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So I spent the last two nights listening to the new avocado mix. First of let me state, this is probably one of my favorite albums by the band, the whole era of the 2006 tour. The whole phase from 2005 to when they ended in at the end of 2006. I was actually looking forward to this remix.
But after listening to it, I feel like BOB cut the balls off the album. It lacks any punch it had which was made better by the brickwall hater version. I do like how comeback and Army Reserves sound. But it seems like BOB tried to make the songs sound more how they sounded live.
with the debacle that is these new re-releases, i wanted to get an opinion on if it would be worthwhile to download some older albums from hdtracks. I have the ten redux, and vitalogy/vs. remasters on cd, and these were ripped by me to flac already. for these albums, would it be worthwhile to purchase the hdtracks version, or would there be much difference from what i have already? i downloaded yield and no code from there, and was impressed at the higher quality sound, but i think that is due to the fact these were remastered for vinyl. i am not sure that ten redux, and the vitalogy / vs. remasters were changed for vinyl. also, would the lightning bolt download from there be any different than what i ripped from the actual cd, since i have not heard of it being remastered for vinyl. was binaural and riot act somewhat remastered for vinyl, and would the albums on hdtracks be these remasters? thanks in advance!
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47020 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
nosajh9 wrote:
with the debacle that is these new re-releases, i wanted to get an opinion on if it would be worthwhile to download some older albums from hdtracks. I have the ten redux, and vitalogy/vs. remasters on cd, and these were ripped by me to flac already. for these albums, would it be worthwhile to purchase the hdtracks version, or would there be much difference from what i have already? i downloaded yield and no code from there, and was impressed at the higher quality sound, but i think that is due to the fact these were remastered for vinyl. i am not sure that ten redux, and the vitalogy / vs. remasters were changed for vinyl. also, would the lightning bolt download from there be any different than what i ripped from the actual cd, since i have not heard of it being remastered for vinyl. was binaural and riot act somewhat remastered for vinyl, and would the albums on hdtracks be these remasters? thanks in advance!
I can't speak to what is on HDtracks, as I've never used them. But there are a few things to consider:
-The original vinyl masters for these albums were, to the best of my knowledge, all analog (meaning analog mix and master, and an analog print). If I had to guess, I'd say that they probably switched to a digital master/print somewhere around Binaural - Riot Act, but I couldn't say for sure. And then they most likely started tracking digitally for ST (because we have seen photos of the 2" tapes from the Riot Act sessions, but I don't think I've ever seen pics of tapes from S/T).
-The recent remasters have all reportedly been taken from a digital source; that is, they are NOT loading up the original 2" tapes and transferring to digital.
-Vinyl mastering is typically different from CD/streaming masters in that they take a little off the bottom end, as too much bass can cause issues with your turntable (it will vibrate the record on the player).
-The band has done a horrible job of informing their customers about any of this, and don't seem to give a damn about maintaining the availability -- or even the proper naming -- of changes to their masters along the way (most egregious is the recent No Code debacle, which included a new digital master and a lyric change in Who You Are, but with no sort of warning for the consumer about these changes).
I am not an analog purist. The digital technology has gotten so good that the negative hallmarks of the tech are really only present when people don't know how to use it. Many artists are tracking digitally, and then bouncing to tape for the compression and HF/LF rolloff...
All this to say that it depends on what's important to you. If you think the new masters sound great, then you should be fine with your FLACs. I personally am most interested in maintaining an available source from the original analog masters, so I'm just on the lookout for good deals on OPs of Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act.
Generally speaking, I find the concept of remastering well-recorded albums from the 90s for "modern ears" to be abhorrent; it adds nothing to my own listening experience, and in fact detracts by adding an unnecessary boost to the top end, and in some cases too much compression. I would never turn my nose up at a digital recording just because it was digital...But when the people at the helm don't know how to wield the tech correctly, nor demonstrate a willingness to educate their customers about the changes that have been made along the way, I get pretty bummed that this is the same band that preached Viva La Vinyl.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
I'll have to check when I get home but I'm pretty sure Lightning Bolt was a 44/24 release so it's basically the same as the CD.
Binaural and Riot Act (and Pearl Jam) are all recent releases and just sound louder to me, but I have a slower player and it's hard to A/B songs. Really I just notice that I have to turn the volume down compared to the flacs from the CDs.
To be honest I used TPB for a few of the albums because I was thinking that I'd already bought Ten and Vs. and Vitalogy probably five times already so they could use a break. However there's something fucky going on over there and it's been really hard finding new releases on the site so I bought the three albums just released. Used a code to make it a little more palatable, still crazy prices. Especially when they want $17 for a CD quality flac that I could buy from Amazon and rip myself for almost half that.
As I have an original Binaural on vinyl, I am looking forward to doing a side by side comparison with the new reissue (vinyl). This is absolutely my favorite album so....
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47020 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
Strat wrote:
As I have an original Binaural on vinyl, I am looking forward to doing a side by side comparison with the new reissue (vinyl). This is absolutely my favorite album so....
with the debacle that is these new re-releases, i wanted to get an opinion on if it would be worthwhile to download some older albums from hdtracks. I have the ten redux, and vitalogy/vs. remasters on cd, and these were ripped by me to flac already. for these albums, would it be worthwhile to purchase the hdtracks version, or would there be much difference from what i have already? i downloaded yield and no code from there, and was impressed at the higher quality sound, but i think that is due to the fact these were remastered for vinyl. i am not sure that ten redux, and the vitalogy / vs. remasters were changed for vinyl. also, would the lightning bolt download from there be any different than what i ripped from the actual cd, since i have not heard of it being remastered for vinyl. was binaural and riot act somewhat remastered for vinyl, and would the albums on hdtracks be these remasters? thanks in advance!
I can't speak to what is on HDtracks, as I've never used them. But there are a few things to consider:
-The original vinyl masters for these albums were, to the best of my knowledge, all analog (meaning analog mix and master, and an analog print). If I had to guess, I'd say that they probably switched to a digital master/print somewhere around Binaural - Riot Act, but I couldn't say for sure. And then they most likely started tracking digitally for ST (because we have seen photos of the 2" tapes from the Riot Act sessions, but I don't think I've ever seen pics of tapes from S/T).
-The recent remasters have all reportedly been taken from a digital source; that is, they are NOT loading up the original 2" tapes and transferring to digital.
-Vinyl mastering is typically different from CD/streaming masters in that they take a little off the bottom end, as too much bass can cause issues with your turntable (it will vibrate the record on the player).
-The band has done a horrible job of informing their customers about any of this, and don't seem to give a damn about maintaining the availability -- or even the proper naming -- of changes to their masters along the way (most egregious is the recent No Code debacle, which included a new digital master and a lyric change in Who You Are, but with no sort of warning for the consumer about these changes).
I am not an analog purist. The digital technology has gotten so good that the negative hallmarks of the tech are really only present when people don't know how to use it. Many artists are tracking digitally, and then bouncing to tape for the compression and HF/LF rolloff...
All this to say that it depends on what's important to you. If you think the new masters sound great, then you should be fine with your FLACs. I personally am most interested in maintaining an available source from the original analog masters, so I'm just on the lookout for good deals on OPs of Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act.
Generally speaking, I find the concept of remastering well-recorded albums from the 90s for "modern ears" to be abhorrent; it adds nothing to my own listening experience, and in fact detracts by adding an unnecessary boost to the top end, and in some cases too much compression. I would never turn my nose up at a digital recording just because it was digital...But when the people at the helm don't know how to wield the tech correctly, nor demonstrate a willingness to educate their customers about the changes that have been made along the way, I get pretty bummed that this is the same band that preached Viva La Vinyl.
damn, thanks for the reply! for awhile i wondered if i fell out of the loop somewhere, but your explanation of the band not keeping us informed of all this now makes sense. also odd that they said these would be availiable for digital download, and i have yet to see where. very unfortunate, especially if they decide down the raod to re-re-re-release this stuff all again as "remastered". thanks again for your detailed reply!
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