Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil

Subject: Re: : Re: [powderworks] Midnight Oil Remastered CDs
From: Stuart Fenech
Date: 22/06/2014, 5:13 pm
To: powderworks

​Good Afternoon All!

​I have Black Rain Falls playing here and picked up 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 to sample the remasters. Seemed a good place to start given the stunning dynamics and 'feel' of the CD (1988, I believe). First impressions of an amateur are 'listenable' but a reduction in dynamic range (moments don't have the same impact) and there are some weird audio effects that I need to investigate some more (ie whether they were always in the recording or not). I found myself turning the volume down.

Some technical data below.

Cheers

Stuart


​1988 CD​

foobar2000 1.3.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

log date: 2014-06-22 16:48:12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analyzed: Midnight Oil / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR13      -0.89 dB   -17.57 dB      4:22 01-Outside World

DR13      -0.49 dB   -16.41 dB      4:36 02-Only the Strong

DR16       0.00 dB   -18.82 dB      3:53 03-Short Memory

DR13      -0.34 dB   -16.71 dB      3:52 04-Read About It

DR13      -0.39 dB   -18.71 dB      6:21 05-Scream in Blue

DR14      -0.30 dB   -17.32 dB      4:06 06-U.S. Forces

DR13      -0.27 dB   -16.10 dB      5:39 07-Power and the Passion

DR14      -0.60 dB   -16.87 dB      4:44 08-Maralinga

DR13      -0.99 dB   -18.09 dB      4:20 09-Tin Legs and Tin Mines

DR12      -1.65 dB   -17.45 dB      4:05 10-Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks:  10

Official DR value: DR13


Samplerate:        44100 Hz

Channels:          2

Bits per sample:   16

Bitrate:           837 kbps

Codec:             FLAC


​2014 Remaster:

foobar2000 1.3.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

log date: 2014-06-22 16:57:42


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analyzed: Midnight Oil / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (2014 CD remaster)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR8       -0.10 dB   -10.33 dB      4:25 01-Outside World

DR5        0.00 dB    -7.40 dB      4:32 02-Only The Strong

DR7       -0.10 dB    -9.28 dB      3:53 03-Short Memory

DR5       -0.10 dB    -6.61 dB      3:52 04-Read About It

DR3       -0.10 dB    -8.16 dB      6:22 05-Scream In Blue

DR6       -0.10 dB    -8.32 dB      4:06 06-U.S. Forces

DR7       -0.10 dB    -8.55 dB      5:39 07-Power And The Passion

DR8       -0.10 dB   -10.00 dB      4:44 08-Maralinga

DR6       -0.10 dB    -9.45 dB      4:29 09-Tin Legs And Tin Mines

DR4        0.00 dB    -6.26 dB      3:58 10-Somebody's Trying To Tell Me Something

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks:  10

Official DR value: DR6


Samplerate:        44100 Hz

Channels:          2

Bits per sample:   16

Bitrate:           1052 kbps

Codec:             FLAC


Cheers

​Stuart​


On 12/06/2014 11:18 PM, "Chris" <seeker42@gmail.com> wrote:
Very hard to double-blind this - you would need to perfectly match volumes or you'll tend to subconsciously prefer the louder one. Given that they've played with the compression, matching volume isn't really possible even if you had the gear to do it.

Of all the remasters, I'm most torn on Species - the remastered version is clearly overcompressed, and there are artefacts which sound like digital noise reduction to me. But the original master isn't very good either.
(To break it down further: Original version of Progress is better, new version of Hercules is better, I've no strong opinion on Blossom and Blood because it's always sounded like a b-side to me anyway, and I flip-flop on Pictures)

Of all the albums, Place Without A Postcard benefits most from the remaster. I didn't like it much before, I do like it now, that's a win!

- Chris


On 12 June 2014 23:03, Stuart Fenech stuart.fenech@gmail.com [powderworks] <powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:
 

Brian - In what way did it suck?

I'm curious about all of these things; good remasters versus bad remasters generally. Some recent ones I've found fairly awful (eg. Latest Cold Chisel - East remaster) but I lack the finer technical understanding to pinpoint everything (in the Chisel example, I think they upped the higher frequencies too much, weakened the lower frequencies and reduced the dynamic range a bit... but I dunno...).

I'll probably pick up 10 to 1 and do a double blind test on it with a good setup.

Me

On 12/06/2014 10:57 PM, "Brian Jacobs suncrush01@yahoo.com [powderworks]" <powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:


That's unfortunate.  I downloaded Species, and it sucked.

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 12, 2014, at 8:29 AM, "Chris seeker42@gmail.com [powderworks]" <powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:

 

It's not 100% clear, but I think these are the same remasters as have
been available on iTunes since 2011.

On 12/06/2014, z_kevino@hotmail.com [powderworks]
<powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:
> Sorry for being out of it, but will these be released in iTunes too?