[the chemist]

So recently I have been perplexed when trying to shop for something new or different. In otherwords I can easily pick out a remastered nirvana track or beatles/pink floyd but when I want something new and different I am a bit lost. I tend to look for record companies like EMI and big fancy words like remastered but... help me out!

What is the ideal way to CD shop at an actual retail store, presuming you want quality recording>taste. Is their a list of ideal record labels, hidden text written on the back or solely looking for things like remasterd?

And if looking for record labels, how? I could spend a couple hours going from cd to cd checking labels

 

[sahwnfras]

Lol i always stay away from remasters, i like the album in its original form. Not the way someone else wanted it to sound.

Anything by Linn Records, other than that i dont know much else. Try to find artists you like that focus on the music quality.

 

[tintin47]

^ The original mastering is often how someone else wanted it to sound. Few bands are heavily involved in the mastering of their music. Remasters can be fantastic, and IMO, they are trending up in terms of quality.

OP, there really aren't any magic indicators of sound quality, but if you know what album you are aiming for, a little internet research usually helps pick the master that you want. Ultimately, it seems kind of strange to care more about the recording quality than the quality of the music. If that is the case, however, I would just buy a bunch of cds from the catalogs of mastering engineers who are known for good SQ, like steve hoffman or the like.

 

[Bostonears]

A retail store is one of the worst places to assess CD audio quality. For rock music, I haven't found any consistent way to gauge by record label. There are, however, some jazz and classical labels that usually have excellent sound quality, e.g. ECM, Telearc, etc. (although even the best of them have some clunkers).

The retail stores that have listening stations always have cruddy headphones, and usually have either:
a) an extremely limited selection of CDs available for listening
or
b) a digital system that uses highly compressed samples

"Remastered" recordings are almost always louder than the original versions (see "Loudness Wars"), but they may or may not be better, depending on how poorly the original was mastered and how much effort was put into the remastering. Recordings from the '70s and '80s seem to benefit the most from remastering.

My preferred shopping method is listening at home to online samples routed to my best headphone rig. Start with the samples on Amazon.com to eliminate the obviously poor quality stuff. While the samples there are indeed compressed, once you get used to listening to them, you can tell quite a bit about their audio quality. They are all created by the same process, so you can compare recordings to each other, including to recordings that you already own on CD. Then scour Amazon and other sites for reviews that have any comments about sound quality.

Ultimately, it's the music that matters more than the sound quality. If you buy something just because it has great audiophile appeal, you probably won't listen to it much. But great music is still great music even when the audio is sub-par.

 

[jazznap]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostonears /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ultimately, it's the music that matters more than the sound quality. If you buy something just because it has great audiophile appeal, you probably won't listen to it much. But great music is still great music even when the audio is sub-par.

x2

 

[Uncle Erik]

I also shy away from remasters. Some of them are good. Many others are turned into compressed garbage. Given the choice, I almost always pick the earlier version.

There's no good way to shop at a retail store unless you go to one that has a great staff. Those are typically small indie shops. If you get to know the employees and they know your tastes, they can make fantastic recommendations.

Another good place to find music is right here. I've picked up at least 100 recordings based on what people recommend here and have found much terrific music. If you feel like you're in a rut, start a thread where you list what you like and ask for recommendations. You'll get a lot of really good opinions. You can also get good recommendations for trying out a new genre, as well.

For other sources of new music, I love Amazon's "other customers bought" recommendations as well as music mentioned in reviews of your favorites. iTunes makes recommendations, too, and I like Pandora.

Oh, and you should be browsing used CDs at stores if at all possible. I always buy used if possible.

 

[MellowVelo]

I agree that it's generally inadvisable to buy music simply because it has good sound quality. You're better off listening to music that you like even if the sound quality is less than stellar; however, if you want music that is generally well-mastered, you should check out the labels Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions. Stores like Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds tend to have a good selection of "audiophile" recordings available as well.

 

[Computer Blue]

A lot of the old cds from the 80s and early 90s have the "The music on this compact disc was originally recorded on analog equipment..." text somewhere on the back or the inside.
Of course, in some cases the original issues are worse than the remasters due to poor source tapes or whatever.
If I know I am going to buy something ahead of time (curse you, impulsive shopping habits!) I will usually check at stevehoffman.tv to see which mastering is preferable

 

[roadcykler]

I've read that HDCD cd's will sound better but I don't have any to compare them to. If the option is available I go with DVD-A or SACD but the choices are limited in those formats. Plus if you just have regular cd player they won't work.

 

[LFF]

Here are my tips:

1. Stay away from remasters unless they are done by someone on # 2 or you personally know they sound great.
2. Look for certain mastering engineers in the credits (Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Vic Anesini, Barry Diament, Ron McMaster, Joe Tarrentino, Alan Yoshida and others)
3. Look for the following phrase and certain variations "This is an analog recording. Due to the high resolution of the CD format, certain anomalies like tape hiss may be present."
4. Labels like DCC, MFSL, Chesky, Stockfische, Analogue Productions, Classic, Reference Recordings and a few others will almost always have better mastering.
5. Do your research. Sometimes the closest thing to the master tape will be a 50 year old vinyl pressing. Read up and then go looking.
6. Target CD's (not the store, but a design) are almost always straight flat copies from the master tapes.
7. When in doubt, call a friend who can look up the catalog number/pressing information on the internet.

 

[virometal]

Search the Steve Hoffman forums. There's a wealth of information there where particular albums are concerned:

SH Forums - Powered by vBulletin

As for hunting and pecking, look for albums with covers that show old guys holding instruments. Those usually are safe bets for good sound.

 

[Bostonears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by virometal /img/forum/go_quote.gif As for hunting and pecking, look for albums with covers that show old guys holding instruments. Those usually are safe bets for good sound.

Like this:

 

[priest]

I personally have never heard a remaster of a first generation CD transfer that did not sound significantly better to me than that first generation CD transfer. For me it's always just a question of whether I like the record enough to spring for the sound quality improvement. Remixes are a different story, but they are so rare. Also, I can see someone thinking a CD remaster remains inferior to an original vinyl pressing.

ps, I've never really experienced "listening fatigue" or thought a headphone was too bright to keep, so I might have a high tolerance for compression to the extent it is apparent on a remaster.

 

[omegaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by virometal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Search the Steve Hoffman forums. There's a wealth of information there where particular albums are concerned: SH Forums - Powered by vBulletin

x2 this is the advice I would have given.

 

[the chemist]

Awesome guys! This thread has been very helpul. I have bookmarked steve hoffmans site and his tv portion. Seems that the best sense would be to just research and check out some of the online music stores listed here and on the sticky in this forum. I have googled some of mastering engineers with great results! I think I have several cd's to order. Browsing amazon compressed music is great too!

Awesome help guys! more research on remasters I guess