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Post by Boozin' Susan on Mar 31, 2018 10:32:22 GMT
I still cannot get over the fact that Audio Fidelity is nothing but a freaking mailbox rental in some ersatz post office at a random California strip mall. Their so-called "vault" must actually just be a cardbox box under Marsha's cellar stairs... And this is the outfit that STeVE's "career" has revolved around for the past 10 years... It's just so delicious! While I had never expected AF to have an office in a fancy downtown office building, I had assumed they probably had some sort of legitimate place of business. Still, merely being a mailbox rental might explain how AF was able to hold on for so long. Low overhead makes it easier to stick around when your hopes are pinned on the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Bread...
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Post by Wanklein on Mar 31, 2018 10:48:42 GMT
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Felonious Spunk
Grant
Digitals downstairs to push the anal logs upstairs
Posts: 1,192
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Post by Felonious Spunk on Mar 31, 2018 11:42:24 GMT
Let's call AF and DCC what they really were, in essence: glorified pirates. Even if they did have the blessing of the artist, I'm sure a lot of those artists hearing the end result were like "What the fuck did you guys do to this album?" Overpriced music for the tin ear crowd. Speaking of piracy, I’ve always been amused by the fact that an industry titan like Marsha had to “borrow” the names of previous labels for his projects. And, IIRC, the legal department from Dunhill took him to task over it.
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Post by jeatletoes on Mar 31, 2018 14:23:24 GMT
In all seriousness, are any of their titles worth the $30 (or more) they price them? Never had the need to really go after any of their stuff as I'm happy with what I have already. I generally buy new stuff, not reissues these days.
Only time I considered it was with the Kate Bush LP's but I heard a needledrop of Hounds of Love and it sounded like the top end was literally chopped off. Always wondered if that was the needle drop or if it really sounded that way. But never dropped the cash to find out.
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Post by aggressivebeta on Apr 2, 2018 5:42:42 GMT
I don't know if I would have called DCC a professional operation either. They started out as a cut-rate Rhino imitator and then became a cut-rate MFSL imitator. The booklets may have contained fewer typos but it was still bargain bin crap. MFSL doesn't clip their waveforms or run them through 5 stages of tube compression like STeVE does. Hardly "professional" in any way.
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Post by hugofuguzev on Apr 2, 2018 6:50:21 GMT
I don't know if I would have called DCC a professional operation either. They started out as a cut-rate Rhino imitator and then became a cut-rate MFSL imitator. The booklets may have contained fewer typos but it was still bargain bin crap. MFSL doesn't clip their waveforms or run them through 5 stages of tube compression like STeVE does. Hardly "professional" in any way. So, really, then, what makes Steve any different from some kid sitting in front of their computer farting around with "remastering" some album using a program like Audacity or Sound Forge, then? Because Steve supposedly goes the all analog route?
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Post by aggressivebeta on Apr 2, 2018 19:21:20 GMT
Because Steve supposedly goes the all analog route? Let’s not get carried away. He even admits to sometimes using CDs and DATs as his sources. And he remasturbated No Jacket Required entirely in the digital domain.
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Post by aggressivebeta on Apr 2, 2018 19:27:00 GMT
So, really, then, what makes Steve any different from some kid sitting in front of their computer farting around with "remastering" some album using a program like Audacity or Sound Forge, then? The difference is that the kid in front of the computer would probably do a better job of it. Anyone (except maybe Hoffman) who has spent time with any audio manipulation program knows how to use EQ and plug-ins. STeVE is always oh so humbly bragging about his "secrets" and superhuman, golden-eared abilities, which he knows damn well is 100% bullshit. Once the dedicated mastering suite was no longer required and anyone with a laptop had equal access to the tools, it was game over for that charlatan. He said in a past “interview” (likely conducted by John Oteri and has mysteriously now been removed from his website after all these years) that you just need to know the sound of your speakers in order to properly master. So it’s not like the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that he stole, I mean are on loan to him from high end companies with no intent to return, makes any difference. It truly is his 66 year old golden ears that are the secret ingredient.
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Post by amygrant on Apr 2, 2018 22:39:59 GMT
As I pointed out elsewhere concerning Hoffman's gruesome butchering of The New Miles Quartet (and it would not at all surprise me if SteVE's "source" was the perfectly fine-sounding OJC CD), any kid with Audacity could have easily done a better "mastering" job. I tracked that one down online and listened to it. jesus fuck.
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Post by hoffa_nagila on Apr 3, 2018 0:45:14 GMT
So, really, then, what makes Steve any different from some kid sitting in front of their computer farting around with "remastering" some album using a program like Audacity or Sound Forge, then? The difference is that the kid in front of the computer would probably do a better job of it. Anyone (except maybe Hoffman) who has spent time with any audio manipulation program knows how to use EQ and plug-ins. STeVE is always oh so humbly bragging about his "secrets" and superhuman, golden-eared abilities, which he knows damn well is 100% bullshit. Once the dedicated mastering suite was no longer required and anyone with a laptop had equal access to the tools, it was game over for that charlatan. You're not totally off the mark, but I will say that I've encountered some homemade "remasterings" where the person just NR'ed the shit out of an mp3 and then doused it in echo. And they were genuinely proud of it. I can't help but imagine that their shit "remasterings" at least partially inspired the new (and funny) trend of posting a song online, but it's edited to sound like it's "playing in a large, empty room" or "playing in the club but you're in the bathroom doing a line."
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Post by Aural Relations on Apr 3, 2018 4:31:21 GMT
As I pointed out elsewhere concerning Hoffman's gruesome butchering of The New Miles Quartet (and it would not at all surprise me if SteVE's "source" was the perfectly fine-sounding OJC CD), any kid with Audacity could have easily done a better "mastering" job. I tracked that one down online and listened to it. jesus fuck. I've not heard this CD -- what did the boy wonder screw up this time?
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Post by hugofuguzev on Apr 3, 2018 6:54:53 GMT
So, really, then, what makes Steve any different from some kid sitting in front of their computer farting around with "remastering" some album using a program like Audacity or Sound Forge, then? The difference is that the kid in front of the computer would probably do a better job of it. Well yeah, that much is obvious!
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banana
Olivia Newton-John
Posts: 304
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Post by banana on Apr 3, 2018 8:21:25 GMT
Last night I found a flac download of "The Collection: An Adventure In Sound", a wierd hodge-podge of random tracks released by Audio Fidelity in 2016. The only track I was interested in was "Who's That Lady" by the Isley Bros, but when I compared this mastering to others I have I was shocked at how thin and tinny it sounded. The rest was completely underwhelming too. I deleted the whole lot.
Thank goodness I didn't pay good money for such a crap compilation. No wonder AF are going under. Nothing special or superior about the mastering whatsoever.
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Post by thisonehurts on Apr 3, 2018 9:26:30 GMT
I tracked that one down online and listened to it. jesus fuck. I've not heard this CD -- what did the boy wonder screw up this time? I'd like to know this too. Banging on interminably about jazz is one thing, but literally getting to make decisions about the sound of Miles Davis seems a hell of an overstretch for someone like Hoffman.
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banana
Olivia Newton-John
Posts: 304
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Post by banana on Apr 3, 2018 19:58:31 GMT
I listened to some of Hoof's Beach Boys remasters a while ago, specifically "Endless Summer", "Spirit Of America", and "Pet Sounds". Every track has exactly the same mid bass bloat. After a few tracks I started feeling nauseous, and before long I could not even concentrate on the music - all I could hear was the obvious EQ boost in the lower-mids boring it's way into my brain. I tried the second and third CDs. Exactly the same. Every track. Unlistenable.
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