HiRez Poll Average White Band - AWB [Blu-Ray Audio]

[gbaby183]

If possible, also compare the stereo mix on the Blu-ray to the LP in those same places. It would be interesting.

I have compared the LP or vinyl to the Blu-ray and my opinion is that the Blu-ray in stereo sounds better than the LP. I felt the two channel DTS sound with its sampling rate of 192/24 PCM had a warmer sound. The LP was much louder with slightly less bass.

 

[gvl_guy]

I totally forgot that these guys actually SING in most of their songs. Pick Up the Pieces barely has vocals and, of course, this was their hot song that we all likely heard on the radio at some point in our lives. That being said, I really enjoyed the rest of the album, too, but PUtP is absolutely stunning! The surround is spectacular and could absolutely be used to show friends what surround can do. I highly recommend playing PUtP as a demo tune. A total 10 for me.

 

[par4ken]

I must be one of the few here who doesn't really care for the music on this disc.

That being said I do actually have the CD-4, which I copied to the hard drive. I've given the music a fair chance listening to it occasionally over the years and still consider it just "Average", so a five for content. That funk sound is just too close to Disco for my taste. The mix and sound quality fair much better a nine for each. So averaging and rounding up for packaging I'm voting eight.

 

[gvl_guy]

I must be one of the few here who doesn't really care for the music on this disc.

That being said I do actually have the CD-4, which I copied to the hard drive. I've given the music a fair chance listening to it occasionally over the years and still consider it just "Average", so a five for content. That funk sound is just too close to Disco for my taste. The mix and sound quality fair much better a nine for each. So averaging and rounding up for packaging I'm voting eight.

What's wrong with disco?

 

[himey]

What's wrong with disco?

Give me some full albums in Atmos of Donna Summer!

 

[gvl_guy]

Give me some full albums in Atmos of Donna Summer!

Amen!;I'd love a physical copy of that Chic that's streaming right now.

 

[par4ken]

What's wrong with disco?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

What's wrong with disco?

Hated the music. Loved the girls.

 

[gbaby183]

Hated the music. Loved the girls.

You mean to tell us that you didn't like "Get Down Tonight," by KC and the Sunshine Band or "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool and the Gang?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

You mean to tell us that you didn't like "Get Down Tonight," by KC and the Sunshine Band or "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool and the Gang?

I'm not even sure I know the songs., maybe the 1st one.

 

[steelydave]

I compared the mix on the Quadio disc to two different demodulations of the CD-4 LP and one transfer of the Q8, and compared to those (and verified by using both a couple of tools in my DAW including Voxengo SPAN and my own two ears) the quad mix on the Quadio disc needs the front right channel increased by 2.4dB to balance the front pair. You can also achieve the same effect by lowering the front left by 2.4dB but to me it felt like the rears were too loud as a result.

I spoke to Darrell Johnson (who did the CD-4 cutting of this album at the JVC Cutting Center in Hollywood) a few years back and while I don't recall what he said about this album specifically, he told me that either the engineer or producer of the album he was cutting would attend the session to approve the mastering make sure it sounded right, so I have to believe that the 2.4dB boost is what either Gene Paul (who did the quad mix) or Arif Mardin (who produced the album) wanted.

The CD-4, while obviously being sonically inferior to a master tape transfer from a fidelity standpoint has a more pleasing tonality to me, thanks to a cut in the lower midrange and a boost in the upper midrange compared to the Quadio disc. A wide cut centering around 1.5kHz (so it's starting around 600Hz and ending around 3kHz) of about 3dB will tame some of the midrange, and then a slightly narrower boost of about 3dB centering around 6kHz (so it starts around 4kHz and ends around 11kHz) will add some sparkle and presence to the vocals, lead instruments and hi-hats and cymbals.

It also seems like the quad mix has the bass rolled off (this is in all versions, CD-4, Q8 and the Quadio) compared to the stereo mix, maybe with a view toward making it compatible with CD-4 cutting, compared to every stereo version (which was about 6 different CDs, the 192/24 HDTracks and Quadio flat transfers, and one LP) that I auditioned. Listen to the intro of 'Got the Love' to spot the difference - the bass drum 'thumps' in the stereo mix, and 'pops' in the quad mix. The amount of roll-off varies from track to track but you can safely add a low shelf (below 200Hz) of at least 3dB (and up to 7dB on some tracks) to give the quad mix more of the visceral low end impact of the original stereo mix, which I think it needs.

 

[kfbkfb]

aside:
Darrell Johnson commented on the AWB CD-4 in Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/1954115-Average-White-Band-AWB

(has anyone listened to the stereo AWB mix through a Surround Master [or Hafler] decoder)?


Kirk Bayne

 

[gbaby183]

I compared the mix on the Quadio disc to two different demodulations of the CD-4 LP and one transfer of the Q8, and compared to those (and verified by using both a couple of tools in my DAW including Voxengo SPAN and my own two ears) the quad mix on the Quadio disc needs the front right channel increased by 2.4dB to balance the front pair. You can also achieve the same effect by lowering the front left by 2.4dB but to me it felt like the rears were too loud as a result.

I spoke to Darrell Johnson (who did the CD-4 cutting of this album at the JVC Cutting Center in Hollywood) a few years back and while I don't recall what he said about this album specifically, he told me that either the engineer or producer of the album he was cutting would attend the session to approve the mastering make sure it sounded right, so I have to believe that the 2.4dB boost is what either Gene Paul (who did the quad mix) or Arif Mardin (who produced the album) wanted.

The CD-4, while obviously being sonically inferior to a master tape transfer from a fidelity standpoint has a more pleasing tonality to me, thanks to a cut in the lower midrange and a boost in the upper midrange compared to the Quadio disc. A wide cut centering around 1.5kHz (so it's starting around 600Hz and ending around 3kHz) of about 3dB will tame some of the midrange, and then a slightly narrower boost of about 3dB centering around 6kHz (so it starts around 4kHz and ends around 11kHz) will add some sparkle and presence to the vocals, lead instruments and hi-hats and cymbals.

It also seems like the quad mix has the bass rolled off (this is in all versions, CD-4, Q8 and the Quadio) compared to the stereo mix, maybe with a view toward making it compatible with CD-4 cutting, compared to every stereo version (which was about 6 different CDs, the 192/24 HDTracks and Quadio flat transfers, and one LP) that I auditioned. Listen to the intro of 'Got the Love' to spot the difference - the bass drum 'thumps' in the stereo mix, and 'pops' in the quad mix. The amount of roll-off varies from track to track but you can safely add a low shelf (below 200Hz) of at least 3dB (and up to 7dB on some tracks) to give the quad mix more of the visceral low end impact of the original stereo mix, which I think it needs.

This is a great post. I mentioned in an earlier post about the mix being uneven, and while I did not know the reason, you may have provided the fix. Thanks