Anyone pick up Seal's first album on CD/DVD-A? (1 Viewer)

[Ron Reda]

From what I read, this came out today. I was just curious what the sampling rate on the DVD-A disc is and how it sounds.

 

[PaulDA]

If it sounds anything like the greatest hits DVD-A, you have a sonic winner.

 

[Ron Reda]

That's good to hear. I also bought this yesterday since Best Buy only had 2 copies, but I didn't have a chance to listen (stupid lightning storms). The stereo DVD-A track is 24/88.2kHz and the 5.1 track is 24/96kHz.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

I have both Seal 1991 and Seal 1994 at home but have not spun them yet. They were not available most places I looked.

I was really hoping the CD versions included would have been remastered, but unfortunately they sound exactly like the releases from 1991 and 1994. Not that those were bad, but I have to compensate for levels and bass a bit in my car.

Can't wait to watch the Live in Paris DVD. I wonder if we'll get Human Being in DVD-A. I know there was a lot of difficulty for Seal regarding that release, and it almost seems like it's being left behind. It's his only full-length without a DVD-A now, and he only does one song ("Just Like You Said") from it on the live CD/DVD. While neither can surpass Seal 1991 and 1994 for me, I find that I like Human Being at least as much as Seal IV.

 

[Chris-V]

I've now spun them both, and overall I like them. The surround mix is much more frenetic than in IV and Best, and the mix seems to put too much emphasis on the surround channels which gets distracting sometimes. But the sound quality is great, and there are lots of details in the music I never heard before that come right to the surface.

Haven't checked out any of the bonus stuff yet.

I'd also love to see HB in DVD-A. While it doesn't have as much razzle-dazzle as the others, and I tend to listen to it less, I think it's the most consistent Seal disc in terms of atmosphere. I'd love to be able to sit in a dark room with my eyes closed and that DVD-A spinning at the end of a long day.

 

[Paul.S]

"When a Man Is Wrong" from HB is one of my fave Seal tunes. Here's to that album also making it to DVD-A.

Interesting that Amazon has the '91 and '94 albums' double disc releases but, as of this typing, Music Direct appears not to.

-p

 

[Keith I]

Usually DVD-A discs give you the option of choosing any audio track in the menu, but the 2nd album and Best do not. You have to go into your player's settings to choose DVD-Video if you want Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. You can't choose it on the menu. Weird.

I have a DVD-A player but no DVD-A capable receiver or pre-amp (yet) so when I inserted the disc, it automatically uses only the MLP tracks.

 

[Ron Reda]

I haven't listened to these tracks in surround (have no interest in surround music that wasn't mixed that way to begin with), but I will agree with this from the two-channel standpoint. One thing I did notice is that some of the tracks sound a bit better (clearer, more defined) than others. In looking up the liner notes on these, I saw that certain tracks had different producers. I presume that's why they sound different?

 

[Paul.S]

Yes, Ron--different producers who probably used different engineers to track (record) the sessions and perhaps different again to mix the results. -p

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I thought, for the most part, they were fairly understated surround mixes (even Seal IV isn't that agressive), and also alot cleaner and clearer than the CD versions I've had since his career started. I can finally understand what he's saying and the dynamics don't seem as compressed.

Now, if only they had been mixed like Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms SA-CD!! Man, that was some sweet restoration/upsampling work and surround mixing for what they had to work with!! Very spacious and the surrounds usually wrapped you in a sonic bubble, and it was atmospheric when the song called for that type of SFX work. They need to hire Chuck Ainlay, its 5.1 sound mixer, more often!!

 

[Paul.S]

Excellent. Good to know that Chuck did the BIA 5.1. I've been enjoying his work for George Strait (including the SA-CD and DVD-A of Honkeytonkville) for years. Interesting though that an engineer who tracked the original sessions didn't do it.

-p

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I should have been more specific in my compare and contrast statement. Chuck did the Brothers In Arms mix, not the Seal, and I was wishing the Seal albums could have been mixed as well as Brothers In Arms.

Sorry for the confusion. Didn't mean to get your hopes up.

Dan

 

[Paul.S]

Got it, Dan--I knew what you meant. Mis-typed; revised my post. -p