BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/159 ... /ETHN.flac

I'm not sure, but I'm still not convinced over the sound of the 1984 LP (or CD, for that matter) editions of Zoolook. However, out of the four editions I own, that one (from the Japanese LP) definitely sounds the best.

In fact, comparing that to the 1984 German LP made me realize how flat the German one sounds. And comparing those immediately to the 1997 one made me realize how LOUD the 1997 one also is.

It still also confirms my personal hypothesis that the more analogue the original instruments were, the better they sound on vinyl, and the differences between records featuring digital instruments/digital recording and their CD versions is kind of negligible.

Until you get to the bloody Loudness War era when the vinyl versions clearly ace out the others EXCEPT in the case of Essentials & Rarirites which sounds bloody awful. HOW THE HELL CAN YOU MESS UP VINYL MASTERING AAA-

*sigh*

The vinyl was clearly pressed using the exact same file as the cd's and downloads were. Screwing it up that way is rather easy...

Yeah (also the reason why I didn't commission a vinyl version of my album even though I had cash at the time). Even Depeche Mode - another ultra-major Loudness War victim/perpetrator - had the vinyl version of Playing the Angel mastered separately so that it sounds significantly better than the other editions. No idea about their later albums, tho'

Speaking of which, how did the 2011 vinyl editions of Equinoxe and Oxygene fare? Were they horribleau or just average/nothing special? Anyone?

Drop the digital masters and dump them on vinyl, I'm afraid that's the only accurate awnser...

I took a bunch of Equinoxe CDs and LPs I own and I ripped Equinoxe 5 (the first minute or so) from each of the records. I took Equinoxe because that's one of the recordings they messed with a lot in all those years. Amongst them are the original first French pressings, reissues from 1986, 1997, 2011, both vinyl and CD.

here is a zip with the samples:

http://tinyurl.com/orps3vc

The files are just numbered.

I did not edit the audio; no equalizing, normalizing. etc... Just bare samples (smart people can even distinguish CD from vinyl rips without listening, if they want ) I already picked my favorite... I'm not going to tell you which one that is right now.

In a couple of days I'll post the list with numbers and corresponding media, label, and years of issue.

May I have your votes, please?

Interesting challenge, but quite difficult, because they all have their + and -. It's a tie between 1 and 5 for me.

9, 11, 10 and 3 are the worst imho. All because of different reasons.

12 is actually the best.

Dr_Jones wrote: 12 is actually the best.

Ha-ha-ha good one.

4 & 9. Just a quick decision because of the korg mini-pops. 5 is also very good.
I think nr 9 could possibly be the Scott Hull Sony CD remaster? Well whatever.

4 and 5, I guess.

(Man, if either of those wasn't the MFSL one, well, shows how bad my ears really are! ;] Still prefer my recording of the MFSL LP to any of those, tbh)

5 is the Best, I love the more analogue sounding version.

9 and 10 are ruined. (in fact 9 is awful, can I have some new tweeters please)

12 WTF

A new sample is included now... (thanks to dr_jones)

http://tinyurl.com/l2ko9fr

..and I added spectrograms


up till now, none of you chose an MFSL-version as favorite version

I think these (obviously) vinyl vesions sounded quite "dirty" in my headphones.
A good wipe off with a special cleaning solution can make surpricing changes to the vinyl sound not to mention all the choices of equipments recieving the sound from the vinyl record to the human ears.

Downloading now, will give it a try ^^

Edit: Personal favorites: 2, 4, 7 and 8.
2 is clearly vinyl, and I believe the Japanese one. Not sure through, but I think it is. 4 sounds good, though not perfect. My guess would be the first repress of the album in '79. 7 and 8, are difficult. I quite like the more obvious mastering on the highs on 7 and the more obvious lows on 8. I think that 7 is the original CD release and 8 the MFSL release.

My preferences and guesses where they originate from

shadow is an expert !


01
02_1978_MPF1214-JAPAN.flac
03
04_1979_FDM83150-second-pressing-color-back.flac
05
06
07_198X_824747-2-france_CD.flac
08_1991_MFSL-UCD647-CD.flac
09
10
11
12
13

btw: 4 is my favorite one

Ok but what was the rest of them?

This test is a great idea

If i have to choose a vinyl, i will say 4 (good rip & mastering), but usually i don't like crackle in my headphone , so i will choose a CD with a very good sound and say 5 (one of the first mastering on CD (1983) ? ).

12 is probably a "cover" (a good one but in mp3 128 kbps :-p). The "worst" imho : 3 (too much noise.. sound is "muffled"..bad rip ?), 9 & 13 (too loud. Scott Hull / DP ?)... for the others it's difficult to say, some of them are quite good... mfsl's cd is a very good one but there is not effects on it, so it seems a little bit flat... The absolute reference for me is the original CD mastering (1983 : "800025-2 01")... most of the time (with Jarre) first mastering are the best.

07_198X_824747-2-france_CD.flac -> probably 1989 (824747-2 = digitally remastered)
08_1991_MFSL-UCD647-CD.flac -> 1995

With spectrograms's help , i think there is 5 CD (4 + Dr_Jones's sample), 1 "MP3" (128kbps or less) and 7 vinyls...