Rush Vapor Trails Remastered? (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

He said that he could *prove* it with the equipment, not that he needed the equipment to *notice* it.

That article that someone linked earlier is pretty clear -- there's clipping in the CD master.

 

[TheLongshot]

Considering that seems to be the norm rather than the exception nowadays, I think my point is made.

I'm not defending it so much as pointing out that what Jeff (and others) view as a defect, isn't going to be viewed that way by the record company. It isn't a defect because that's the way the record company intended it to be released. It is like saying "..And Justice For All" was defective because it sounded like crap on CD.

A poor mix != defective. You may not like it, but it is what the record company decided was acceptable.

Jason

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

A poor mix is subjective, digital distortion is not. Buying a new car with a paint job you don't like the color of is one thing, having holes in the finish is another.

 

[Rich Malloy]

If they recalled every disc that produced audible nastiness as a result of being mastered too hot, they'd be replacing the lion's share of pop/rock CDs produced since the early-90s when over-maximizing become a popular mastering technique. Most of 'em aren't as horrible as "Vapor Trails" must be, considering all the complaints, but then again perhaps Rush fans are a bit pickier than the avg mainstream consumer?

It's not a defect, per se, rather just a horribly misguided search to maximize the loudness on CDs. But it's just one of many poor mastering techniques that became popular. For example, I hate noise reduction, but I have discs that suffer from it. I prefer to hear hiss than having it NR'd into the dirt (along with nice audible frequencies that should still be there), but I'd be hardpressed to call NR'd discs "defective" in a legal sense, even though I consider them such.

 

[Rich Malloy]

^^^I should point out re above that I'm assuming the main problem with the "Vapor Trails" CD is over-maximization during the mastering process, but it also sounds like it was very poorly recorded in the studio, mixed via ProTools, and probably subjected to any number of other sound quality destroying practices.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Yes, yes: there is a big difference between massive amounts of compression, limiting, etc, (a "bad" mix) vs overloading in the digital domain (which is a mistake that shouldn't happen). But for a record company to admit that?

Shoot, one of the later Chili Peppers CDs also sounds as bad as this one...

 

[Paul.S]

Perhaps this article has been linked to elsehwere and discussed but I don't think I've seen it.

Alex Lifeson Interview

"Hate" to say "I told you so" but Alex has now acknowledged issues with their recording process:

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ha ha ha!

 

[Paul.S]

Frustratingly, Alex still doesn't seem to "get it": I'm annoyed by his statement that the only motivation to take some corrective action re that album's SQ would be personal/"for [themselves]." This comment comes in a conversation in which the interviewer explicitly mentions that this matter was at/near the top of the list of responses in an informal survey of what Rush fans would like the band to address.

 

[questrider]

The "One Little Victory" and "Earthshine" remixes on Retrospective III are a vast improvement over the original "Vapor Trails" release. I, for one, would love to hear the rest of the album remixed.