Steely Dan UHQR


There is a great interview with audio engineer Bernie Grundman on the new UHQR album "Aja". At $150 it better be amazing. He talks about how they had to modify the sound of albums in the past so they would play on crappy turntables and how this album, at 45rpm, is designed for the best turntables and cartridges. He also speaks about how the "Dan" gang wanted to use their own speakers to listen to the master and not Bernie's. (Wish he had called out the speakers) But let me ask you this, can a sound engineer with 80 year old ears (born 16 December 1943), have the hearing to engineering a UHQR album to audiophile standards......I know my hearing is shot due to what I did in my 20's with Rock n Roll sound levels....At 70, no way could my ears be trusted for such a task.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGLFTm6jMrY

rbertalotto

He mixes it just perfect so that other 80 year olds can enjoy it their $150 investment.

 

Far be it from me to spend $150 on a record.  That said, I love Steely Dan.  

I've been wondering about this for a while, Grundman, Massenburg, Marino, etc., are all in their 70's and 80's, they must have some significant HF loss at the minimum.  Life is hard on ears, that being said congrats to all these legends for such a long lived career. 

OP-

Very good point about 80 YO ears mastering an album.

$150 for Aja?

No thanks, I'm perfectly happy with hearing that album from my Luxman D-03X CDP.

Sure are a lot of people who know how good this is or isn't who have never even heard it.