So, What is the Verdict on the Beatles Box Sets?
Tomcy6, While it ain't as bad as the kind of compressed crap that Butch Vig puts out - it ain't pretty... The article tries to imply it judicious compression but you know ...a euphemism is a euphemism. |
Those spectrograms look to be fully modulated, not compressed. If you've even seen one of a compressed file, it's unmistakeable. Yes and No. Depending on how hard you look. Unfortunately, there are several forms of "limiting" used in compression. "Hard Limiting" is when the signal bumps up against the max number of bits and the waveform flat tops and is truncated. (yes there are many examples of this on modern pop CD and fortunately no evidence of Hard limiting on the Beatles Stereo). "Soft Limiting" is a more benign kind - here the waveforms are altered when they exceed a certain peak level at which point they are rounded off. This still creates lots of odd harmoincs and evil distortion but is is not as nearly as bad as hard limiting. => Judging by what people hear and by comparing the waveforms to the Mono in the article I linked to - it sure looks like they added compression....judisicously perhaps but in keeping with the punchy modern mastering "best" practices compression sound nevertheless. Of course, a full post mortem will require someone with a PC to go through and compare the waveforms in more details but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and poops like a duck...it probably is a duck. It sure looks like we got the prototypical duck poop modern mastering applied on the Stereo versions - restrained and carefully refined duck poop, perhaps, and certainly not nearly as bad as many modern recordings...but some may notice a distinct bad odor. |
