Philips Total Immersion SACD shows ALICE IN CHAIN G.HITS SACD was butchered during

mastering!

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/2129

Contains Alice in Chains; Man in a box; PCM master 5.1 mix

I have the SACD of the G. Hits compilation. I play it at -25db on my receiver. The version on the Philips Comp I can crank to -14db. Huge difference in volume. The Philips Comp does not sound harsh or loud.

This shows the problem was not the mixing. I think the Alice in Chains mixes are very good. These mixes were butchered during the mastering.

If Audio Fidelity were to remastered this title I would be enthralled. Great, great music.

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/586

I'd love a good version of the 5.1 Greatest Hits I didn't get it after the reviews on sa-cd.net, the CD is OK - I think Alice In Chains are a much undervalued band, and some will see it as sacrilege but I much prefer Alice In Chains to the band beginning with N! Love Foo Fighters though.

You really think the 5.1 mixes are good? Maybe I need to get the Music Bank Greatest Hits DVD-V and see if the mixes are any better on there, but every time I've listened to this I've been left scratching my head because it's one of those wall of sound mixes where everything seems to be coming from everywhere at the same time. It boggles my mind that they went to all the trouble of remixing from the multis for that album and ended up with a result that's maybe 10 or 20 percent better than a Silverline upmix.

steelydave said:

You really think the 5.1 mixes are good? Maybe I need to get the Music Bank Greatest Hits DVD-V and see if the mixes are any better on there, but every time I've listened to this I've been left scratching my head because it's one of those wall of sound mixes where everything seems to be coming from everywhere at the same time. It boggles my mind that they went to all the trouble of remixing from the multis for that album and ended up with a result that's maybe 10 or 20 percent better than a Silverline upmix.

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Good; not great. With remastering; very enjoyable.

I'd never noticed the Alice In Chains mastering difference but I greatly enjoy this SACD compilation.

fredblue said:

I'd never noticed the Alice In Chains mastering difference but I greatly enjoy this SACD compilation.

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Try playing Man in box from the COMP first; keep the same volume, then play Man in a Box from G. Hits. The difference is HUGE.

keenly said:

Try playing Man in box from the COMP first; keep the same volume, then play Man in a Box from G. Hits. The difference is HUGE.

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Interesting. During the early days of SACD both Philips and Sony had separate SACD Mastering and Authoring facilities to help get the format rolling. It sounds like these two SACDs were mastered by different engineers and facilities.

bmoura said:

Interesting. During the early days of SACD both Philips and Sony had separate SACD Mastering and Authoring facilities to help get the format rolling. It sounds like these two SACDs were mastered by different engineers and facilities.

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Yes they were! Totally different masterings.