Heartland

I've been listening to the 24/96 for the past coupla days; Body & Soul is definitely the star of the show here too. The clarity and instrument separation is phenomenal, and once again having properly mastered versions of Body Electric and Afterhours is just a dream. Everything else is great too of course, but the sheer quality improvement when compared to the murky and overloaded original vinyl makes this one in particular stand out.

The only niggle I'd have is that Black Planet has been mastered louder than the rest of the set. In GoldWave I get an RMS of about 0.19 compared to averaging maybe 0.13 elsewhere, and it's also obvious from visually examining the waveforms. That's not too big a deal though; I'll just adjust it when I burn it down to CD and copy to my phone for listening.

Yep, Black Planet is - unfortunately - slightly off. I think it's all the added bass!

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Analyzed folder: C:\Users\Robert\Music\HDtracks\Sisters Of Mercy\First and Last and Always Collection\
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DR Peak RMS Filename
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DR9 -0.67 dB -11.24 dB 01-Black Planet.wav
DR10 -0.76 dB -12.14 dB 02-Walk Away.wav
DR11 -1.27 dB -14.69 dB 03-No Time to Cry.wav
DR11 -0.78 dB -14.14 dB 04-A Rock and a Hard Place.wav
DR12 -0.79 dB -14.52 dB 05-Marian (Version).wav
DR12 -0.76 dB -15.66 dB 06-First and Last and Always.wav
DR13 -0.81 dB -15.79 dB 07-Possession.wav
DR13 -1.31 dB -15.56 dB 08-Nine While Nine.wav
DR12 -1.52 dB -16.02 dB 09-Amphetamine Logic.wav
DR12 -1.33 dB -15.77 dB 10-Some Kind of Stranger.wav
DR12 -0.71 dB -14.89 dB 11-Body and Soul.wav
DR12 -0.76 dB -14.64 dB 12-Body Electric.wav
DR14 -0.63 dB -15.68 dB 13-Train.wav
DR13 -1.75 dB -17.70 dB 14-Afterhours.wav
DR11 -0.77 dB -13.13 dB 15-Poison Door.wav
DR11 -1.63 dB -15.02 dB 16-On the Wire.wav
DR10 -2.82 dB -15.46 dB 17-Blood Money.wav
DR13 -4.92 dB -22.03 dB 18-Bury Me Deep.wav
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Number of files: 18
Official DR value: DR12

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Visual comparison, Black Planet on top, FALAA on bottom:

I've just finished listening to the 24/96 download. It is great. It sounds very similar to the new vinyl remaster, I wonder if a digital copy was made during the vinyl cutting process?
Comparing A Rock And A Hard Place to the 2006 Rhino CD, the new remaster has more body in the low end, greater clarity on the guitars and drum fx, and a pinch more depth. In addition, the pitch on the 2006 CD is off when compared with multiple other sources.

Certainly, these new remasters are the best this record has ever sounded, both in the digital and analogue domains!

Randall Flagg wrote:

radiojamaica wrote:Do try the dl-code later. I've had it with other releases that it didn't work until the Monday after the Friday releasedate. Digital can never beat analog, right?!


It seems I need this boxset after all

You do - as soon as I put it on the shelf I imagined how it would look with the Floodland equivalent in 2018!

Flagg

haha, that was the last push I needed... I got mine today

Tried really hard to convince myself I didn't need this.
Have just ordered it.

robertzombie wrote:Mastering update: According to the LP liner notes, "Cut from original production masters by Ray Staff at Air Studios, London". So, not Sean Magee at Abbey Road. Still sounds great!

According to discogs that same R.S. did the mastering for the Dr Jeep 12":
http://www.discogs.com/Sisters-Of-Mercy ... ase/388472

(posted this on the SH-forum, but figured it might be a worthwile note here, too)

Just got the hi-res tracks off HDtracks.de, which was a new discovery for me (having previously dealt with the mothership @ HDtracks.com). The album & three EPs are available separately, but the full collection can be had for a killer €16.50, which is an incredible deal!

Upon first inspection the sound quality is truly outstanding - a spectacular improvement over the 2006 reissue CD and an incredible first acquaintance with the Body & Soul EP in the digital realm. I detected some minor compression in Body & Soul (the song), but otherwise the whole set is immaculately mastered - almost, that is...

Unfortunately, the quality control department has failed to do an impeccable job - at least in the FLAC-files that I bought. To wit:
- as mentioned above, the first two songs - Black Planet & Walk Away - are mastered at a considerably louder volume than the remainder of the tracks and do suffer from compression and limiting. I somehow suspect this has to do with the accusations levelled at the 2006 CD of being mastered at too low a volume, when the opening to Black Planet in particular ended up being very quiet, losing quite a bit of the intended drama in the process. This is certainly not the case here, but it's a pity that it comes at a price...
- in the very intro to No Time To Cry (at 0.02.165, to be precise), there is a volume jump which is clearly an oversight left over from trying to fix an error on the master tape. When you're sufficiently anally retentive, it is possible to remove the error seamlessly yourself, but it's an undesirable blemish nonetheless.

Still, I'm immensely pleased with the overal quality of this set of great songs. One thing that's nagging me a bit is the following. When you buy the full collection, you get 18 tracks, missing the lead tracks of the Walk Away and No Time To Cry EPs. Now, they are on the album anyway, but they obviously are included in the separate file sets of those records. I wonder if those lead tracks on the singles are in fact different mixes from the album versions. If anybody knows for sure, please give a call.

I also noticed the glitch on NTTC. I'll have to go back to the LP and see if it's present there too!

Gosh, the sound clips on HD sounds really are immeasurably better than anything I've heard before. Very nice.

download via vinylcollector.com still does not work

Thanks Rob

vicus wrote:download via vinylcollector.com still does not work

It's mp3, probably for the best.

timsinister wrote:Thanks Rob

I tried to resist, but...
Well, I just bought the digital version of HDTracks.
It is simply awesome! Totally recommended!

Hi , anybody can dawnload digital version of the album using code from the box? i have problem with that.

no - as far as I know there is a problem with the link. I got an email from someone at Warner's to say they are looking into the problem.

Flagg

Randall Flagg wrote:no - as far as I know there is a problem with the link. I got an email from someone at Warner's to say they are looking into the problem.

Flagg

As if by magic - just got this....

We have followed this up and unfortunately there was an issue with the link. This has now been fixed and you should be ok to use it now.

Jasmin
Your Warner Music Customer Service Team

Flagg

Warners were involved? OK, that explains a bit...

1) Wrong Body Electric.
2) Japanese mixes.

Somebody needs a slap about the face for all of this.

mh wrote:Warners were involved? OK, that explains a bit...

1) Wrong Body Electric.
2) Japanese mixes.

Somebody needs a slap about the face for all of this.

It's the Japanese mixes again ... ... that's very uncool.
They have been nicely mastered and reissued on 180g vinyl with the MoFi Release ...
Very disappointed, now ... ...

Being645 wrote:

mh wrote:Warners were involved? OK, that explains a bit...

1) Wrong Body Electric.
2) Japanese mixes.

Somebody needs a slap about the face for all of this.

It's the Japanese mixes again ... ... that's very uncool.
They have been nicely mastered and reissued on 180g vinyl with the MoFi Release ...
Very disappointed, now ... ...

To be totally clear, the Japanese mixes are only on the digital download when using the code that comes with the box set. The box set itself, and as far as I know all other digital downloads, are the original mixes.

The wrong Body Electric is way more common. It looks like the only ways to get the right one are the vinyl box set or the HD download.

mh wrote:Warners were involved? OK, that explains a bit...

1) Wrong Body Electric.
2) Japanese mixes.

Somebody needs a slap about the face for all of this.

Hallo,
Not being the biggest Sisters fan but having all albums on CD for ages and always wanted to start collecting LPs and vinyl singles. That's why this new FALAA box is more than welcome in my collection and I will definetaly buy follow-up FLOODLAND and let's hope VISION THING will get the same treatment as well. Also, it would be great to have a box with all non-album singles but that's just a wishful thinking.
As stated above I don't own any other pressing of FALAA on vinyl but this one sounds amazing.
The only flaw is this download mess. I wish to have the correct 2015 remastered version of album and EPs and I'm fine with 320 mp3 but all I can download is the old master which I got on CDs. Sorry but I don't get it and I'm not going to spend another $25 on these files. Even more weird is the fact that some retailers are selling 24bit/96kHz FLAC in new remastered version and 16bit/44kHz and mp3 320 in old master at the same time.
https://www.7digital.com/artist/sisters ... ollection/
https://www.7digital.com/artist/sisters ... lection-1/

I'm very tempted to get the right Body Electric.

Are the HD versions much better sound quality wise than the MP3s *for non-audiophile slobs using just average headphones/speakers* like -er- my friend?

Yes. Yes they are

mh wrote:

Being645 wrote:

mh wrote:Warners were involved? OK, that explains a bit...

1) Wrong Body Electric.
2) Japanese mixes.

Somebody needs a slap about the face for all of this.

It's the Japanese mixes again ... ... that's very uncool.
They have been nicely mastered and reissued on 180g vinyl with the MoFi Release ...
Very disappointed, now ... ...

To be totally clear, the Japanese mixes are only on the digital download when using the code that comes with the box set. The box set itself, and as far as I know all other digital downloads, are the original mixes.

The wrong Body Electric is way more common. It looks like the only ways to get the right one are the vinyl box set or the HD download.

OK. So it's not as bad as I had thought. The vinyls are fine and so is the HD download, both of which are available at some cost.

What is not so perfect is some bonus free download that comes with the vinyl box set.
A bit funny, but maybe they intend to sell a CD version with the HD tracks some time later as well.
Although, who needs CDs nowadays ... ...