Tower Records To Release 4 Early Kitaro Albums On SACD (Coming December 16, 2020)

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soundboy

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Caught this on Google today....

https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000638.000025445.html
From Google Translate....

At Tower Records, with the cooperation of JVC Kenwood Victor Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Pony Canyon Co., Ltd., the world's first SACD hybrid of four early masterpieces by world-famous synthesizer player / composer Kitaro, Wednesday, December 16 ) Will be released nationwide in Tower Records, TOWERmini, Tower Records online only, and in limited quantities.

"TOWER RECORDS presents Kitaro SA-CD HYBRID SELECTION"

Lineup Released on December 16, 2020 (Wednesday) (from the upper left of the photo)
Heaven / Astral Trip (1978)
Earth / From The FULL MOON STORY (1979)
Silk Road (1980)
Silk Road-Ayanoji-II (1980)
● Sound Supervisor: Masayoshi Okawa (Music Producer / Recording Engineer)
● Mastering engineer: Kazushige Yamazaki (Victor Studio FLAIR engineer)
● Commentary: Hidekuni Maejima (Sound & Visual Writer)
In the late 1970s, while synthesizer music became a big boom, Kitaro made his solo debut with his first album "Tenkai / Astral Trip" as a leading figure in "Mind Music". In 1980, the TV documentary "NHK Special Silk Road-Shichu no Michi-", which was in charge of music, became a big hit. After that, he moved to global activity and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Composition in the US movie "Heaven & Earth" (Director: Oliver Stone) in 1994, and the Grammy Award in 2001. The number of nominations is 17 times, which is the largest number among Japanese people.

It has been 40 years since the blockbuster "Silk Road-Shichu no Michi-". This time, the four early works, which were the starting point of Kitaro's career with such a brilliant career and became a big break, will be revived as a limited edition with new high-quality sound.

■ Overview of "TOWER RECORDS presents Kitaro SA-CD HYBRID SELECTION"
[The biggest feature of this release]
・ Tower Records original planning board. Limited edition. World's first SACD hybrid
・ New mastering from the original master owned by the label for this release
・ Board printing surface: Green coating specifications
・ Sound is supervised by Masayoshi Okawa, who worked on the mixdown of "Silk Road (Silk Road) (1980)" and "Silk Road ~ Silk Road ~ II (1980)".

■ Sound source used and mastering
・ ①② Latest remastering from original analog master tape.
The SACD layer uses a SACD master (DSD) that has been faithfully converted from the original analog master. The sound of that time is reproduced more realistically.
The CD layer also uses a PCM master that converts DSD-converted digital data from the original analog master.
・ ③④ The latest remastering using a 96kHz / 24bit base master that is a digitized analog cutting master. Master the WAV sound source after analog conversion once with D / A. Convert to DSD with A / D and convert to DSD.
 
I'm a bit confused as to why the engineers used 24 bit 96 kHz masters for Silk Road vols 1 and 2 but pure DSD masters for Kitaro's first 2 albums. His first two albums had already been remastered in 24 bit 100 kHz for K2 HD CDs. I was hoping this was an oversight and it was the Silk Road albums that were pure DSD.
 
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I actually bought the discs and they said they were from 24/96 masters upconverted to DXD edited for tonal balance and then finally converted to DSD. After buying the HQCD and UHQCD versions of Kitaro's work these are definitely better. Maybe Pony Canyon will come clean and offer single-layer SHM-SACDs. These discs have a green label, like SHMs.
 
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