albums ruined by Sonic Solutions' NoNOISE

Is that true? I considered buying that set about ten years ago. I'm glad I ended up with the original cd's.

 

I'm not sure what happened exactly, wrong tapes or too much NR, or both, but the first All Things Must Pass CD issue was the moment when I started to slow down on CD purchases. I knew then that if they can't get a major classic like this one right, then I need to really look hard at my LP collection and cash flow, and walk slowly.

 

No, it is thankfully not true. I listened to the whole set today and yesterday and it sounds great.

(Actually the sound quality of this set has been discussed pretty often. Do a search. People's opinion vary, but nobody except for the poster above has ever brought it up as an example of bad mastering.)

 

The 1995 EMI edition of 'Live Peace In Toronto 1969' is a mess. And what's laughable is that is was recently re-mastered, artifacts and all by MFSL. And as Eric mentioned, the 'Acoustic' CD is a disaster as well.

Chip Madinger
www.lennonstrangedays.com

 

Oh yes...I have a 2 disc Decca big band anthology and I find it unlistenable.

 

Prior to NN and Cedar restorers manually cut copies to declick etc

A tape was run at 30ips to enable declicking without destruction of the music

This was a long process.

The cut tape was eq 'd to remove shellac noise , rumble. cutter noise

Sometime the eq was used to shift sections L or R for a stereo effect

Reverb was bathed to provide a stereo ambiance.

This was a long tedious process and undoubtedly took away from the recording and the performance.

Cedar and NN is the right hands can do a marvelous job

Just like comp/limiting it needs lightness of touch

Not a 12 yr old at the control.

Roger IMHO

 

I agree that this is probably the most NR'd CD I have ever heard(the Odds & Sods remaster is pretty close though).


Evan

 

I said it before and I'll say it again

I dig your haiku style

 

Lennon "Acoustic": The moment I realized that those crappy boots I was listening to sounded actually quite good. I remember listening to "Working Class Hero" on that comp and asked myself if Yoko had applied some flanger effect in order to enhance the performance/sound... Horrible!

 

Really? I find it about as annoying as NoNoise....

 

Really. NoNoise is not funny, a guy mailing exclusively in haiku style is.

 

ROLO is right. NR is a tool, just like reverb, compression, etc.. It can be used well and it can be used poorly.

 

I got that as well - horrible... and also from that era (early 90s): Jeff Beck - "Truth & Beck-Ola" on a single-CD from EMI. Both Animals & Beck-CDs actually had a distinct "No Noise"-logo on their respective back-inlays, with some additional remarks that these recordings have undergone treatment by Sonic Solution's NoNoise-system in order to reduce hiss - "which gives these tracks a new level of clarity" (SIC!!!)

 

Yes, the use of NR on the UK EMI "Collection" CDs of McCartney and Ram is so bad, they almost sound like different mixes!

 

The Omplatten pressing FJORD 001 ? ... I LOVE that thing. Sure it sounds a little funky but I always thought it was supposed to. And I hear hiss ALL over that sucker.

So what's the SHF reccomended pressing of Os Mutantes.

I notice you didn't mention Mutantes and A Divina Comédia ou Ando Meio Desligado does this mean you like the sound? I personally find the sound of the first three albums a bit rough but very much part of their charm.

Oh well, that's just me.

 

It's been a long time since I studied haiku, but I seem to recall it was very strict with how many syllables can go in each line and so forth. Whether or not "pseudo-haiku" is amusing is a topic for another forum....

 

I don't write in a Haiku style intentionally

I can't read dense blocks of print that forum members post

But I like stricktness...

Roger

Nurse ,the screens.

 

To be truthfull I havent heard the Os Mutantes album, I just know they used NoNOISE. Maybe it does sound ok.

 

On closer inspection my Omplatten discs (Fjord 001 - 002 - 003) were all released in '99. But I can find reference on the net for 2002 Polydor releases. Could be we're talking entirley different releases here.

I can say that these Omplatten discs sound great to me. Hissy and full of studio/production gaffes that really only ad to the funky charm. Listening to the opening of A Minha Menina(especially when you compare it to David Byrne's mastering of it for the Everything is Possible! Best of Set) you'd be floored at how much hiss there actually is.

Os Mutantes is an odd band and they love to mess about with and heavily process their sounds so it's hard to tell where something they did in the studio 40 years ago ends (the vocal effects on Dia 36 or Beijo Exagerado being a great examples) and something an engineer today might think needs futzing/cleaning up begins (the unfortunately LOUD Best of on Warner Brothers/Luka Bop which is simply too bright and WAY too loud for my tastes, but it sure doesn't sound nonoised just loud to the point of distortion at any volume on some tracks...poor Bat Macumba just can not be listened to, it's just been butchered compared to other versions of it I have).

I don't know if my Polydor copies of later Os Mutantes albums (Jardim Eletrico, Muatntes E Sues Cometas No Pais Do Baurets) have no noise on them either but they actually sound pretty good. No sizzling highs and some very beefy bass. Nice wide open, well balanced sound. But they too predate 2002.

So I guess if you're into Brazilian Psychedelic/Tropicália of the 1960's or Brazilian Prog of the early 1970's I'd say hunt down the older issues. BTW this stuff ROCKS! And is as easily as entertaining and interesting (often much more interesting) as anything their counterparts in the USA or UK were doing at the time.

I'd kill to have first pressing vinyl of these albums.
Very tasty stuff well deserving of their current cult status'.
Just saw them on them at the El Rey and they were fantastic and they seriously cranked it out, great show. See them if you can.
Now if only Rita Lee would come out and play with them ...

wow ... now back to your thread, still in progress.

 

The Free remasters.
Ruined by he-at-Abbey-Road-who's-name-shall-not-be-mentioned

 

What about The Move's Message From the Country? Another "Mew"-tilated remaster . . .

Not all of Mew's work is bad. Some of it is pretty good, actually . . . but not this one IMHO . . .

 

Roger,

You can argue that the careful use of anything is valid.

For me, the purpose of mastering is to get the maximum fidelity of what is on the tape on to the playback medium. For vinyl mastering, this was a compromise of loudness and dynamics against trackability and the space available.

For CD, you can argue that the removal of hiss and noise are valid, along with the use of compression and limiting. Their use, however, is not for the preservation of fidelity, but to change the recording in order to please the perceived market - with the belief that the changes are an improvement that most people will prefer.

To my ears, and many others here, all these changes are very destructive.

I personally prefer flat transfer mastering, or at the very most a little touch of EQ. If I could not get hold of "flat transfer" first pressing CD's, I would only listen to vinyl along with its hiss, roar, and pops and clicks.

 

Bring it on!

 

That's funny!

 

Watch out! The Nickname Police are coming!