And a NORMAL FERRIC CASSETTE at that!
UK - Curtain Call 10th Anniversary DVD/Blu-Ray
- Thread starter GOS
- Start date
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This is the first time I canceled an order based on reviews from QQ members, I just can't deny what you all our experiencing.
There is way too much good surround released this year to put up with any kind of crap.
If your on a block of restauarnts, you better put out good food like the others or, your space will say For Lease, very soon.
There is way too much good surround released this year to put up with any kind of crap.
If your on a block of restauarnts, you better put out good food like the others or, your space will say For Lease, very soon.
I really wish Eddie had contacted me to get involved in this - these days I have really specialised in mixing live albums and also working with surround - not to mention my connection to the fabulous first UK album!! It is very disappointing to hear that this has not turned out very well. A real shame. SWT.
We would have loved that as well Stephen.
What a missed opportunity! 
Geoff in Belfast
Active Member
Mine was delivered today. Unbelievable this was considered fit for release without a massive “buyer beware” warning
The56Kid
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Based on your superlative mix of the Moody Blues Live At The Royal Albert Hall, I really wish you had gotten involved too. Grrrr!
Geoff in Belfast
Active Member
Can I ask the thread … there are various comments here. I’m differentiating between something that’s a surround mix that’s “not to my taste / could be better” and something that actually sounds like it’s very badly recorded and has gone ahead as a release anyway.
I’ve now auditioned the blu ray, the blu ray audio and the DVD. The same soundtrack is present on each.
Non-technical review - akin to watching a high quality filmed video, with cotton wool in your ears.
Slightly less non-technical review - the Stereo mix is a long way from being good but it simply sounds like a bad quality muffled recording kicks in. The video begins with In The Dead of Night, with crystal clear audience sound, until the keyboard part kicks in and you can immediately tell it’s muffled - no definition or top end, just a mess of mids and bass. So as instruments come in, they’re all fighting for the same frequency range, creating a mush. By the time you get to the mid section there is some amazing playing going on with no definition. So when there are keyboards you can barely hear the guitar. John Wetton’s vocal sounds like it’s being picked up by incidental mics. It’s almost as if the only recording captured has been some distant / overhead or audience mic and they’ve just gone with what they had.
It’s also notable that when the music stops, with no real fade, crystal clear crowd noise kicks in and then switches off the instant the music begins.
In the multichannel version everything above is pretty much exacerbated. The intro to Thirty Years with keyboard pad and the electric guitar has a bit of definition, but then Wetton’s vocal kicks in, no doubt note perfect, but sounding like a very low quality mp3, compressed to death and lacking definition.
I’m sure someone would be able to a spectral analysis to explain in more detail what the recording issue (assuming it’s that) is. Much as I love his mixes, I doubt this is even a job that Stephen Tayler could fix - I think it’s the source being worked from that’s the root of the problem … or else just a massive quality control gap that’s the same faulty mix out across the 3 disc formats in the set.
As a side note, I’m not sure what the point of a blu ray video and blu ray audio is, when they both contain the same audio.
I’ve now auditioned the blu ray, the blu ray audio and the DVD. The same soundtrack is present on each.
Non-technical review - akin to watching a high quality filmed video, with cotton wool in your ears.
Slightly less non-technical review - the Stereo mix is a long way from being good but it simply sounds like a bad quality muffled recording kicks in. The video begins with In The Dead of Night, with crystal clear audience sound, until the keyboard part kicks in and you can immediately tell it’s muffled - no definition or top end, just a mess of mids and bass. So as instruments come in, they’re all fighting for the same frequency range, creating a mush. By the time you get to the mid section there is some amazing playing going on with no definition. So when there are keyboards you can barely hear the guitar. John Wetton’s vocal sounds like it’s being picked up by incidental mics. It’s almost as if the only recording captured has been some distant / overhead or audience mic and they’ve just gone with what they had.
It’s also notable that when the music stops, with no real fade, crystal clear crowd noise kicks in and then switches off the instant the music begins.
In the multichannel version everything above is pretty much exacerbated. The intro to Thirty Years with keyboard pad and the electric guitar has a bit of definition, but then Wetton’s vocal kicks in, no doubt note perfect, but sounding like a very low quality mp3, compressed to death and lacking definition.
I’m sure someone would be able to a spectral analysis to explain in more detail what the recording issue (assuming it’s that) is. Much as I love his mixes, I doubt this is even a job that Stephen Tayler could fix - I think it’s the source being worked from that’s the root of the problem … or else just a massive quality control gap that’s the same faulty mix out across the 3 disc formats in the set.
As a side note, I’m not sure what the point of a blu ray video and blu ray audio is, when they both contain the same audio.
RuudMans
Well-known Member
Hmmm. Given this is a rerelease, does anybody know how this new version compares to the original release?
BrunoSamppa
Member
No audio above 8 or 9 kHz and squashed Mastering. Simple as that. An audio CD can represent frequencies up to 22.05 kHz. So, the audio don't have half of a what a CD can bring. The "hi-res" sample/resolution offered is snake oil.
Stupid me. I sold my Japanese 2cd Blu ray version ahead of receiving this one ( remastered version they said
so heck you expect a better version..) So I cant compare anymore 1 on 1. I only really watched the Blu ray then. It wasn't more than a 7 sound wise.
cbmmm3
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
thanks for the heads up fellow QQers. I was able to cancel my order
Thanks for the early reviews. I decided to cancel my order as well. My ears are old and filled with tin, but these reviews sound so bad, I just couldn't take a chance.
RuudMans
Well-known Member
Based on the reviews here it doesn't bode well, but I will keep my copy when it arrives and make up my own mind. I don't have the original release and as a fan of this band, this just seems something that I must own.
I thought the video looked and sounded alright and worth what I paid. Very strange set though.
Got mine today, unfortunately I was not at home to refuse the shipment. So I tried all three discs out to get my own opinion on this. You were absolutely right!! I can not belive that this has been sold by a company!! I contacted burning shed about this and I am waiting for a response probably next week.
Geoff in Belfast
Active Member
They were very good. Mine is returned and they will refund
The sound is inexcusable. The video was brilliant. The concert was amazing. Too bad they didn't manage the one thing music absolutely needs. Whatever the reason it's sad.
I still enjoyed it immensely and just pretended I was at the show, where sound at venues always sucks.
The reproduction of the two albums by the musicians was stellar.
On an 85" screen it was tremendous to see John Wetton still had great vocal chops, cuz that's usually the shortfall with reunions, vocal chords rarely age as well as vintage guitars. He rocked. Eddie J was the expected master of the sonic landscape and a virtuoso soloist. Alex H was a quality Holdsworth fill in and that is no easy task.
But by far the most fun was Marco Minneman beating a kit like the most technically proficient version of Animal from the Muppets you could imagine. He was having a blast and let it show. He had great parts to play and he relished powering some amazing music.
It really hurts to see all that happen and the sound suck like a turbo Dyson.
Now the real question, I saw someone mention earlier that the label wants to put out Atmos versions of the two studio albums. I beseech the music gods, PLEASE YES! They are the two records I most want to hear immersively. BUT we need Steven Wilson desperately for that. Anyone up for a Go Fund Me to finance a commando raid to grab the masters and SW and put them together until we have the epic
records we deserve. I have some experience with the raiding so I'm kinda pretend volunteering.
Eddie please make this happen.
I still enjoyed it immensely and just pretended I was at the show, where sound at venues always sucks.
The reproduction of the two albums by the musicians was stellar.
On an 85" screen it was tremendous to see John Wetton still had great vocal chops, cuz that's usually the shortfall with reunions, vocal chords rarely age as well as vintage guitars. He rocked. Eddie J was the expected master of the sonic landscape and a virtuoso soloist. Alex H was a quality Holdsworth fill in and that is no easy task.
But by far the most fun was Marco Minneman beating a kit like the most technically proficient version of Animal from the Muppets you could imagine. He was having a blast and let it show. He had great parts to play and he relished powering some amazing music.
It really hurts to see all that happen and the sound suck like a turbo Dyson.
Now the real question, I saw someone mention earlier that the label wants to put out Atmos versions of the two studio albums. I beseech the music gods, PLEASE YES! They are the two records I most want to hear immersively. BUT we need Steven Wilson desperately for that. Anyone up for a Go Fund Me to finance a commando raid to grab the masters and SW and put them together until we have the epic
records we deserve. I have some experience with the raiding so I'm kinda pretend volunteering.
Eddie please make this happen.
Unless something’s changed, Eddie did not have the multitracks for either UK album so they were presented as 24/96 (48?) stereo in the UK box set.
I just watched the first half of Curtain Call and stopped it and gave my quick assessment to family members supporting me on birthday media to consume. (Whether they were prepared to hear it or not)
Short version (TL: DR)
The surround mix was claustrophobic, stifled and off-sounding. Nothing was missing from the band output on that stage but it was all just so poorly represented here.
Possibly the most aggregious thing for me was the vocal neutering. A couple tunes in, I asked myself why they keep using that effect on John’s voice. The sad realization - this is how he’s going to sound all the way through this show.
As some of you know, John Wetton is a personal hero for me (since 1974) as both a great bassist AND singer. The audio mixing here has stripped out the bulk of his rich sonorous tones and replaced it with 8 bit caricatures.
The video is great, thankfully. It only seems like a surround mix less than 5% of the time so far. Sadly, the audio presented here is a missed opportunity.
Odd to think I’ve met all of these fine musicians (people), albeit at different times.
I just watched the first half of Curtain Call and stopped it and gave my quick assessment to family members supporting me on birthday media to consume. (Whether they were prepared to hear it or not)
Short version (TL: DR)
The surround mix was claustrophobic, stifled and off-sounding. Nothing was missing from the band output on that stage but it was all just so poorly represented here.
Possibly the most aggregious thing for me was the vocal neutering. A couple tunes in, I asked myself why they keep using that effect on John’s voice. The sad realization - this is how he’s going to sound all the way through this show.
As some of you know, John Wetton is a personal hero for me (since 1974) as both a great bassist AND singer. The audio mixing here has stripped out the bulk of his rich sonorous tones and replaced it with 8 bit caricatures.
The video is great, thankfully. It only seems like a surround mix less than 5% of the time so far. Sadly, the audio presented here is a missed opportunity.
Odd to think I’ve met all of these fine musicians (people), albeit at different times.
Last edited:
The56Kid
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Very well put, Jim!
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