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Living Stereo SACD's are a comin

While at work today (My office is located at a mastering studio) a big box arrived. I watched as the studio manager unpacked it. It contained a treasure the likes of which I have never seen. Dozens of ORIGINAL master tapes from the original LIVING STEREO recordings. I held in my hands THE Master tapes from the Living Stereo Reiner/Chicago Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra and Ravel Daphnis. These weren’t the safeties, they are THE Masters. As you can probably tell I am in awe.

BMG (I think it’s BMG) has decided to release SACD versions of these recordings. It will be new DSD mastering (not redoing the existing PCM masters). How they are done will depend on the master tapes. I am pretty sure that they will not be 5.1

I have nothing to do with this project. I just happen to be there. You can bet your ass I will sit in on some of the sessions and get to listen to the master tapes. Damn sometimes it’s good to be me.

I just thought that some of the classical music lovers would like to know that SACD’s of these great classic recordings are in the works.
hispeedbusa
rcprince
3,076 posts
 
Naw, I'm not bothered by pcm per se, but I am bothered if it's 16-bit pcm, and I do not put it by some companies to try to repackage 16-bit/44khz digital masters in a new format. I have 20 and 24-bit pcm recordings on SACD and like them quite a bit.

Kal, good news about the Mercs, I've been waiting for them for almost a year!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Rcprince...I agree with you that 16-bit 44.1 KHz is barely adequite for audio, and that's what's wrong with CDs. However, it is my impression that professional digital recording and mixdown consoles have been 24 bits from the time they were introduced. There are plenty of reasons to criticize audio mastering practices, but, with few exceptions, I don't think you can blame the hardware.
pardales
652 posts
 
KR4: What are the Mercury Living Presence SACD's? I am not familar with these? A link would be fine if you don't want to explain in detial, Thanks,
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,694 posts
 
http://www.stereophile.com/news/081604mercury/index.html
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
My selection of these discs arived today, and I just listened to the Chopin performance by Rubinstein. I have most of these recordings in vinyl. The SACD is to my mind a big improvement over the vinyl: I appreciate the center channel, particularly where a solo instrument is involved.

According to the notes the SACD is a direct DSD copy of the original three channel analog master tape...essentially a "raw" recording without processing of any kind. This may appeal to purists, but I would have preferred it if the rumble of the AC system in the recording hall had been removed. My rumble filter is only available when the signal is an LP.

This recording (of a superb performance) is almost fifty years old! Considering this the audio quality is wonderful.
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