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Topic: What are some well-mastered cd's? (Read 71872 times) previous topic - next topic
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What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #51 –
so aaaaanywho, back on topic, are there any other good Electronica / Trance tracks/compilations out there?

a group or two that came to mind that i CURRENTLY like include Hydroid - Burn Proof / Sativa (i've seen some other tracks hit DJ mixsets). didn't realize how dynamic it was when i looked at it (and listened to it) followed by the other one i love even more, Probspot - Organic Waveforms, and realized Waveforms is quite a bit more dynamically squashed (damn me for looking at the waveform (heh) and then listening, and then comparing to the first one...)

anyone have any good trance albums / collections that have a nifty of a sound as those two? (is Anjunabeats (as a whole of what they release) any good? or do they vary per artist?)

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #52 –
Back on topic, this is a great sounding CD: Jazz at the Pawn Shop

If I may stray slightly off topic, I think we must understand that we are both physical and spiritual beings. Music is also both physical (the notes) and spiritual (the playing). And a CD player must capture both!

Mass produced CD players just don't capture the spiritual element of music. They might get the physical bits right but they often don't get the spirit of the performance right.

That's why a great CD player need a great CD player designer who is able to capture the spiritual element of music.

Spirituality is very close to me - a neighbour of mine runs a new age crystal shop - so I find that I am particularly sensitive to the spiritual reproduction of music. Of course, you might not be, so I'd understand that some people might disagree with me. 

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #53 –
Quote from: ShowsOn on
Quote from: flcpge on

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1997)

All Columbia / Legacy remasters sound pretty good to me. I don't know who did the Brubeck, but Mark Wilder does a lot of the Miles Davis reissues, and he is pretty good on those CDs.


I wonder if Wilder worked on Kind of Blue. I've always enjoyed the sound of both albums.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #55 –
Quote from: flcpge on
Quote from: ShowsOn on

Quote from: flcpge on

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1997)

All Columbia / Legacy remasters sound pretty good to me. I don't know who did the Brubeck, but Mark Wilder does a lot of the Miles Davis reissues, and he is pretty good on those CDs.


I wonder if Wilder worked on Kind of Blue. I've always enjoyed the sound of both albums.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the current version (the one with the alternate take of Flamenco Sketches) is a PCM conversion of Mark Wilder's DSD transfer for the SACD.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #56 –
Yesterday I got an amazing CD...

Ray Brown Trio
Some Of My Best Friends Are... Guitarists
2002
by Telarc Jazz

The point is that is perhaps the best CD I have ever heard...it sounds simply astonishing!..

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #58 –
On topic recommendation? - Neil Diamond's 12 songs. Sounds pretty good to me but i only use my ears. Does this produce a good graph too?  Not sure if this is the forum for me as am not overly concerned about the graphs you guys seem to like so much. Attempts at a little light hearted banter seem to fall on deaf ears(geddit). 2 topics in music from last week have zero response. For me music is first and foremost but I like to enjoy my hobbies. I'm sure this will draw some ascerbic comments but lighten up guys!

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #59 –
Wilco's A Ghost is Born is mastered well.  There is a tiny bit of clipping and is very dynamic in comparison to most modern CDs.  It came out in 2004.  I haven't checked their more popular album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot yet, but it probably has similar results.  Their recent live LP Kicking Television is also well mastered (2005).

Just checked and apparently they are all mastered at Abbey Road Studios.  Anyone know of who else they have mastered for?

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #60 –
MUST add a great one to this list, not english, not french, not italian not spanish - no, it's TURKISH.

Maybe most Turks cannot afford expensive ProTools crap? Or they just don't bother?

Heaven knows.
At least - GOOD FOR US LISTENERS!!!!

It's "Ask Yok Mu Ask" by Bendeniz.

This CD is seriously from 2005, it's fairly hot-mastered (largest RG correction value is -9.07 dB on track 3); but I can assure you, there is NO clipping, no moronically created artificial square waves that can't make it below the digital zero in all that sound stew (as this obviously IS the limit).

I analysed all the stuff, and it's just a pleasure for the ear, also on headphones.
No brickwall limiting AFAICS. Nowhere.
Turkish music has so many acoustic sazlar (i. e. plural of 'saz') and stuff in the mix, and they would just be squashed with digi-tools dogshite. Glad they kept their fingers off it, or used it so extremely gently that it doesn't show up.

There IS music that is loud-mastered, but doesn't clip as hell.
And the best is still to come: this is NOT jazz, this is radio pop. Most guys in their previous posts mainly named jazz cds; and that is really not very hard to find a well-mastered CD.
The art is to find a well-mastered CD amongst recent *pop* stuff.

Yes, that IS finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Kudos to all dev's not going like "Upgrade OS or f$%# off!"

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #61 –
bringing this up again...

just listening to a very well-mastered electronic one...
Minimum Maximum by Kraftwerk, in 2005.
Replay gains are very "unusual". The loudest track is #7 (Autobahn) with 97.36 dB. Hard to find these days - a pleasure to listen to!
Kudos to all dev's not going like "Upgrade OS or f$%# off!"

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #62 –
Many XRCDs are quite good.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #63 –
Hi everybody,

I'm a long time reader and now first time poster to hydrogenaudio.

Here are a few CD's, which I think are well mastered:

Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat (1987 BMG Ariola München GmbH)
Amanda McBroom - Dreaming (1986 Gecko Records)
Paul McCartney - Give My Regards To Broad Street (Digitally Remastered 1993 Parlophone)
Apollo 13 (1995 MCA Records)

Greetings

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #64 –
Quote from: AtaqueEG on
Any old CD is a likely candidate.

What I mean is that I also like new music. And with RG, it is not that big a deal, to me.



Not really. There are lot of bad sounding old CDs too. The first release of Aerosmith's greatest hits sounded like a bootleg. Suzanne Vega's Solitude Standing, while musically brilliant, is very flat and lifeless sounding.

I would also encourage people to not use ReplayGain as a measuring stick for quality. Sure, a lot of recent albums have been stupidly overcompressed but that doesn't mean compression doesn't have its place. The same goes for a high average level. I have a rock/metal track that comes out to -14.xx dB track gain. It must sound like crap, right? Not at all. It's maxed to 0 dBfs but there is no clipping. This particular track works well at screaming loud. If it's a quiet ballad...not so much.

One of my personal favorites is Tori Amos' Boys for Pele. While it may not be your cup of tea musically, there is no denying the cleanliness and solidity of the sound. The quiet tracks are particularly impressive - her piano is delicate but at the same time very real. The album as a whole is very musical and pleasurable to listen to.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #65 –
Most classical tracks from DG Archiv, especially The English Concert

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #66 –
Van Halen - Van Halen I (1978)
Van Halen - Van Halen II (1979)
Queen - The Game (1980)
Better Than Ezra - Deluxe (1995, surprisingly)
The Who - Who are You? (1978)
AC/DC - Back in Black (1980) - original version, NOT the remaster
Tool - Undertow (1993)
Boston - Boston (1976)
Sly and the Family Stone - Dance to the Music (1968)
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! (1969)
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
Chicago - Chicago IX (1975)
The Police - Outlandos D'Amour (1978)
The Police - Reggatta de Blanc (1979)
U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)

If you wanna check these out, make sure you get the original versions, not a remaster. Not even an MFSL or other "audiophile" master.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #67 –
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #68 –
Nice suggestions, yet I generally do not buy best-ofs at all. (one out of 1000 I might)
But good albums usually have an A-Z context, so this should not be sacrificed just because the melody is so "catchy."
Sorry for OT. 
Kudos to all dev's not going like "Upgrade OS or f$%# off!"

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #69 –
I like Sony Legacy remasters: Simon and Garfunkel, The Byrds, etc.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #70 –
Donald Fagen- The Nightfly.  Of course Fagen and Becker are total freaks when it comes to recording and mastering quality.  This title does not dissapoint.  And you're missing out if you don't get the DVD-A as well.

John Barry-On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Remaster)  The most overlooked Bond film of all time comes with perhaps the most beautiful score to go along with it.  And they did a great job of remastering this soundtrack. It is literally breathtaking.  Not to mention all of the recent Bond remasters are very good sounding.  (Except for Dr. No)

I would also add many albums from the Elton John classic years remastered.  My favorite two in terms of sound quality are Honky Chateau and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.  Gus Dudgeon, the original engineer, did an excellent job with these.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #71 –
Quote from: spockep on
Donald Fagen- The Nightfly.  Of course Fagen and Becker are total freaks when it comes to recording and mastering quality.  This title does not dissapoint.  And you're missing out if you don't get the DVD-A as well.


"The Nightfly" actually needs to be a little dirtier. It's one of those albums that veers too far into "clean" territory and everything on it sound slike it was synthesized.

You definitely need DVD-A to hear all the quality of the original 16 bit master though.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #72 –
Bumping this one to see if anybody has the recent Neil Young release, Live at Massey Hall, 1971.  I'm pretty new to analyzing dynamics, but this CD sounds fantastic to me.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #73 –
If you listen to rock music, here some (IMHO) well mastered rock CDs that you may find:

1) Rush - "Chronicles"
2) Meatloaf - "Bat out of hell II: Back into hell"

The latest Iron Maiden album "A Matter of Life and Death" too is a pretty decently mastered album.

What are some well-mastered cd's?

Reply #74 –
Chick Corea - Beneath the Mask

The CD is very nicely mastered, music isn't that good.