper to get it mail order from the USA. Any shop up here will charge a body part or two.

 

Steve, thanks for sharing. I will have to check this LP out!

 

I lost interest in the Peppers after "BSSM" but will snag this one up the second it's available. They are certainly a different band from the days of "Freaky Styley" and "Uplift Mofo Party Plan" and it sounds like that's a good thing. I can't wait to hear a newly inspired band that actually has the mastering to match! This is GREAT news!

 

I think S.A. is an amazing album... It is a double album that works. I can't wait to hear it properly...

 

Why do us consumers have to change? As I said before, Warner should also release a HiRez well-mastered version of this album. Then they would reach both the audiophiles who have turntable setups and are into vinyl and those who are not.

 

I had chills while reading that post, and my eyes were teary by the end.
music with soul, passion, and fidelity is what it's all about.
thanks for the update Steve. I cannot wait!

 

We always have. 78's...Lp's.....CD's.....Vhs....DVD.....MP3's.....

 

Maybe this is somewhat of an experiment on Warner's part, letting an audiophile engineer master what, on CD, will be a hugely succesful album. If fans of the band support this is experiment who knows what may happen in the future? Simultaneous DVD-Audio and CD release, with different engineers handling each version perhaps? Or maybe reissuing of back catalogues on audiophile vinyl.

As a big fan of RHCP I just feel compelled to support this vinyl release, even though I know nothing about turntables and vinyl.

 

True, but vinyl nowadays is not a technological 'change'. And, to me and others here wanting to enjoy this Hoffman/Gray mastering for whom it entails investing money on vinyl-related hardware it is not such an easy decision (especially if, as is my case, you're not a great RHCP fan). Rather than invest on hardware for the sake of this album I'd rather use that money to buy more HiRez music titles or, even, a new guitar. So, if there were to be no HiRez well-mastered version of this album I guess that I'll have to do without it altogether.

 

I get the 'experimental' part of this equation and I believe that, given the popularity of this group, Steve has a great opportunity before him to make his advocacy for better sound known to the generally clueless younger generation. But this being solely a vinyl release it is clearly meant to ride on the mystique of vinyl, which is OK, but IMHO, doesn't warrant any change in my current hardware setup.

Where I cannot follow your logic is when you establish a, to me, nonexistent connection between vinyl and HiRez digital. Warner is already releasing some titles in DVD-Audio, actually more than any other big company out there today. This is why I think that given the obvious bad quality of the other digital version of this album, "Stadium Arcadium" could/should also be mastered by Steve for HiRez 96/24 DVD-Audio. In this way use digital audiophiles can also enjoy the original analog recording's nice qualities.

In any case, I do not want to extend this discussion here so as not to hijack this thread, which wasn't my intention in the first place. I've made my point I hope someone at Warner takes it into consideration.

 

Yeah dude, don't you know it!! Now that our loonie is very strong, I will take full advantage and do some cross-border shopping.

So my initial questions was: Does anyone know when the 180g version will be released and which on-line retailer I can order from

TIA

 

Steve will announce it.

 

I agree with you.


I'm strangley interested in hearing Steve mastering job.

 

I'll bet it was one or more of the band members. They grew up in the vinyl era.
Great story, Steve! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall in that room!

 

If only they could do an A/B comparison of the master tape against the CD version in front of the Warner Bros. executive... I miss the days when CDs of new recordings were mastered to sound more or less like the master tape.