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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2019 13:54:04 GMT
Which in your opinion is the worst ABBA compilation ? Absolute ABBA is the worst compilation to have hit the shops. The tracks have all been put together in a haphazard manner and the sound quality is very poor. Definitely, one cd collection to avoid.
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Post by The Rubber Ball Man on Apr 4, 2019 17:09:37 GMT
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Post by jsdyson on Apr 6, 2019 14:29:19 GMT
In my opinion, even though the content is great -- the sound quality sucks and is severely overly compressed (4.5-5 crest factor, 13dB+- peak-rms), that would be The Complete Studio Recordings. It is so very sad, because it would be a FANTABULOUS collection if done correctly. For an idea as to how I think ABBA should sound from the Voulez Vous Album -- two snippets: www.dropbox.com/s/si1hw14mi3em5ej/GoodAsNew1.mp3?dl=0www.dropbox.com/s/jy0euuts1f8971t/GoodAsNew2.mp3?dl=0(Decoded from commercially (legally) leaked DolbyA material, decoded by a new commercial decoder.) John |
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Post by jsdyson on Apr 6, 2019 14:44:43 GMT
PS -- one reason why it is obvious that there is more 'edginess' or seems like more 'highs' in the TCSR copy is that they use multi-band compression, which keeps the 'tone control' boosted when it can. It is like a graphic equalizer keeping the bands relatively equal. If you listen to the original polar version (or vinyl versions) it sounds more like the examples that I showed, except the versions that I showed extract more detail from the original recording. The TCSR brute forces loudness (probably used a broadcasting processor squashing the sound to be loud all of the time.)
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Post by Zeebee on Apr 8, 2019 19:17:27 GMT
In my opinion, even though the content is great -- the sound quality sucks and is severely overly compressed (4.5-5 crest factor, 13dB+- peak-rms), that would be The Complete Studio Recordings. I have The Complete Studio Recordings, and it sounds fine. |
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Post by jsdyson on Apr 8, 2019 22:21:36 GMT
In my opinion, even though the content is great -- the sound quality sucks and is severely overly compressed (4.5-5 crest factor, 13dB+- peak-rms), that would be The Complete Studio Recordings. I have The Complete Studio Recordings, and it sounds fine. I have it also -- when the crest factor is only 4.6 and the peak to RMS is 14.5dB approx -- it is too compressed. Did you notice that it is VERY loud? It is all mashed up -- dynamics are really restricted. GOOD ABBA copies don't sound that same vanilla loudness all of the time. Normal well made ABBA recordings have crest factors in the 6+ range -- sometimes in the 9-11 range. The peak to RMS on the real recordings is seldom less than 17dB. Regrettably, I have archived TCSR off onto a secondary back-up media (something is not right with that kid -- I mean, compilation.) Some of the selections on TCSR are difficult to find -- but mixing the super loud TCSR versions with the more traditional "real' sounding versions just isn't right.
The actual ABBA recordings sound very different from Album to Album -- On un molested material, Arrival has a bit of a grainy quality, and Ring Ring (the way that the original vinyl sounded) was too muffled, a properly mastered SOS has wonderful high end -- the sibilance is actually clean sounding. It is all in the mastering -- and TCSR basically sounds like they used broadcast style loudness wars processing.
The TCSR squeezed ABBA to death -- ALL LOUD ALL THE TIME!!!
John
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Post by jsdyson on Apr 8, 2019 23:40:51 GMT
Here is what I mean when I say that the TCSR is too 'compressed'. The peak signal levels of the two examples below are identical within 0.01dB (very close to the same peak levels), but the peak-RMS level on the 'goodmaster' version is just under 18dB, and for the TCSR version it is about 12.3dB. Anything below 14dB peak-RMS is very compressed (levels all the same -- really intense.) 18dB for peak-RMS isn't great, but is pretty good for pop music. I grabbed a copy of a leaked DolbyA copy (commercially sold, but left DolbyA encoding on it), and decoded it -- basically did a simple remaster. I tried to make it sound close to the TCSR, except I didn't compress it. So, except for the vastly superior DolbyA decoding and the lack of compression -- the versions are rooted from the same source. The DolbyA decoding is NOT important here, but the sound of compression -- WHERE THE PEAK SIGNAL LEVELS ARE THE SAME. The difference in loudness is *astounding* -- and all life is taken away from the compressed version. *The 'goodmaster' version has the original dynamic range, but is decoded VERY differently from the original, so WILL sound more like the TCSR frequency response balance. If you play these, PLEASE play the TCSR version first, because otherwise the TCSR version will be too loud if you set the volume for the 'goodmaster' version. I limited the lengths of the demo recordings to avoid taking away sales of the recordings (whether or not someone likes TCSR or the original dynamic range.) My copy has LOTS of electronic ticks and pops (not vinyl pops, but electronic glitches.) SO, please be tolerant of those -- I don't ahve actual masters, but just copies that are close to masters.
www.dropbox.com/s/ksb4f5aoczxcpt4/Bobby-tcsr.mp3?dl=0
One more -- I didn't add a TCSR version of disillusion -- but to show how simple clean/clear ABBA can sound (ignore electronic glitches):
John
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Post by jsdyson on Apr 13, 2019 13:14:01 GMT
Here -- I wanna show what I think that ABBA should sound like (maybe a little brighter -- I am not a mastering engineer), but this general sound. The 'complete studio recordings' are so dynamic range compressed that there is little of the original 'life' in the music. It is all crunched. I am demoing the same dynamics as the source ABBA material (pretty much the same), and re-did the EQ just a little bit for 2000's sensibilities. I think that a little more brightness than my demos would be desirable, but there ARE tradeoffs that an actual mastering engineer might want to make. I tried to provide the absolute cleanest sound, which is NOT the same as clear. Trying to be a better citizen than in the past, I limited the demos to about 45 seconds (maybe 20 or so short demos) -- but here is what I mean (this sounds more like what I think I remember back in the 1970s when the music appeared on the scene.):
PS -- just updated with a slightly brighter sound (minor changes can make major differences.)
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Post by madonnabba on May 5, 2019 6:19:04 GMT
For me has to be ...Thankyou for the Music -the 1983/4 album and the first Abba live album....again mid 1980s and horrible cheap looking artwork.
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