
countrycake wrote:The download single has been issued by Angel Air Records, which has a good reputation as a re-issue label, so I am surprised to hear that the audio quality is so poor.
Universal created a digital version of the 7'' issue of SLB by dubbing from the vinyl version of the track and it was that that was used on the Classics and Collectibles CD. Varese Sarabande did the same thing to create digital versions of the 12'' issue of SLB and I Wanna Control You for their Heart and Soul CD.
I have listened to extracts on Angel Air's website via Apple Music, which sounded better than the Amazon extracts. I appreciate that doing comparisons of the CD and download versions via a laptop is not the optimum listening environment and what I have heard are only extracts, particularly since neither of the extracts contains the fade-outs Daniel refers to. That said, I did not find Angel Air's version of the 7'' mix of SLB of such poor quality, although I accept that I Wanna Control You is tinnier than the version issued on CD.
Daniel refers to the fact that both of the Angel Air tracks are in mono as evidence that they have been created from You Tube versions. I took the trouble this afternoon to listen to the CD versions of the three Hippodrome tracks on headphones and can advise that all three tracks on CD are in mono. That is not to say that the original vinyl issues were not stereo - the respective labels do not indicate which format was used.
Even if the vinyl issues were in stereo, the fact that the new digital versions were dubbed from vinyl might have meant that creating a new digital tape in mono might not have exposed the limitations of the source material to such an extent as a stereo version would have.
[/quote]And I will gladly share what happened with Cherry Red, considering this recent conduct:
I got in touch with Cherry Red in 2006 because they were pumping out way too many bad sounding products. During the correspondence I mentioned that I had been remastering for myself for years. They owned material by a band I liked called Artery, and when I inquired about it they asked if I'd like to master it. I said sure, and thus began my first release. They owned the masters so I got a CD-R transfer to work from for most of the tracks, some came from vinyl.
Over the next couple of years, I did over 15 reissues for Cherry Red. But here's the thing, they didn't want to pay to have original master tapes sourced. So since I was very good at remastering from vinyl, they asked me to use vinyl (or previously existing CD's) to "remaster" from. In one correspondence at the time that included Sony UK, Sony told CR they had the masters pulled and ready to transfer. CR replied telling me to just work from my vinyl collection. I figured the only way to ensure they would be a decent quality is to do them myself since I was a fan of the music (most releases were my suggestion), and I wanted to see them done the best possible from the sources. Most of this work was done free of charge. I would often just get merchandise in trade. Eventually there were a few small fees paid but it really amounted to pennies for the amount of work.
But the end came when working on the Balaam and the Angel reissues, which I was not a fan of but I was requested to do the work. The project manager was getting source material from the band in the form of CD-R's of the original CD's and 12" singles for bonus tracks. The band member was taking a while to get us the 12" singles so I offered to buy them on eBay if CR would reimburse me. But then they started beating into me that they had a deadline and they needed the mastering done ASAP, and flat out told me to skimp on restoration quality for the sake of meeting a deadline. I told them I will not have my name on a sub-standard product. Their response made me livid. They said to do it sub-par and just keep my name off the release. I was horrified that all the talk of improving the quality on their releases was completely disregarded for the sake of their lousy deadline. I flat out refused to accommodate such insulting suggestions. The CD's were mastered properly from the sources I had to use and they didn't make their stupid deadline, and the world kept spinning. But after all the free work I had provided, I told them that (for lack of a better term) that I resign from further projects. I did finish up a project I had already started and did one final project as a special request for another project manager who was also a friend of mine.
So that sums it up, not seeking out the proper source material, and even asking to rush it through without quality concerns. Yet they seem to hold controlling interest in the reissue market anywhere.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/starting-my-reissue-label-it-seems-to-finally-be-happening.681016/page-9#post-18352602
DustyDanny wrote:I appreciate that this is a misunderstanding, but I can assure you I am no thief, and believe very strongly about musicians being paid. I would never take profit from someone else's work. Uploading music to YouTube itself is quite sketchy, and so I will always agree to take down content if the respective owners don't want it available on my channel. If you were indeed referring to the person who posted about Cherry Red, Douggie, then I am not the same person.
DustyDanny wrote:Just thought I would warn people to avoid the recent re-release of Sometimes Like Butterflies which came out on Friday - the titular track has obviously been ripped from a YouTube upload (the mono audio and fade-outs give it away) and sounds horrible, and the B-side, I Wanna Control You, sounds like it was recorded from a cheap record player. To put it bluntly, avoid this release like the plague. Whoever was in charge of acquiring the source for this release needs sacking, it's disgusting Dusty's legacy is being treated this way. I actually thought they might have found the original master (which was lost) of Sometimes Like Butterflies and remastered it digitally, but obviously they'd rather resort to YouTube.
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