BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

Dr_Jones wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:34 pm No, the Equinoxe 2018 edition has inverted channels too.

ok thanks, it's me I'd added "not" by mistake but it confirms that is inverted like 2015 edition for example.

nexxxus wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 6:22 pm It confirms that is inverted like 2015 edition for example.

Yes, every remaster since 1997 in fact.

It's bizarre how such a easy fix has been skipped for a good 25 years...

Dr_Jones wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:34 pm No, the Equinoxe 2018 edition has inverted channels too.

When you say "inverted" is that a shorthand for "L and R channel are swapped", right?

If so, then, well, it's the 1997+ versions that are actually correct. It's the pre-1997 editions that were always wrong.

Jote wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:49 pm

Dr_Jones wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:34 pm No, the Equinoxe 2018 edition has inverted channels too.

When you say "inverted" is that a shorthand for "L and R channel are swapped"?

Yes L to R and L to R... curious and why?

nexxxus wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:53 pm

Jote wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:49 pm

Dr_Jones wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:34 pm No, the Equinoxe 2018 edition has inverted channels too.

When you say "inverted" is that a shorthand for "L and R channel are swapped"?

Yes L to R and L to R... curious and why?

It's the pre-1997 editions that were "swapped" and thus wrong. The 1997 and later editions (so 2018 as well) are actually CORRECT.

Everything from the first vinyls up to 1997 were wrong?

Dr_Jones wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:07 am Everything from the first vinyls up to 1997 were wrong?

Yes. I have it on good authority that JMJ always intended the delay effects to go from LEFT TO RIGHT (and this is evident on other albums). On pre-1997 the delays go from right to left (very much noticeable in Equinoxe 4, the strings in the verse and the plucks in the chorus).

^^ No reactions to this bombshell at all?

How can JMJ have "signed-off" on a final mix that was wrong in his eyes/ears? Where does the artist lose control of the production process? Was he bothered about this but there was nothing he could do? Or could he have stopped things but on balance (pun!) it wasn't worth the hassle factor? Given how much he talks about sound design and detail when promoting Oxymore, you'd think errors like this would be impossible if he retained the necessary quality control.

I listened to the 1997 CD version of Equinoxe from 2003 (when I got back into JMJ's music) to 2007, when I got the MFSL LP - and listening to its mix of Equinoxe 4 for the first time, I thought "hmm, now there's an ever-so-slight delay in the Eminent strings when the keys were pressed, I wonder if my turntable's faulty somehow", clearly attributing the "error" to the turntable/digitalization process itself.

Maybe I had just gotten used to the 1997 CD's sound OR maybe it was a case of subconsciously "realizing" that the 1997 version had the channels the right way round, thus making the other ones sound "off" (which I still attributed to the condition of the record or sth instead).

(Oddly enough, the 2018 LP version sounds like the strings are "lagging" more than ever before, even though the "delayed" strings are on the left channel as they'd have been in the 1997 CD. )

Also as an example, the attachments to this post are from the Japanese LP version - I had to actually verify for the very first time that there actually is some kind of string delay going on, and luckily it was easier to find out than I first thought

MFSL = Sorry, what's this? I should know but ????

Oh yeah, MFSL (Mobile FIdelity Sound Lab) is a company known for their audiophile releases, some of them quite highly regarded and going for insane prices (https://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... &LH_Sold=1).

That said, referring to this Equinoxe 1 attachment (from the French (second edition?) LP), before getting the MFSL LPs in 2007, I don't think I ever noticed that the Eminent strings are already playing very faintly in the background before they properly "kick in" - I think I also attributed that to a faulty record player. It can still sort of be heard in the 2018 LP as well, or maybe my brain is just "fixing" the audio for my head since I know it should be there

Our ears (and mind) are more and more accustomed to hearing music too made for any support and we forget what the music is... nuances of sounds sometimes almost inaudible which contrast with other louder ones. But at least there is a meaning... the sound lives.

It's the defects of current productions and remasterings that tend to remove these nuances even if it means destroying the original. (perhaps because of a new generation that no longer has the patience to wait )

Jote wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:10 am Yes. I have it on good authority that JMJ always intended the delay effects to go from LEFT TO RIGHT (and this is evident on other albums). On pre-1997 the delays go from right to left (very much noticeable in Equinoxe 4, the strings in the verse and the plucks in the chorus).

Ok let's admit for it but otherwise there are no rules for this or there may be exceptions... no?

For me Equinoxe sounds like I heard first before 1997... I can't say, by retrograde anticipation (it's an oxymore), that sounds wrong.

nexxxus wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:54 pm Ok let's admit for it but otherwise there are no rules for this or there may be exceptions... no?

There is no rule, but in this case this is in fact what JMJ intended - left-to-right.