Bob Marley Legend at HDTracks

**REShaman** · 04-30-2012, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by audiozorro

I tend to agree with your observations though some songs are significantly better than others.

For example with Exodus I find the 24/192 download to have great midrange and treble clarity, but muddy bass. Perhaps because of digital over-processing I find the Exodus download to have great highs but the result is somewhat cold and analytical. By contrast, I find that my DSD128 copy of Exodus from vinyl to be very natural and musical. The vinyl or DSD128 copy just draws you into musical pleasure. The 24/192 draws you into analyzing the music but as a whole it does sound somewhat unnatural.

It would be interesting to get Barry Diament's opinions on the 24/192 download of Exodus.

I would probably rate the Legend 24/192 download as a B+, which is still pretty good but for me is a shame since I rate the music on vinyl as an A+. By contrast I rate the 24/192 download of Jen Chapin's reVisions: Songs of Steve Wonder as an A or A+. Of course Barry's 24/192 Equinox album is a solid A+.

I concur with your rating of Legend aa a B+. I expressed my rating as highly recommended which might sound better than a B+, but means the same. I decided to purchase the Jen Chapin Hydrid SACD M.ch version of reVisions and though I have not heard the DL at 192/24' the XLD conversion to AIFF is excellent. An A rating is fair. Perhaps Barry will favor us with an entrance and comment on Exodus. Another A includes the Marta Gomez DLs from HDtracks one of which was recommended on another thread.

Back to enjoying the music,
Richard

**bdiament** · 04-30-2012, 03:44 PM

Hi audiozorro,

Originally Posted by audiozorro

...It would be interesting to get Barry Diament's opinions on the 24/192 download of Exodus...

I have not heard any of the downloads. Yet.
Does anyone know who mastered them and when?

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

**audiozorro** · 04-30-2012, 04:17 PM

Audiophile 192kHz/24bit

Title: Legend (Remastered)
Artist: Bob Marley & The Wailers
Genre: Reggae
Label: Island Records
Release Date: 2012

* Please note that track 6 (Get Up, Stand Up) and track 10 (I Shot the Sheriff) are in 96kHz/24bit. These are bonus tracks that we wanted to make available to our customers, but for which this is the highest resolution available.

The Mastering of Bob Marley's Legend
Mastering was completed by Kevin Reeves at Sterling Sound NYC, using the original U.S. and U.K, album masters from the Island Records vault. The masters were played on a modified Studer A820 with Wolke Butterfly heads and converted to digital at *192khz/24bit resolution using the DCS 904 converter and Sterling’s proprietary mastering systems. As always, the most direct signal path was maintained throughout the mastering process.

**One and a half** · 04-30-2012, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by audiozorro

Audiophile 192kHz/24bit
..... The masters were played on a modified Studer A820 with Wolke Butterfly heads and converted to digital at *192khz/24bit resolution using the DCS 904 converter and Sterling’s proprietary mastering systems. As always, the most direct signal path was maintained throughout the mastering process.

Pre-digital, all recordings were made to tape, 1/4in for the home enthusiast, and wider for pro use. I'm not sure if when the change was made, but let's say there's a gradual attrition of the tape recorders from 2000 onwards. I come across a lot of equipment that the parts aren't available for any more and you need to replace them or the entire machine with a new one, that seems to be the case in this age of a throwaway society and short minded thoughts and eventual practices.

In relation to the tape recorders, are the heads, motors, clutch mechanisms still available for recorders say used to master Legends?
If you want to make a DSD or high res master, you need the original tape and the recorder to make the digital recording in the first place. Blue Coast uses tape, but I wonder for how much longer? Can imagine compared to a DAW a recorder is not cheap. I read the line from HD tracks that the recorder was modified, but in which way? New heads, tensions arms all of which can affect the SQ and ultimately to what we hear as a 'perfect digital copy'.

**wisnon** · 05-01-2012, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by Garf

I compared this to The Barry Diament Tuff Gong release, ie: not the 2002 remaster. It does not have the two additional songs. There is some additional information in the separate Music Analysis - Objective and Subjective forum, comparing to this HDTracks release.

If I had known I had a copy if this CD in the first place (it was on my 'find' list), I would probably not have bought the HDTracks version, its that good. But this HDTracks release is even better, which is saying a lot.

Gary

I have the 1984 Legend CD, most of the Island/Tuff Gong albums (except notably Natty Dread, Burning, Legend 2 and Catch a fire), as well as the box set and some pre-Island albums.

When I get a chance, I will compare to the 24/192 DL from HD Tracks. So far though, not much difference between Legend CD vs HDTracks. This may be due to the hardware used. For the DL, I use an MacAir with a Lindemann 24/192 DDC converter to the DAC. With the CD, I use a modded Denon DVD-3910, where I steal the SPDIF signal from the chip leg and run with a short wire to the newly made RCA terminal for super clean SPDIF out. As a CD transport, this is superb and may best the computer front end! I will try with a SBox Duet that has a clean power supply and better capacitors than stock and see where that falls out.

**REShaman** · 05-01-2012, 09:25 AM

FYI,
The 2002 remaster was mastered from the original two track analog master tapes by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, New York, 2001, according to the liner notes for the 2002, 16 tracks, redbook CD.
Best,
Richard

**bdiament** · 05-01-2012, 01:09 PM

The CD masters I created in 1990 for the 13 original Bob Marley & The Wailers albums were also from the original analog mix masters.

At first, Island sent me a few cartons of digital copies (in 1630 format on 3/4" U-matic video cassettes - the format commonly used for CD masters back then). I called them and said the CD masters we were creating would be what folks listened to for years to come and I asked them what they were saving the original masters for. Their response: The next day, FedEx delivered cartons of original analog tapes. ;-}

For those masters, I did not use a "proprietary" console. In fact, I used no console at all. (Never heard one that didn't exact a sonic price.) I wired directly from the output of the analog machine to the EQ I was going to use and directly from the EQ output to the input of the Apogee retrofit filter-equipped Sony 1630 A-D converters. There was nothing else in the signal path. No patch bay, no switching, no other processing and most certainly, no dynamic compression. Monitoring at the time, was a pair of Dahlquist DQ-20s in a room full of MIT cables.

What a thrill it was to work on those masters! One of my all-time favorite projects.

When it came time to do "Legend", I called Island again. This time to ask if they really wanted to use the edited versions of the songs that were used for the original vinyl release of the album or if we might use the full, unedited album versions. They gave me the go-ahead to use the full versions, so we ended up with a "Legend" CD with an additional 11 minutes of music. Or, more correctly, a "Legend" that did not have those 11 minutes removed.

And what a marathon too. Thirteen albums delivered inside of the six-week deadline. Silly me, I was living on Coca-Cola and Marlboros. Well, "living" might be pushing it. I ended up with duodenitis, which happily resolved once I resumed a healthier diet. In those moments of "stomach" pain, I recalled that Bob Marley died of stomach cancer. I wondered if what I was feeling was a sign from Bob. I really hope he liked what I did. ;-}

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

**bdiament** · 05-01-2012, 01:59 PM

Hmm. Looks like the info I had all those years ago about the cause of Bob Marley's death was incorrect.

May his music live forever.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

**Julf** · 05-01-2012, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by bdiament

Hmm. Looks like the info I had all those years ago about the cause of Bob Marley's death was incorrect.

According to wikipedia, it was the spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain. Hadn't realized he was only 36.

**wisnon** · 05-01-2012, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Julf

According to wikipedia, it was the spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain. Hadn't realized he was only 36.

Wiki is correct.
I overlapped with Ziggy in high school.

**REShaman** · 05-01-2012, 10:59 PM

A bit OT, similarly, Eva Cassidy (I have all her discs, I think) died at age 33 of melanoma. Many great artists burn brightly and succumb because of ill-health, bad habits and leave behind a body of work we spend our lifetime, however long that may be, enjoying the medicine of music that cures me daily. So long Levon. Thank you Bob and ...they are legend.
Enjoying the music,
Richard

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