Patricia Barber - Modern Cool - blu-ray

[Garf]

Just picked up the blu-ray of Modern Cool. The blu-ray case says there is a 5.1 DTS HD MA 24/96 and 2.0 LPCM 24/192 version on here.

 

Here are the first two songs, Touch of Trash and Winter plots in Audacity. I will post foobar dynamic range info once all the tracks finish processing in DVD Audio extractor.

[mwheelerk]

One of my absolute favorite albums. May be the last album I ever bought from hearing a cut on the radio (local PBS jazz program). I know a lot of people think of her as an audiophile darling but I think she is truly creative and individualistic.

[Julf]

Just picked up the blu-ray of Modern Cool. The blu-ray case says there is a 5.1 DTS HD MA 24/96 and 2.0 LPCM 24/192 version on here.

 

Any mention of how the original recording was made?

 

There seems to be a rather sharp drop-off at 24 kHz, suggesting that the original source might have been a 48 kHz recording, or steeply filtered for some other reason.

 

Would it be possible for you to post a spectrum plot zooming in on the frequency range below 30 kHz?

[Garf]

I clipped the first minute off of Company, and attempted to plot the specturm using 'Analyze --> Plot Spectrum' in audactiy. It still showed 0Hz to 90000Hz as in the above plots. If you wanted the spectrum plot over time in the main window, see below.

 

 

foobar dynamic range info. Interesting, as the original CD release was DR 13 according to the dynamic range database.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analyzed: Patricia Barber / Modern Cool

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

DR Peak RMS Duration Track

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR12 -0.02 dB -14.65 dB 5:27 01-Touch of Trash

DR11 0.00 dB -14.05 dB 5:00 02-Winter

DR12 0.00 dB -15.83 dB 8:07 03-You and The Night and the Music

DR12 -0.01 dB -16.24 dB 8:28 04-Constantinople

DR12 -0.06 dB -15.91 dB 5:34 05-Light My Fire

DR12 0.00 dB -16.00 dB 5:09 06-Silent Partner

DR11 -0.04 dB -13.83 dB 5:42 07-Company

DR11 -0.08 dB -15.17 dB 5:58 08-Let It Rain

DR13 -0.23 dB -17.17 dB 4:17 09-She's a Lady

DR12 -0.27 dB -17.66 dB 5:45 10-Love put on your faces

DR12 -0.23 dB -16.88 dB 5:54 11-Postmodern Blues

DR12 -0.15 dB -16.30 dB 3:19 12-Let It Rain - Vamp

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Number of tracks: 12

Official DR value: DR12

 

Samplerate: 192000 Hz

Channels: 2

Bits per sample: 24

Bitrate: 4929 kbps

Codec: FLAC

 

I have yet to fully listen to this, I hope to have a chance this afternoon on my work rig.

 

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-91754-patricia-barber-modern-cool-dual-layer-blu-ray.aspx

 

Information on the recording, from the Music Direct website. Pretty much the same information from the back of the blu-ray disc.

 

"Now, Premonition presents a high resolution, dual layer Blu Ray of this miraculous album. Included are a 5.1 Surround remix (24/96 kHz) by original engineer Jim Anderson and the original 2 track stereo masters in 24/192 kHZ for the first time on disc. The surround remix is stunning, revealing detail never before heard while the high resolution 2 track masters shed new light on the originals!"

[Julf]

I clipped the first minute off of Company, and attempted to plot the specturm using 'Analyze --> Plot Spectrum' in audactiy. It still showed 0Hz to 90000Hz as in the above plots.

 

To plot the spectrum in a more detailed view, go to Edit -> Preferences... -> Spectrograms and set Minimum Frequency (Hz) to 10000 and Maximum Frequency (Hz) to 30000.

[Garf]

[Julf]

Thanks! The steep dropoff at 24 kHz is pretty clearly visible. Any chance of also posting the spectrum analysis plot with zoomed range?

[integriscdp]

Thanks! The steep dropoff at 24 kHz is pretty clearly visible. Any chance of also posting the spectrum analysis plot with zoomed range?

 

 

How about this?

 

[Julf]

How about this?

 

Thanks! Yes, a very steep drop-off at 24 kHz, making me guess at a 48 kHz source (and interestingly there is a small peak at 48 kHz in the plot). In any case, a 96 kHz version would probably be cleaner than this 192 kHz one, as the stuff above 60 kHz is most likely only processing noise.

[wkhanna]

Kal Rubinson reviewed it in the most recent issue of Stereophile.

He seemed pleased, but I think he preferred the stereo layer over the multichannel.

I only have an LP rip @ 96k.

Hard to imagine anything sounding much better, IMHO.

[ted_b]

Kal Rubinson reviewed it in the most recent issue of Stereophile.

He seemed pleased, but I think he preferred the stereo layer over the multichannel.

I only have an LP rip @ 96k.

Hard to imagine anything sounding much better, IMHO.

 

As did I. the mch mix is ok, but a bit forced. Some things sound almost out of phase in the mch mix. The stereo BD layer is incredible, though. Way better than my DSD rip of the SACD.

[wkhanna]

Hi Ted.

what is your avatar playing, Fur Elise?

[Teresa]

I have a question, why is this released as a 24/192kHz Blu-ray and a DSD download when Acoustic Sounds states the original recording is 16/48? I agree it sounds much better than its resolution would indicate, but why not give us the original 16/48kHz and let us upsample if we want to?

 

From the Acoustic Sounds website: "Done on the Sony 3348, a 32-track (16/48) digital tape recorder, and mixed down to 2-track, half-inch tape with Dolby SR, this was Barber's first album of mostly original material. Anderson utilized mostly tube microphones (Brauner and Neumann) and John Hardy M-1 preamps, whose signal was patched to the tape bypassing the console. "

 

Patricia Barber - Modern Cool DSD download

[firedog]

It's called marketing. I don't know the history of this one, but it's been common for albums to be converted to DSD so an SACD can be sold (even 16\44.1 recordings). Then the DSD file is coverted to hi-res PCM and sold as high res to the hi-res vendors. In this case they archived the tape in 24/192 and then made a DSD from that.

 

It does seem sort of odd that they aren't selling a 24/192 download; but it may well be that the label only allowed them to sell a hi-res download in DSD, as that isn't seen as direct competition for the blue-ray release. That would explain why there is no hi-res PCM release.

 

I questioned eclassical about this way of making SACDs once, and they (I think honestly) replied that their classical customers were interested in the SACD format, especially multi-channel, and didn't really care about the source. They revealed the type of recording on the SACD booklet.

 

eClassical at least were only selling digital downloads in the original format of the PCM master, whatever it happened to be, and their website tells you the original format of all their masters.

 

I guess in this case if the original 16/48 was never mastered for release, but only converted to tape and then "mastered", they could claim that a hi-res transcription of the master tape is the best source available of the actual release for users who want a digital file. But it would be nice if whoever sells this as 24/192 or DSD let consumers know what they are getting for their money. Unfortunately, most of the vendors don't see this as important (or they purposely obscure the info).

 

I did a quick check, and it seems the only hi-res download version of this being sold is the DSD one at Acoustic Sounds. At least they are being upfront about where the download came from.

[j20056]

This is one of my very very best (top 3 out of library of 500 or so DSD and 24/96-192 digital albums) sounding albums post ripping to computer. And the music is also very very good.

[wgscott]

Looks like a good experimental control for the audibility of high res content.

[Teresa]

Looks like a good experimental control for the audibility of high res content.

 

Why?

 

The original recording is 16 bit 48kHz PCM, so the 24/192 Blu-ray Audio would have the extra 8 bits padded and if there are any frequencies above 24kHz it is likely noise from the transfer to analog and then to high resolution PCM. (see above posts for the plot spectrums and spectrograms.

 

I agree this is a great sounding recording, but hi-res it is not in my humble opinion, it is one of the few redbook CDs I own and I feel it is one of the better sounding ones. However, I try to avoid low resolution fraudulently sold as high resolution so I will keep the CD and not purchase the Blu-ray Audio disc or download any of the so-called high resolution versions.

 

For the audibility of high resolution content I recommend the Reference Recordings HRx's and 24/176.4kHz PCM downloads or any of the DSD downloads from Native DSD or Opus 3.