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Rush 'Vapor Trails' Review (1 Viewer)

MichaelAW

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Apr 14, 2002
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I'll check out the R2 release again tonight, but I listened to it carefully this afternoon and didn't find anything suspicious. Thanks for the ID of the 1:19 mark of Earthshine, I'll give an ear to that part.
 

ScottH

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Ditto on Earthshine, and from what I recall, there are several places on 'Vapor Trail'.
 

Jeff Keene

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If Amazon ever delivers my pre-order, I could probably contribute to the conversation :angry:
NP: NIN - The Live DVD (forget what it's called and too lazy to move) :D
 

ScottH

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If Amazon ever delivers my pre-order, I could probably contribute to the conversation
Don't get me started on that. I'm just glad I sprung the 8 bucks for next day shipping. Otherwise I'd still be waiting as well. Needless to say, I'm officially done with Amazon.
 

Jeff

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Here's another thread about the crackling.
http://www.rushmessageboard.com/cgi-...t=ST;f=1;t=701
I'm a headphone listener and this CD sounds bad. I noticed it right away. I had to put another CD on after to make sure something wasn't wrong. Not only was there no crackling, the sound was very much lower, so VP is indeed recorded higher.
No wonder the leaked MP3's released a month before the album had crackling in them.
Jeff
 

MichaelAW

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Okay, I just listened to the fifteen seconds surrounding 1:19 of Earthshine a half-dozen times.
I hear a drum fill starting at 1:17, and ending at 1:20. Nothing sounds distorted.
If there are other specific timecodes I should listen to, I will, but I think you guys might need to import the Euro version. Just watch out for the 4% speedup. :D
 

Sam Hatch

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I'll sit down with a pad and pencil and write down the worst instances today. I mentioned a few on my first post, but there's plenty more than those examples. I've been listening to the disc just about every night at work, and there's instances of 'overload' on pretty much every track.
 

Ivan Lindenfeld

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I was just catching up at Geddylee.net and Rushforums. This is a summary of the issue at this point.

Sound engineers have proven in SOund Forge software that the disc is mixed very very hot. This is not cause of the crackling in itself however, just in this case it is.

It seems there are good copies of this CD out there. Once member of GeddyLee.net tried to exchange his thrice and each disc had the crackling in a DIFFERENT PLACE.

ON some CD's it's hard to hear and on others it's as plain as the nose on your face.

My opinion is that this is a production problem and anthem/Atlantic/WEA needs to acknowledge it and fix it.

I pose my last question again: Does anyone know a customer service number for Atlantic Records? Thanks.
 

Jeff Ulmer

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The most likely cause of the crackling is the number of consecutive samples at full scale digital, and the player's ability to decode them. If the problem was in the master it would be consistent disc to disc. This does stem back to the mastering though, since there should be some leeway built in for lesser DACs, but replicating inconsistencies may play a part-the dupes should be bit for bit copies. I'm not sure whether discs that are out of spec could cause more consecutive full scale samples, unless the error correction on the player was kicking in and interpolating them.
 

Jan H

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Yup, the crackling abounds on my disc: Earthshine, Vapor Trails, and about four others. Got mine the first day it was available at Best Buy in SoCal. RECALL!
 

TheLongshot

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Well, I'm not hearing anything that is overly obvious. I do hear some crakling (Not at the times mentioned), but it only after it was pointed out here that I did notice it, and only on earphones. I'm not going to make a big deal out of it.

Jason
 

Ivan Lindenfeld

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Jason, it's posts like yours that make me think that it's definitely a manufacturing issue. If it were on the glass master or the pre-master then everyone would hear it. I hear it on my car stereo and my computer. No headphones in the car, headphones on the computer.
 

Dave Morton

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I bought the cd over the weekend and I must say that I didn't notice any crackling anywhere. Although I refuse to search for it as I believe it would ruin my listening experience. But I will say that I just sat in my audio only room and did not hear anything wrong with it. Perhaps I was lucky to get a good copy.

Anyway, I really liked the fact that there are no synthesizers on the album. Everything is basic straight at you rock music. I've listened to the album a few times and think it gets better each time.

Can't wait to see them in July.
 

Jeff Keene

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I finally got mine today. So far I don't hear the crackling. I heard what I thought was distortion on the bass earlier in the CD. Kind of like when I used to turn the input knob up too high whilst making cassettes.

I think this CD is going to take some repeat listenings before I like it or not. Right now it just sounds like a "wall of sound", but I'm sure I'll sort through it.

NP: Uh... Rush - Vapor Trails (1st playing)
 

Jeff Keene

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Whenever Neil repeats something he thinks is so very clever ("Did I have a dream, or did the dream have me") over and over again I get embarrassed for him. Probably because that's how I wrote in high school.

NP: Uh... Rush - Vapor Trails (1st playing)
 

Jack Gilvey

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Well, as with most Rush from the last decade-and-a-half, this one isn't grabbing me yet. Won't stop me from driving up to Hartford for the first show on the tour, though (fourth row :emoji_thumbsup: ).
 

ScottH

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Whenever Neil repeats something he thinks is so very clever ("Did I have a dream, or did the dream have me") over and over again I get embarrassed for him. Probably because that's how I wrote in high school.
In most cases, that's actually not Neil's doing. At least not solely Neil. Neil always writes the lyrics on his own, with no knowledge of the music that has been written, and then gives it to Geddy and Alex and they match the appropriate music with the lyrics, which also includes adding chorus repeats, etc. Admittedly, I can't confirm that is how this album was done as I hadn't heard anything about that part of it, but I know that's how it was done previously.
 

Jeff Keene

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ScottH -

That would explain some of what I feel has been going on since Presto, the last Rush album I really liked. Lines like these are cute when hidden in a verse, but the "repeating the 'clever' line" syndrome really hurts a song in my opinion. I've noticed it particularly from Roll the Bones on.
 

MichaelAW

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Scott: I'm just kidding about the 4% PAL speed-up in R2 DVDs. The Rush album is at normal speed.
... which reminds me of a funny anecdote. Back in '93, just before Counterparts was released, I got a cassette (there was no such thing as mp3 back then ;)) in the mail from a friend with the whole album on it. I listened to that cassette non-stop for a month before the CD was released, and when it came out, I was horrified to discover that it was the wrong speed!
Turns out my cassette was recorded at the wrong speed, so the music on the CD sounded too slow to me. To this day, the opening fill of Animate sounds "wrong" to me. :frowning:
 

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