STELLAR RECORDINGS
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I can't help you with the clicking issue but I can reduce the number of clicks.
And if you like Vanessa Carlton, you may like Ali Isabella.
And if you like Vanessa Carlton, you may like Ali Isabella.
Botch said:
Have been listening to - and watching - the first of two AIX discs that I got based on your recommendation:
:text-link:
I got this one because I knew of Cheryl before, she's quite talented. I'm REALLY enjoying this disc! Yeah it's a great recording (which now thanks to my new HTPC I can hear in its full 96/24 DVD-A glory), and is fully deserving of being in this thread; but the most fun part for me on this one is that they videoed the actual recording session, as well as doing other informal interviews and behind-the-scenes and such, on the flip side of the DVD (regular DVD as opposed to DVD-A). And yeah in this one too, during the video (not in the DVD-A), they have the two audio mixes - "stage" and "audience." In this case I like the stage mix better, actually. And of course, since it's jazz and not some silly pop/rock crap (
) is done in a single take and not via a gazillion separately recorded tracks. It's fun to watch them "perform" as they record. It's got a different feel from a live audience-centered performance in a big hall. Ok maybe it's a little artificial since one isn't normally video-ing an audio recording session, and they know the cameras are there of course, but still... it's kinda cool to see what they're like when focusing (I assume) more on the music and less on being on a stage in front of a live audience. Anyway, for vocal jazz/swing fans, this is definitely recommended.
My favorite part of the inteview vids with the artists was Cheryl talking about how she hooked up a DVD player all by herself (this was ~2003 before BD). Then her daughter, present on the set, chimed in and said something like "yeah but you said some bad words."
TOTALLY reminds me of me with my daughters. My only wish here is that the video section had real lossless audio with it; since it's DVD, the audio on the video side is only Dolby/DTS. It'd be cool to have a BD version with true lossless on the video tracks as well. Maybe their newer ones are indeed like this? Dunno... They did include a BD sampler disc with my order, which I haven't opened yet, should be interesting.
^--- Just gotta say, been listening again to this recording - this ALBUM - this afternoon, and it's not just a demo disc. That is, it's a fantastic recording, technically, but it also stands up there musically with just about any jazz album I own. Seriously fine musicianship on this one, especially the guitarist, who alternates between electric and acoustic guitars. I have a deeper appreciation for Cheryl's singing as well.
Listening to this again this afternoon; it definitely belongs in this thread. :music-listening:
The liner notes mention quite a few accolades this recording got for its engineering. They didn't use digital reverb but rather played the tracks through speakers set up in "live" spaces, like stairwells, and recorded/added the subsequent reverb. I basically understand how to do that while the band is playing in a live-sounding room, but don't quite understand how you could do it with the already-recorded, dry tracks, without it getting really muddy sounding.
But, the proof is in the listening; this disk sounds absolutely fantastic, and its the "room sound" that really makes it. It's one of the best-sounding disks I own. Highly recommended! :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:
D
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Botch,Botch said:
Listening to this again this afternoon; it definitely belongs in this thread. :music-listening:
The liner notes mention quite a few accolades this recording got for its engineering. They didn't use digital reverb but rather played the tracks through speakers set up in "live" spaces, like stairwells, and recorded/added the subsequent reverb. I basically understand how to do that while the band is playing in a live-sounding room, but don't quite understand how you could do it with the already-recorded, dry tracks, without it getting really muddy sounding.
But, the proof is in the listening; this disk sounds absolutely fantastic, and its the "room sound" that really makes it. It's one of the best-sounding disks I own. Highly recommended! :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:
Do the liner notes refer to whether anything has been done to the tracks between the original CD release in 1998 and the Blu-ray?
I just put a hold on the CD, and five of her others, through my local library. Should be seeing them all early next week.
Jeff
JeffMackwood said:
The only thing they mentioned was that they used the same reverb technique (pumping the dry tracks thru speakers in stairwells, etc) that was done on the stereo master.
I did read the liner notes carefully, as I was wondering if the original '97-98 recording was done at a bit rate high enough to justify putting it on Bluray. I know digital recording first came out in 1980 or so, so I'm pretty sure they used Protools or similar in '97; just don't know what resolution. The liner notes didn't mention anything.
Been a very satisfying musical day for me today. First, we sang this in church this morning, our major Christmas performance:
I doubt many (or any) here have heard of this piece, but Rutter is one of the most amazing late-20th c. composers, in particular of church music. I think a video was taken, will post later if/when it's available.
Anyway, between church and the always-enjoyable party at our choir director's house (with much good food and good beverages), I sat and gave a careful listen to my latest Mo-Fi release:
Wow. Just... wow. This has long been one of my favorite Miles recordings - with great thanks to Dennie who gave me an ... um... "borrowed" copy a while back. And while I admit I didn't spend any time doing A/B with the CD version of this recording, the Mo-Fi SACD sounds phenomenal. Sometimes Miles' tone can be pretty bright and harsh in a poor recording (or mastering), but I didn't get any sense of that with this one. The orchestra comes through clearly with great presence, and they way they (the original engineers) arranged the mix between the orchestra and the "jazz" soloists is really amazing. For those unfamiliar with this album, think 20th c. Spanish classical music arranged and played in a jazz idiom. It sounds weird, but it WORKS. Miles' phrasing and musicianship on this is simply beautiful. The recording places you there with the musicians, which after my morning of singing in a choir with pipe organ and mini-orchestra, was a perfect complement to the afternoon.
Now off to enjoy some of my choir director's famous spiked egg nog.bscene-drinkingcheers: (yeah we know how to party in my church )
I doubt many (or any) here have heard of this piece, but Rutter is one of the most amazing late-20th c. composers, in particular of church music. I think a video was taken, will post later if/when it's available.
Anyway, between church and the always-enjoyable party at our choir director's house (with much good food and good beverages), I sat and gave a careful listen to my latest Mo-Fi release:
Wow. Just... wow. This has long been one of my favorite Miles recordings - with great thanks to Dennie who gave me an ... um... "borrowed" copy a while back. And while I admit I didn't spend any time doing A/B with the CD version of this recording, the Mo-Fi SACD sounds phenomenal. Sometimes Miles' tone can be pretty bright and harsh in a poor recording (or mastering), but I didn't get any sense of that with this one. The orchestra comes through clearly with great presence, and they way they (the original engineers) arranged the mix between the orchestra and the "jazz" soloists is really amazing. For those unfamiliar with this album, think 20th c. Spanish classical music arranged and played in a jazz idiom. It sounds weird, but it WORKS. Miles' phrasing and musicianship on this is simply beautiful. The recording places you there with the musicians, which after my morning of singing in a choir with pipe organ and mini-orchestra, was a perfect complement to the afternoon.
Now off to enjoy some of my choir director's famous spiked egg nog.
bscene-drinkingcheers: (yeah we know how to party in my church )
Dennie
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the great review Pauly. I don't know if I want the SACD's or the newly released "Mono" versions, which I hear are spectacular!PaulyT said:Been a very satisfying musical day for me today. First, we sang this in church this morning, our major Christmas performance:
I doubt many (or any) here have heard of this piece, but Rutter is one of the most amazing late-20th c. composers, in particular of church music. I think a video was taken, will post later if/when it's available.
Anyway, between church and the always-enjoyable party at our choir director's house (with much good food and good beverages), I sat and gave a careful listen to my latest Mo-Fi release:
Wow. Just... wow. This has long been one of my favorite Miles recordings - with great thanks to Dennie who gave me an ... um... "borrowed" copy a while back. And while I admit I didn't spend any time doing A/B with the CD version of this recording, the Mo-Fi SACD sounds phenomenal. Sometimes Miles' tone can be pretty bright and harsh in a poor recording (or mastering), but I didn't get any sense of that with this one. The orchestra comes through clearly with great presence, and they way they (the original engineers) arranged the mix between the orchestra and the "jazz" soloists is really amazing. For those unfamiliar with this album, think 20th c. Spanish classical music arranged and played in a jazz idiom. It sounds weird, but it WORKS. Miles' phrasing and musicianship on this is simply beautiful. The recording places you there with the musicians, which after my morning of singing in a choir with pipe organ and mini-orchestra, was a perfect complement to the afternoon.
Now off to enjoy some of my choir director's famous spiked egg nog.
Look for More of Miles work with Gil Evans, you'll be just as thrilled. :bow-blue:
Dennie
bscene-drinkingcheers:
Dennie
Well-Known Member
One of the best I've ever heard.....
A Meeting By The River -- SACD
Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt
1993/2008 Waterlily/Analogue Productions
A Meeting by the River can best be described as a spontaneous outpouring of music, unhindered by convention or form, brought into being by musicians so supremely capable that the music is never labored, the technique of their craft always subservient to the final product. Cooder and Bhatt are genuine masters of the guitar and mohan vina, respectively. The latter, an instrument created by Bhatt himself, is a sort of hybrid between a guitar and a vichitra vina, and is played with a metal slide. This fact is just one of the many things that connect Bhatt's playing to Cooder's, who plays nothing but bottleneck guitar here. The musical interplay between Cooder and Bhatt is nothing short of astounding, especially so considering that they met for the first time only a half-hour before the recording of this album. The voices of the two instruments blend marvelously, first alternating melodic statements, then doing so together, each dancing around the other, playing cat and mouse, probing, answering, reflecting. They are ably accompanied by a pair of percussionists: tabla player Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari and Cooder's own son, Joachim, on dumbek. A Meeting by the River is one of those few cross-genre albums in which the listener never feels for a second that there is some kind of fusion going on; one does not hear the component parts so much as the integrated whole. However, one can theoretically separate guitar from vina, America from India, the Mississippi from the Ganges. Once this is done, the resulting music makes more sense than ever before, the combination of two traditions of stringed instruments that use slides to produce sound and value improvisation and voice-like phrasing. As good as this sounds on paper, the actual results are even more impressive. The splendor of the music is aided in its transmission by the fact that, like all Water Lily Acoustics releases, this album is masterfully recorded; each instrument is clear, distinct, and three-dimensional sounding. A Meeting by the River is a must-own, a thing of pure, unadulterated beauty, and the strongest record in Cooder's extensive catalog. ~ Daniel Gioffre
Track Listing
1. A Meeting by the River
2. Longing
3. Ganges Delta Blues
4. Isa Lei
Personnel: Ry Cooder (bottleneck guitar); Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (mohan vina); Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari (tabla); Joachim Cooder (dumbek).Recorded at Christ The King Chapel, St. Anthony's Seminary, Santa Barbara, California in September 1992. Includes liner notes by Jelaluddin Rumi.All songs written by Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt, except "Isa Lei" (Lieut. A.W. Caten).A MEETING BY THE RIVER won the 1994 Grammy Award for "World-Music Album".
More info.....
A fantastic true two channel stereo recording, in Blumlein stereo; two custom Pearl figures-of-eight mics in a coincidental stereo array, custom EAR tube mic preamps, and customized large format r2r by EAR.
Recorded by Kavi Alexander.
OK,.. Kavi is who I would consider to be a modern day mentor in stereo recording. Amazing quality in his recordings.
the recording session:
Dennie :eusa-clap:
A Meeting By The River -- SACD
Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt
1993/2008 Waterlily/Analogue Productions
A Meeting by the River can best be described as a spontaneous outpouring of music, unhindered by convention or form, brought into being by musicians so supremely capable that the music is never labored, the technique of their craft always subservient to the final product. Cooder and Bhatt are genuine masters of the guitar and mohan vina, respectively. The latter, an instrument created by Bhatt himself, is a sort of hybrid between a guitar and a vichitra vina, and is played with a metal slide. This fact is just one of the many things that connect Bhatt's playing to Cooder's, who plays nothing but bottleneck guitar here. The musical interplay between Cooder and Bhatt is nothing short of astounding, especially so considering that they met for the first time only a half-hour before the recording of this album. The voices of the two instruments blend marvelously, first alternating melodic statements, then doing so together, each dancing around the other, playing cat and mouse, probing, answering, reflecting. They are ably accompanied by a pair of percussionists: tabla player Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari and Cooder's own son, Joachim, on dumbek. A Meeting by the River is one of those few cross-genre albums in which the listener never feels for a second that there is some kind of fusion going on; one does not hear the component parts so much as the integrated whole. However, one can theoretically separate guitar from vina, America from India, the Mississippi from the Ganges. Once this is done, the resulting music makes more sense than ever before, the combination of two traditions of stringed instruments that use slides to produce sound and value improvisation and voice-like phrasing. As good as this sounds on paper, the actual results are even more impressive. The splendor of the music is aided in its transmission by the fact that, like all Water Lily Acoustics releases, this album is masterfully recorded; each instrument is clear, distinct, and three-dimensional sounding. A Meeting by the River is a must-own, a thing of pure, unadulterated beauty, and the strongest record in Cooder's extensive catalog. ~ Daniel Gioffre
Track Listing
1. A Meeting by the River
2. Longing
3. Ganges Delta Blues
4. Isa Lei
Personnel: Ry Cooder (bottleneck guitar); Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (mohan vina); Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari (tabla); Joachim Cooder (dumbek).Recorded at Christ The King Chapel, St. Anthony's Seminary, Santa Barbara, California in September 1992. Includes liner notes by Jelaluddin Rumi.All songs written by Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt, except "Isa Lei" (Lieut. A.W. Caten).A MEETING BY THE RIVER won the 1994 Grammy Award for "World-Music Album".
More info.....
A fantastic true two channel stereo recording, in Blumlein stereo; two custom Pearl figures-of-eight mics in a coincidental stereo array, custom EAR tube mic preamps, and customized large format r2r by EAR.
Recorded by Kavi Alexander.
OK,.. Kavi is who I would consider to be a modern day mentor in stereo recording. Amazing quality in his recordings.
the recording session:
Dennie :eusa-clap:
Dennie
Well-Known Member
Botch said:
I got the last SACD that Amazon (proper) had in stock, but they have a few NEW from third party sellers here....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A34B3S/ref=oh_details_o05_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The $30 one with shipping works out to be about $2 more than I paid with Prime.
The CD is supposed to be very good sound quality wise also. The SACD may not be necessary, but I didn't want to take a chance and wonder for the rest of my life. LOL
Dennie
Dennie
Well-Known Member
A little more info (from a friend on another forum):
The mics are large diaphragm, rectangular capsules, tube mics. You can see them as the black objects that Ry is looking at. The mics are centered to the sound image, equidistant to both of the guitars. They are in an X configuration with one capsule "aimed" focused on Ry (L), the other focused on V.M (R). The frequency response or pick up pattern of the X configuration is a clover-leaf pattern, with rear lobes capturing the ambience of the hall, and front lobes capturing the performance.
[/geek speak]
I love minimalist stereo recordings.
Dennie :eusa-clap:
The mics are large diaphragm, rectangular capsules, tube mics. You can see them as the black objects that Ry is looking at. The mics are centered to the sound image, equidistant to both of the guitars. They are in an X configuration with one capsule "aimed" focused on Ry (L), the other focused on V.M (R). The frequency response or pick up pattern of the X configuration is a clover-leaf pattern, with rear lobes capturing the ambience of the hall, and front lobes capturing the performance.
[/geek speak]
I love minimalist stereo recordings.
Dennie :eusa-clap: