MIA

[High Fidelity Review]

Rob,

‘<em>4</em>’ is fifth on the list when sorted by title (the default). One of John Kellogg’s finest. I keep trying to persuade him to produce more discs, especially as he’s always quick to agree with me about the bad ones!


Stuart M. Robinson
Publisher & Editor, High Fidelity Review
www.highfidelityreview.com/

 

[JonUrban]

Stuart,

Great list. Thanks for having the sort by label, this way we can skip right over "certain labels".

:-jon

 

[High Fidelity Review]

Jon,

Thanks. I tend to think 5.1 Entertainment are getting a disproportionately hard time, although as I mentioned before they’re probably sending me only the “good stuff”, some of their discs really are worth a listen. Tipper’s ‘<em>Surrounded</em>’ showed up today and it’s an exceptional mix.

I blame many of Silverline’s problems on their use of TC Unwrap to ‘create’ the surround mixes on their historic titles. I’ve never liked the system and feel the results would be far superior had they been using a Lexicon 960L. If you’ve not seen it, Sanjay Durani’s tour of their facility gives some interesting insights.


Stuart M. Robinson
Publisher & Editor, High Fidelity Review
www.highfidelityreview.com/

 

[JonUrban]

Actually, 5.1 has some good releases, as does *gasp* silverline. The Dishwalla is done well, that one comes to mind. I think their biggest problem is just the labeling. If they just listed some titles as "enhanced for 5.1 playback" instead of proclaiming "Stunning 5.1 surround", I would not have a problem.

Obviously, not everything that was recorded in days of yore will exist or lend itself to 5.1.

What boggles me is why haven't RCA, WEA, etc, jumped on this bandwagon just by using old '70s Q-Fi masters. At least they would have product out there. There are many great titles in the vaults that could be run out there without much work. They could get them out there as 4.0, then in a few years, have us buy them all over again when they do the "stunning 5.1 remix!!"

:-jon

 

[bmoura]

Well, some record labels are doing just that. Witness the Sony Music Multichannel SACDs by Bernstein & the NY Philharmonic, E. Power Biggs, O' Jays, Isley Brothers and Herbie Hancock.

On the other hand, Universal Music has elected to do new remixes for most of their Multichannel SACDs. The recent Every Breath You Take: The Hits being a notable exception.

>>What boggles me is why haven't RCA, WEA, etc, jumped on this bandwagon just by using old '70s Q-Fi masters. At least they would have product out there. There are many great titles in the vaults that could be run out there without much work. They could get them out there as 4.0, then in a few years, have us buy them all over again when they do the "stunning 5.1 remix!!" <<

 

[JonUrban]

Brian,

You are correct (of course). Sony has done it with some, but they have a HUGE back catalog of their former SQ/Q8 titles that they could put out there rather quickly.

Unfortunately, since SACD is geared toward HiRez first, MC second, they would have to come up with companion HiRez Stereo tracks to go with them.

However, there are many great CBS/Columbia/Epic titles that were released in SQ that have never really been heard properly in surround and would be great MC SACDs.

GET THEM OUT!!!! WE WANT THEM!!! SOON!!

 

[bmoura]

Well, a quick look at the Sony Music release schedule shows that the SACDs that have come out in recent months have been almost exclusively Multichannel discs.

As for the Sony catalog, I'm sure we'll be seeing more Multichannel SACDs from that source in the months ahead.

>>You are correct (of course). Sony has done it with some, but they have a HUGE back catalog of their former SQ/Q8 titles that they could put out there rather quickly.

Unfortunately, since SACD is geared toward HiRez first, MC second, they would have to come up with companion HiRez Stereo tracks to go with them. <<