Some Girls...

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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CellThree
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I was listening to this the other day very loudly on headphones. Is it my imagination or is the sound quality pretty ropey? Alice sounds pretty bad when it's cranked up, seem to lose the top end. Is it purely because the sound quality is higher on CD than it probably was on the original recording so you can actually hear the difference?

I only really noticed when I was ripping Alice to play around with it in Soundforge and Acid and noticed there was a lot of static on the loud bits. I thought it was the ripping for a bit, but listening to the original CD it is there. I haven't played any of my vinyl copies yet to check if it is the same on them.
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Izzy HaveMercy
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CellThree wrote:I was listening to this the other day very loudly on headphones. Is it my imagination or is the sound quality pretty ropey? Alice sounds pretty bad when it's cranked up, seem to lose the top end. Is it purely because the sound quality is higher on CD than it probably was on the original recording so you can actually hear the difference?

I only really noticed when I was ripping Alice to play around with it in Soundforge and Acid and noticed there was a lot of static on the loud bits. I thought it was the ripping for a bit, but listening to the original CD it is there. I haven't played any of my vinyl copies yet to check if it is the same on them.
Prolly coz the 'remastering' is almost nonexistent...
All the stuff on SGWBM seems to be ripped rite off the vinyl and only a limiter applied, maybe some EQ-ing.

Did you use the original WAV file for this or an MP3?


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CellThree
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Izzy HaveMercy wrote:
CellThree wrote:I was listening to this the other day very loudly on headphones. Is it my imagination or is the sound quality pretty ropey? Alice sounds pretty bad when it's cranked up, seem to lose the top end. Is it purely because the sound quality is higher on CD than it probably was on the original recording so you can actually hear the difference?

I only really noticed when I was ripping Alice to play around with it in Soundforge and Acid and noticed there was a lot of static on the loud bits. I thought it was the ripping for a bit, but listening to the original CD it is there. I haven't played any of my vinyl copies yet to check if it is the same on them.
Prolly coz the 'remastering' is almost nonexistent...
All the stuff on SGWBM seems to be ripped rite off the vinyl and only a limiter applied, maybe some EQ-ing.

Did you use the original WAV file for this or an MP3?


IZ.
Original WAV file. It's a shame as I had a really nice ambient thing going with the Alice intro drum beat slowed right down and echoed with one of the vocal samples from the Curve site over the top. It sounded really good until I put it through the headphones and heard all the clicking.
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Izzy HaveMercy
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CellThree wrote:
Izzy HaveMercy wrote:
CellThree wrote:I was listening to this the other day very loudly on headphones. Is it my imagination or is the sound quality pretty ropey? Alice sounds pretty bad when it's cranked up, seem to lose the top end. Is it purely because the sound quality is higher on CD than it probably was on the original recording so you can actually hear the difference?

I only really noticed when I was ripping Alice to play around with it in Soundforge and Acid and noticed there was a lot of static on the loud bits. I thought it was the ripping for a bit, but listening to the original CD it is there. I haven't played any of my vinyl copies yet to check if it is the same on them.
Prolly coz the 'remastering' is almost nonexistent...
All the stuff on SGWBM seems to be ripped rite off the vinyl and only a limiter applied, maybe some EQ-ing.

Did you use the original WAV file for this or an MP3?


IZ.
Original WAV file. It's a shame as I had a really nice ambient thing going with the Alice intro drum beat slowed right down and echoed with one of the vocal samples from the Curve site over the top. It sounded really good until I put it through the headphones and heard all the clicking.
You COULD use a de-esser in SoundForge...
Or a noisegate at...say....-20 till -24 dB or something.....
Experiment....try to make it better.... use SoundForge....
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CellThree
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Heh, this is the problem. I'm great at messing about writing stuff on guitar and whatever, but trying to play with stuff in digital is really slow going for me at the moment as I dont really understand what I'm doing. I just use the "what's this button do?" philosophy.
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Karst
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Izzy HaveMercy wrote:Prolly coz the 'remastering' is almost nonexistent...All the stuff on SGWBM seems to be ripped rite off the vinyl and only a limiter applied, maybe some EQ-ing. Did you use the original WAV file for this or an MP3?
To be honest, the programs that were about at the time probably weren't the best. I actually got Some Girls.. on vinyl at the time and it sounded great. Try ripping it from that - for personal use of course ;)

With the Sisters I always find that when applying anything that declicks, dehisses or knocks of Db & the Doktor gets a very metallic sound. I'm doing a Prague '98 remaster at the moment and that it really getting to me to be honest. I've tried to apply quite a few filters and it seems to be going right through the tape so to speak. It basically starts to crackle because of the heavy load of effects. While I can get the vocals out a little better and some of the guitars, the Doktor remains pretty low in the mix.

8)
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Izzy HaveMercy
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Karst wrote:
Izzy HaveMercy wrote:Prolly coz the 'remastering' is almost nonexistent...All the stuff on SGWBM seems to be ripped rite off the vinyl and only a limiter applied, maybe some EQ-ing. Did you use the original WAV file for this or an MP3?
To be honest, the programs that were about at the time probably weren't the best. I actually got Some Girls.. on vinyl at the time and it sounded great. Try ripping it from that - for personal use of course ;)

With the Sisters I always find that when applying anything that declicks, dehisses or knocks of Db & the Doktor gets a very metallic sound. I'm doing a Prague '98 remaster at the moment and that it really getting to me to be honest. I've tried to apply quite a few filters and it seems to be going right through the tape so to speak. It basically starts to crackle because of the heavy load of effects. While I can get the vocals out a little better and some of the guitars, the Doktor remains pretty low in the mix.

8)


Always be careful with remastering...

Also, a lot of people think that the more effects you use, the better it will sound.
Not true, of course.

I used Steinberg Nuendo 2.0 to remix and remaster an old audio tape from my band, for example.
Here's what I did:

* Sometimes a subtle EQ-ing can do half of the work.

* Then use a noisegate filter (I found a small little proggie on the Net called DeNoise, it's free and fabulous!) or deEsser, deCrackle or whatever, and set it so that it uses the least denoising possible.

* Apply another slight EQ to nudge the high frequencies that deNoisers tend to 'filter away'.

* Then use overall eq/compression if necessary.

* Last of all, use a state-of-the-art limiter (hardware or plugin).

But remember: always try to use very slight changes, with every effect you use, be it EQ, Reverb, Compression, DeHiss, whatever.

And by the way, I'm not an expert at the table, either.

I only share what I learned by trial and terror....

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markfiend
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I'm not by any means an expert, but I am quite a fan of my audio hi-fi equipment, and one of the main "rules" of hi-fi is to have as few components as possible between source and loudspeaker.

I'd guess that the same applies with digital sound: have as few "components" (i.e. filters, or whatever) as possible between your source and your output.

Or am I just talking s**t again? ;D
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ryan
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theres a thing called 'vinyl restoration' on sound forge 7 which works nicely
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Drsisters
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The programs that I find useful to re-master/restore old tapes is:
Cooledit Pro and
Clean 4.0 (I know it its a s**t program, but it have some useful features)
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Izzy HaveMercy
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I used to work with DART a coppola years ago (something to do with Digital Audio Removal Thingy or s'ing likewise), but it seems it's péage maintenant..... used to be a free proggie, and a very good one....
Ahhhh....Sound Forge works as well, and prolly CEPRO too....

and @MarkFiend: not talking bollocks, you are right. Don't get involved in too many FX, it will make your original sound sound....eh.....fecked up. The less, the better. It's like beer and fat and fags and sex. No. Not sex. Whatever.


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Karst
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Say,
markfiend wrote:I'd guess that the same applies with digital sound: have as few "components" (i.e. filters, or whatever) as possible between your source and your output.
It really depends what the source is like and what result you want to achieve. With the Cologne one I sent to you the only thing I really did was step up the loudness and EQ it a bit. There are some crossfades but that's something you probably won't be able to detect. But play the version of Alice that is on that one and compare it to the one you ripped and let me know what you think the difference is.
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markfiend
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I'm getting in over my head here :?
Karst wrote:But play the version of Alice that is on that one and compare it to the one you ripped and let me know what you think the difference is.
I don't understand, surely when I rip the CD to copy it, they're digitally identical?
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Karst
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Sorry Mark - I had you confused with Ce||three there!
ignore the above comment.

K.
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markfiend
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Karst wrote:Sorry Mark - I had you confused with Ce||three there!
ignore the above comment.

K.
Well at least I'm not losing my marbles ;)
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
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CellThree
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ryan_w_0000 wrote:theres a thing called 'vinyl restoration' on sound forge 7 which works nicely
Would love to give that a try, but I'm using Soundforge 6e at the moment. Anyone know where I can get a copy of SF 7?
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ryan
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www.download.com

get the crack and youve got the full version :D :innocent: :von:
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Izzy HaveMercy
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ryan_w_0000 wrote:www.download.com

get the crack and youve got the full version :D :innocent: :von:
Thank you :von:

;D ;D ;D


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sathvyre
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at the time i do the final touches of my "some girls wander by mistake" restored remaster and i want to know if there are any other anomalies, compared to the original releases ? i only know that "kiss the carpet - reprise" doesn't have a fadeout on the original 12" and plays at full volume. second is "body electric" which has a slightly longer end on the compilation cd from 1988...any differences for "the damage done" 7", compared to each other ? thank you for information..
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