DSOTM - was it remixed in stereo for SACD? (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

I thought it was not, and there's no mention of a remix in the liner notes. So what's the deal, was it remixed in stereo? Links would be appreciated. I searched here but there's so much on Dark Side that I couldn't get through it all.

 

[Rich Malloy]

It's the original mix, Philip, and sounds better than my MFSL gold and superior by several orders of magnitude to the hideous "20th Anniversary Edition" (this latter disc also done by Guthrie/Sax... go figure).

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Any comments in terms of how the stereo mix stacks up against the original Harvest CD mix? Maybe I remember even Lee saying that the new disc was an improvement here as well?

 

[Joel Fontenot]

The mix would be exactly the same since the same stereo master tape was used in all cases.

It's the mastering that would be different causing differences in the "sound" of the tape - including whatever eq tweaking, tape console alignment differences, or the transport chain used in digital transfering for CD - that would account for sonic differences in the final product.

So far, I'm still finding my MFSL sounds fuller and warmer than the SACD redbook layer. Not having an SACD player keeps me from comparing the stereo DSD version, though :frowning: .

Joel

 

[Dave Moritz]

Has anyone listned to DSOTM in 5.1 yet? If so how does it sound? I am contimplating budgeting for a 5.1 SACD player. Would love to know how the multi channel mix sounds. My Sony DVP-S9000 ES dvd/sacd is two channel sacd only.

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Joel, the mix is not the same on DSOTM 30th Anniversary's surround tracks. Guthrie got all the original elements of the album and remixed them from point one. Part of the reason of DSOTM's stunning high fidelity is because the original album was made out of 3rd and 4th generation copies - the band took the multichannel tracks, mixed them on a second recorder to one of the tracks, and kept on working (in order to have more tracks available to them). Guthrie said that, by finding the original sound elements and carefully remixing them digitally, he was able to extract far more musical information than the original album ever had.

I agree with him.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

Javier, Philip's question wasn't about the 5.1 surround mix, but the 2-channel stereo mix. And that is the same.

Joel

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Any comments in terms of how the stereo mix stacks up against the original Harvest CD mix? Maybe I remember even Lee saying that the new disc was an improvement here as well?

I auditioned both of these but find the stereo mix of the Super Audio a big improvement.

For instance, one really hears the detail in the clocks at the beginning of "Time". I also hear richer tom drums and money always broke up on the high note guitar lead solo in Money later in the track. On the SACD, the whole thing hangs together.

The usual Super Audio hallmarks of more definition, wider-deeper soundstage, more liquid midrange, improved transients, etc. are all evident.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Well, so far I don't think I've gotten a definitive answer.

Did the stereo mix from DSOTM come from Parsons' original stereo master or was the stereo remixed? Source web sites please?

I AM NOT DISCUSSING THE MULTICHANNEL MIX AT ALL IN THIS THREAD

Also I don't care which sounds better and that discussion is hijacking this thread!!!

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Also I don't care which sounds better and that discussion is hijacking this thread!!!

It's not a hijack IMHO when someone asks a question.

You need to calm down.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Phillip, like I said in Post #2, it's the original stereo mix.

I understand you didn't ask whether I think it sounds better than the 20th Anniversary edition (ugh) or the MFSL (my previous reference), but many CD-only folks might wonder whether it's worth it to upgrade, etc. I really don't consider that too far outside the topic of this thread.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Any links?

I just read through all the Dark Side news that I could find at High Fidelity Review and AudioRevolution and found nothing about the source of the stereo mox for anything but the vinyl re-release.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Links to what?

 

[Philip Hamm]

Links to sites where it is authoritatively documented that the stereo mix on the re-release is not a remix.

 

[Rich Malloy]

What am I, google? Check the usual sources!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Thanks.

I was hoping someone here who had recently been doing some research on the subjet would have some links. I guess not. Off to google....... Do you know how much comes back when you select "Dark Side Of The Moon", "SACD", "Remix", etc in google?

 

[Rich Malloy]

Well, geez, if you're gonna make me feel that bad I guess I will be your personal google-boy. I tried to search this forum for you, but of course the search function is "temporarily" disabled, so I went over to the Hoffman forums and these comments from James Guthrie (via ICE website) came up first:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/sh...ice#post205221

ICE reached out to the special reissue’s producer, James Guthrie, who has pretty much produced all things Floyd for the last two decades. We spoke with Guthrie about the new Dark Side, but unfortunately, didn’t reach him in time to make the deadline for our April issue (which just mailed this past weekend). Therefore, today’s and tomorrow’s Daily News Flash will be the only place that we run Guthrie’s exclusive comments to ICE about this tantalizing release, told to us in a phone call at the very end of last week.

"It’s a hybrid SACD," Guthrie starts by explaining, "so it’s got a redbook layer, which plays in all conventional CD players with a high-resolution remaster of the original stereo mix, and it has a brand new 5.1 mix."

"[The stereo tracks] are from the original analog tape, so the stereo product is all the original mix, but we remastered it." Was this the first time that the true stereo master tape had been used, a situation that just surfaced with The Who’s Who’s Next Deluxe Edition (ICE #191)? "Oh, no, we’ve used it every time," Guthrie assures. "Every time Doug [Sax, of The Mastering Lab] and I have remastered this thing in the past, we’ve gone back to the original tape. This is just slightly improved technology in terms of digital converters and such. I think the last remaster we did was 1996."

 

[Philip Hamm]

thanks!

 

[Ken Stuart]

Any comments in terms of how the stereo mix stacks up against the original Harvest CD mix?

Review of redbook tracks on 30th Anniversary DSotM

 

[Lee Scoggins]

PS My qualifications: I am a California state certified Studio Recording Engineer. One of my instructors was the original engineer for the drum recordings for "Dark Side of the Moon". I compared the 30th Anniversary Edition, XXth Anniversary Edition, and UK Harvest CDs using AKG K240 Studio Monitor headphones

I'm a non-CAL state certified engineer (does this mean he voted for Grey Davis?) and I know why this guy doesn't like the mix. He is using K240 headphones. These have about as much resolving power as a Bose clock radio! Curious how he mentions such crap headphones and won't list the rest of the playback system...Brain damage indeed.

Anyone wonder why he is also afraid to use the characters "30th"? Why use "XX"?...that means 20 in Roman numerals...