[SeraphicWings]

  I think my questions would be answered much more seriously here so, what are some albums and/or songs that are well-mastered in J-pop or Japanese music in general? 
 
Also, why is the suggested song(s)/album(s) well-mastered? Similarly, what determines a well-mastered track? I've read around but I never really understood. I'll probably ask the last question on the Help and Getting Started forums here.

For now, I guess it's Kalafina, ClariS and some of Sawano Hiroyuki (both his anime OST and his nZk works) are artists who have very well-mastered songs (or at least in their High Resolution Audio format) 
 
I don't know how to describe what makes a good mastered songs, but I'll post some of the DR analytics and Audition analytics of 3 of their works here
 

 
  <--- Kalafina's Kimi no Ginno Niwa
 

 
  <---- ClariS's Usotsuki
 

 
 <---- Sawano Hiroyuki's aLIEz

 

[akiroz]

@ busou shoujo machiavellianism
 
I need moar kirukiru, hope she'll get more screen time soon :3
 
also, I'll never learn how to spell "machiavellianism" without auto-correct.

 

[Tom Yum Goong]

   
I'm not too knowledgeable on this, so a dynamic range range of 6 or lower (assuming that's what you mean by DR6) is not ideal? I'm assuming that a higher number means more dynamic range. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Can you list an example or two of songs/albums you found to be well-mastered?

You are 100% correct.
If you feel like reading for a couple minutes: http://www.metal-fi.com/about-page/dynamic-range/

Uh Japanese ones or in general?
I would have to do a bit of digging to find Japanese ones, so here have some other ones:

 

[mechgamer123]

 

  Man, and it's really sad too because I got some Yamazaki NAS in a 180ml bottle and it's really good so I want a full bottle of it, but yeah even that one is $130-ish here. :/ But on the plus side, Hibiki 12 is under $100 actually! Still can't afford it though. 
 
Usually just me drinking as well, but sometimes I'll buy 1.5-1.75L since it's a lot cheaper and that could take me forever to go through so I'll go open more bottles! XD How long does whiskey last after you open it though? I never knew there was a shelf life per se. 
 
And Crown Royal probably isn't even that great compared to all the top shelf stuff you're talking about, but for what I paid for it (about 20 Freedom Bucks when I was in Canuckistan at the duty free store for 1L), it's pretty good. 
 
I have a bottle of regular Taketsuru because this is what places around here are charging for it when it only cost me like, 2500-3000 yen in Japan? 

Spoiler: Extortion!

(this is without the 20% liquor tax + litre tax

 

 
T_T
 
Boom. $250 + 20% tax for you Micey :3 
http://www.totalwine.com/spirits/scotch/single-malt/hibiki-21-yr/p/145162750?s=1407

The NAS is labled as Distiller's Reserve iinm, and while it's a very competent single malt, I'd still choose the 12 any day over it considering the price.

There's not a shelf life since it doesn't go bad, but rather, once you open it, the more oxygen there is in the bottle, the faster it deteriorates. Around half bottle and lower, you usually lose alot of the nose and flavor of the whisky itself. Can't give you the exact times but if you have about a third of a bottle left, it should be finished in about 3-4 months.

I'm trying to consider if buying it directly from Tenso is a viable option for me. The Yamazaki 12 and NAS are still affordable enough to have it shipped over, unlike the 18, which is now close to $500 a bottle.

Ah okay! That was honestly the only thing I could find when I was in Japan though so that's what I went for, lol. I'll try and get some more next time I go to Japan or have someone from Japan come over here! 
 
I see. that's not too bad at all then! I can easily finish half of a bottle in 3-4 months!
 
Ouch, that's absurdly expensive... Well regardless, I can't have alcohol shipped to my state thanks to ancient laws in our state/country  
 

 

There's not a shelf life since it doesn't go bad, but rather, once you open it, the more oxygen there is in the bottle, the faster it deteriorates. Around half bottle and lower, you usually lose alot of the nose and flavor of the whisky itself. Can't give you the exact times but if you have about a third of a bottle left, it should be finished in about 3-4 months.

I'm trying to consider if buying it directly from Tenso is a viable option for me. The Yamazaki 12 and NAS are still affordable enough to have it shipped over, unlike the 18, which is now close to $500 a bottle.

 
Careful with importing, tax might hit you really hard....and I always worry about a bottle breaking during international shipping.
 
I wouldn't worry about a whisky deteriorating once opened, many whiskies tend to get a little better after opening and the slight change in character is just part of the experience IMO.
 
As always, everyone's tastes and palates are different, I'm not afraid of adding dollops of water and letting a whisky sit for 20 minutes because what I'm really after is the mouth feel, development and finish of a whiskey, rather than the arrival which I find rather boring and synthetic.
 
Then again, i am a bit nutso about whisky.

Sooo I see there are differences in opinion between whisky snobs! I guess I'll just drink at the speed I can drink at and not try and open any more bottles then, just in case! Either way,  most of the stuff I have open now is pretty cheap anyway. 
 

 

  I think my questions would be answered much more seriously here so, what are some albums and/or songs that are well-mastered in J-pop or Japanese music in general? 
 
Also, why is the suggested song(s)/album(s) well-mastered? Similarly, what determines a well-mastered track? I've read around but I never really understood. I'll probably ask the last question on the Help and Getting Started forums here.

For now, I guess it's Kalafina, ClariS and some of Sawano Hiroyuki (both his anime OST and his nZk works) are artists who have very well-mastered songs (or at least in their High Resolution Audio format) 
 
I don't know how to describe what makes a good mastered songs, but I'll post some of the DR analytics and Audition analytics of 3 of their works here
 

 
  <--- Kalafina's Kimi no Ginno Niwa
 

 
  <---- ClariS's Usotsuki
 

 
 <---- Sawano Hiroyuki's aLIEz

Dang, do you have a sauce for any of these songs? I had no idea Claris' songs could actually be well mastered!!!

 

[Tom Yum Goong]

The next game by the Kancolle blokes is yet again Kancolle but this time with anthropomorphized Shinto shrines!
It doesn't get more niche.



I like the designs a whole lot more than Kancolles lame boats.
Would play if it ever gets a global version.....haha, good joke, I know.

Obligatory and sort of justified outrage: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2017-04-06/game-depicting-shinto-shrines-as-moe-anime-girls-draws-criticism/.114434

 

[U-3C]

Well, if you have a hard time grasping the definition of what a greatly mastered j-pop sing is, maybe it's better to start the other way and experience what a terribly mastered borderline clipping song sounds like?

[Video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W3pNRsAEwH4 [/video]

I still like fripSide thou...I use their music all the time to see if anything is clipping but I still like their music... :0

 

[castleofargh]

as a fake objectivity oriented audiophile, I never pick my music based on DR. ^_^
I dislike clipped signal and hard limited stuff like the next guy, and of course I believe that anybody participating knowingly to the loudness war should get a lamp post stuck in the butt. still in general, I personally do not find that more dynamic equals better music.
also the DR method used for the DR database isn't without fault so it's good to look at it as a vaguely informative tool(4 isn't amazing), not as a sure thing to tell if one master is "better", or even actually more dynamic unless the numbers are significantly different.

 

[SeraphicWings]

  Ah okay! That was honestly the only thing I could find when I was in Japan though so that's what I went for, lol. I'll try and get some more next time I go to Japan or have someone from Japan come over here! 
 
I see. that's not too bad at all then! I can easily finish half of a bottle in 3-4 months!
 
Ouch, that's absurdly expensive... Well regardless, I can't have alcohol shipped to my state thanks to ancient laws in our state/country  
 
Sooo I see there are differences in opinion between whisky snobs! I guess I'll just drink at the speed I can drink at and not try and open any more bottles then, just in case! Either way,  most of the stuff I have open now is pretty cheap anyway. 
 
Dang, do you have a sauce for any of these songs? I had no idea Claris' songs could actually be well mastered!!!

Most of the album I got is from a site called mqs.link, else I buy
 
The format I bought is FLAC 24bit 96kHz, AFAIK that format is very well mastered, idk about AAC though

 

[akiroz]

  as a fake objectivity oriented audiophile, I never pick my music based on DR. ^_^
I dislike clipped signal and hard limited stuff like the next guy, and of course I believe that anybody participating knowingly to the loudness war should get a lamp post stuck in the butt. still in general, I personally do not find that more dynamic equals better music.
also the DR method used for the DR database isn't without fault so it's good to look at it as a vaguely informative tool(4 isn't amazing), not as a sure thing to tell if one master is "better", or even actually more dynamic unless the numbers are significantly different.

un-mastered recordings has the highest DR, usually around 30-ish

 

[deadlylover]

  as a fake objectivity oriented audiophile, I never pick my music based on DR. ^_^
I dislike clipped signal and hard limited stuff like the next guy, and of course I believe that anybody participating knowingly to the loudness war should get a lamp post stuck in the butt. still in general, I personally do not find that more dynamic equals better music.
also the DR method used for the DR database isn't without fault so it's good to look at it as a vaguely informative tool(4 isn't amazing), not as a sure thing to tell if one master is "better", or even actually more dynamic unless the numbers are significantly different.

 
I mainly just use it as a sort of litmus test, 3-4 starts to sound like pants and anything above is totally fine IMO. I can't say DR8 sounds worse than DR13 or anything like that.
 
Some of my favourite songs are DR3, but of course, I wouldn't say they are well mastered.

 

[mechgamer123]

  as a fake objectivity oriented audiophile, I never pick my music based on DR. ^_^
I dislike clipped signal and hard limited stuff like the next guy, and of course I believe that anybody participating knowingly to the loudness war should get a lamp post stuck in the butt. still in general, I personally do not find that more dynamic equals better music.
also the DR method used for the DR database isn't without fault so it's good to look at it as a vaguely informative tool(4 isn't amazing), not as a sure thing to tell if one master is "better", or even actually more dynamic unless the numbers are significantly different.

Fair enough, I totally agree. Plus as I remember right vinyl rips naturally tend to have higher dynamic range even if it comes from the same master as digital, am I remembering that right? 
 
That being said, man sometimes hearing some of those older mastered 70s songs and comparing them to modern rock, it's just so much more pleasing to my ears. Probably helps that I enjoy both though. 
 

 

  Ah okay! That was honestly the only thing I could find when I was in Japan though so that's what I went for, lol. I'll try and get some more next time I go to Japan or have someone from Japan come over here! 
 
I see. that's not too bad at all then! I can easily finish half of a bottle in 3-4 months!
 
Ouch, that's absurdly expensive... Well regardless, I can't have alcohol shipped to my state thanks to ancient laws in our state/country  
 
Sooo I see there are differences in opinion between whisky snobs! I guess I'll just drink at the speed I can drink at and not try and open any more bottles then, just in case! Either way,  most of the stuff I have open now is pretty cheap anyway. 
 
Dang, do you have a sauce for any of these songs? I had no idea Claris' songs could actually be well mastered!!!

Most of the album I got is from a site called mqs.link, else I buy
 
The format I bought is FLAC 24bit 96kHz, AFAIK that format is very well mastered, idk about AAC though

Cheers, I'll look at that website and see if I can hear any difference! I'm always skeptical of those HD releases but maybe these will be different!

 

[SeraphicWings]

  Fair enough, I totally agree. Plus as I remember right vinyl rips naturally tend to have higher dynamic range even if it comes from the same master as digital, am I remembering that right? 
 
That being said, man sometimes hearing some of those older mastered 70s songs and comparing them to modern rock, it's just so much more pleasing to my ears. Probably helps that I enjoy both though. 
 
Cheers, I'll look at that website and see if I can hear any difference! I'm always skeptical of those HD releases but maybe these will be different!

Unlike remastered hi res songs or 24bit 44.1khz from US UK. These songs are actually recorded and mastered at 24bit 96kHz, it will definitely be different 

 

[Accoun]

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-04-06/ghost-in-the-shell-gets-new-anime-from-kenji-kamiyama-shinji-aramaki/.114481

Kreygasm

 

[castleofargh]

Originally Posted by mechgamer123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Fair enough, I totally agree. Plus as I remember right vinyl rips naturally tend to have higher dynamic range even if it comes from the same master as digital, am I remembering that right? 
 
That being said, man sometimes hearing some of those older mastered 70s songs and comparing them to modern rock, it's just so much more pleasing to my ears. Probably helps that I enjoy both though. 

vinyl is a can of worms. there are differences in the mastering to try and account for all the potential problems. then we have all the actual problems. vinyls are proof that high fidelity and sounding nice don't need to go hand in hand.
now crap mastering on CD will sound like crap. that's what fidelity does.

 

[vantt1]

  For now, I guess it's Kalafina, ClariS and some of Sawano Hiroyuki (both his anime OST and his nZk works) are artists who have very well-mastered songs (or at least in their High Resolution Audio format) 
 

Spoiler: I don't know how to describe what makes a good mastered songs, but I'll post some of the DR analytics and Audition analytics of 3 of their works here

 
  <--- Kalafina's Kimi no Ginno Niwa
 

 
  <---- ClariS's Usotsuki
 

 
 <---- Sawano Hiroyuki's aLIEz

No wonder that username was so familiar when I saw it yesterday...
 

 

  as a fake objectivity oriented audiophile, I never pick my music based on DR. ^_^
I dislike clipped signal and hard limited stuff like the next guy, and of course I believe that anybody participating knowingly to the loudness war should get a lamp post stuck in the butt. still in general, I personally do not find that more dynamic equals better music.
also the DR method used for the DR database isn't without fault so it's good to look at it as a vaguely informative tool(4 isn't amazing), not as a sure thing to tell if one master is "better", or even actually more dynamic unless the numbers are significantly different.

I mainly just use it as a sort of litmus test, 3-4 starts to sound like pants and anything above is totally fine IMO. I can't say DR8 sounds worse than DR13 or anything like that.
 
Some of my favourite songs are DR3, but of course, I wouldn't say they are well mastered.

As long as it's not terribly mastered, I've never factored in DR when determining whether I like a song or not. It's kinda pointless to try and base a qualitative aspect of music with a quantitative description.