Dual Disc Jane's Addiction- Strays

[Analogueghost]

Odys - PM forthcoming.

I've got a copy of this disc, too, and I had no idea that people were looking for copies. Haven't listened to it in ages, but it didn't make a huge impression on me at the time. I'm not interested in parting with mine, but I am located in Seattle so I'll keep my eyes peeled when I'm in used shops.

The DVD-A endowed DualDiscs were pretty few and far between, but I caught on to the labeling tricks pretty quick and grabbed a bunch of them during and after the pilot while everybody on SH.tv was busy complaining about how their high end gear and car player couldn't read the CD side. At the very least it was often a good way to scoop up a DVD-A for cheaper than market cost at the time for the regular disc, like Donald Fagen's "Nightfly." Some ended up being pretty rare in the end, like The Donnas' "Gold Medal," which was always a bonus. My favorite is probably the Foo Fighters disc "In Your Honor" where they contractually forced a Sony subsidiary (Epic, I think) to allow them to release a full 5.1 DVD-A. Wish that had magically happened wish Modest Mouse and Fiona Apple, too.

 

[dabl]

Dammit, missed another copy of this on eBay yesterday. $16 delivered!

I got a hit in my saved search email but it went too fast.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350521335048&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123

I PM'd Odys

 

[BananaSlug]

I got the same e-mail. It looks like it was the cd/dvd set again from the same seller. That set does not have the 5.1.

 

[dabl]

I got the same e-mail. It looks like it was the cd/dvd set again from the same seller. That set does not have the 5.1.

Ah, good catch I obviously wasn't paying enough attention to the recent related previous posts here.

So I didn't actually miss getting one of these.....

 

[The Bright Side]

My search is "jane's addiction strays dualdisc" in all categories. If I ever do manage to get a copy I'll put it out there. Hopefully others are thinking the same way so we can all get a chance to hear this some day.

YES YES YES YESSS YEEESSS I JUST GOT THIS!!!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230825739611

If the other bidders were from here, sorry fellas. You guys can bet I'll find a way to share this mix with the community as soon as I hold this disc in my sweaty trembling hands.

 

[BananaSlug]

YES YES YES YESSS YEEESSS I JUST GOT THIS!!!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230825739611

If the other bidders were from here, sorry fellas. You guys can bet I'll find a way to share this mix with the community as soon as I hold this disc in my sweaty trembling hands.

Good find! I didn't even get a hit from eBay on that one.

 

[dobyblue]

I have a copy of the DVD-A side and would happy to let anyone borrow it.

 

[The Bright Side]

Hey guys,

well, I must say, this is a fun mix! I was a bit afraid I'd be disappointed with it as I was with the Megadeth DVD-A, especially cos this one got buried after that first limited DualDisc pressing. Perhaps that was for a good reason, I thought. And well, here I am, pleasantly surprised!

Currently on my second run-through, I can definitely say that the mixers (they're not even credited in the booklet - no mention of the surround mixing or the surround content on the DVD-A side anywhere on any of the inlays. Foreshadowing device?) used their creativity there. This is an alternative rock album with some nice sound effects throughout, so there was enough to throw around in the rears and go buzz across the room. Other than, say, the Three Doors Down discs, where the rears are active, but hardly anything ever _distinctly_ comes from them, you have plenty of clearly defined surround action going on in "Strays", and mostly in the right spots, too. Say, at the beginning of "True Nature" or the end of "Superhero", it feels like the best parts of Linkin Park's "Reanimation", the sound effects really go all around you. Overall, there's a nice distribution: sound effects, backing vocals, certain isolated instruments - all good and discrete, while the main music remains coherent and centered.

In addition, it's a real plus that the 5.1 mix highlights/isolates some instruments that were buried in the action of the 2-channel mix. There's one song (forget which one right now) where I heard keyboard chords that were too buried in the 2-channel mix for me to ever notice them as distinctly before. Certainly adds to the experience.

That said, I found some stuff a bit off. For instance, in Superhero, there's this sudden guitar that jumps at you from the front, just a second or two, waaaay louder than anything else, and completely detached from the rest of the music. Or in the opening track, there's a loud vocal in the center that recurs twice ("Motherfucker do you really care?"), and the second time, it suddenly jumps from the center to the front l/r speakers in the middle of a word. These are a bit distracting, but do not detract from the overall enjoyable experience.

My other (also minor) gripe would be the dynamics. Don't worry, this packs a nice punch overall and you do get to feel the music, but I thought it has a bit too much volume normalization going on: I wouldn't mind a greater volume gap between the silent and loud parts (and Strays plays with this quite a bit), so that it would pack a bigger punch when a song takes off or kicks back into high gear. Also, some parts that are "bassy" on the 2-channel version have no sub presence in the 5.1 mix at all. Best example are the bass thumps in "Price I pay" (underlying the chorus bit: "the price, it's the price, always the price I PAY"), they happen only in the center. Nothing from the sub. These were designed to shake a room, Jeez! On the other hand, there's a breakdown about halfway through "True Nature" that has tremendous sub response, real fun.

I think this is an enjoyable disc throughout. If there was a poll (hint, hint), I'd give it an 8. Great shame it wasn't more widely available, really happy I got my hands on it.

PM me if you have, um, any other questions about this mix.

 

[sukothai]

This has a very good mix, but the brickwalled fronts drown out everything else so I couldn't enjoy it. I reduced the fronts by 3db and boosted the center by 1db and it sounds much better. I also dropped the LFE channel.

Here's the before and after:

 

[dabl]

Good find! I didn't even get a hit from eBay on that one.

Same here, congrats to The Bright Side. PM sent!

dobyblue, thanks for your kind offer to the group, will followup as necessary.

 

[The Bright Side]

This has a very good mix, but the brickwalled fronts drown out everything else so I couldn't enjoy it. I reduced the fronts by 3db and boosted the center by 1db and it sounds much better. I also dropped the LFE channel.

Here's the before and after:

Hey Sukothai, this is quite interesting. Explains the bad volume dynamics I wrote about... Your screenshot is about what I expected the fronts to look like. Classic loudness war :-( Shame!

 

[sukothai]

Classic loudness war :-( Shame!

Yes, I wish there were an "Undo Compression" button in the audio tools, but as it is the best we can do is fix the relative volume level. I was pleasantly surprised by how much more enveloping the mix is with this simple change. It seems to restore some of the dynamics because your attention is drawn to the rears more often where dynamics exist.

 

[DKA]

Hey Sukothai, this is quite interesting. Explains the bad volume dynamics I wrote about... Your screenshot is about what I expected the fronts to look like. Classic loudness war :-( Shame!

You'd think the loudness wars wouldn't apply too much to surround.

This is what, unfortunately, sunk otherwise fantastic mixes like some of the Flaming Lips stuff. That has to be some of the most headache-inducing stuff I've ever heard.

 

[LizardKing]

Sounds much better (e.g more balanced) with the levels adjusted

 

[timbre4]

Did a first pass with regular levels, love these songs. Need to listen again with some rear boost.

 

[quattroatl]

First listen had me thinking that the sonics were terrible. It reminds me of the Oasis sacd and Alice in Chains sacd. Some music seem better left alone in 2-channel. The dynamics are terrible to my bleeding ears for this one. A thumbs down IMHO.

 

[The Bright Side]

Hey guys, this little bugger is up on the Bay right now, sealed. The guy even mentions us in the description.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Janes-Addic...OP-Rare-5-1-Surround-CD-Sealed-/121105813440?

 

[Led9]

Just went for $121. Glad I got lucky and got mine for only $25 a while back.

 

[LizardKing]

I did another little tweak to track six... at about 1:31 there is a guitar that kicks in in the rear channels that is way too loud - compare it to the original stereo mix...so I reduced the volume on both rear channels for about 4.5 secs....

Here are waveforms for part of the LS channel for track six... (Tweaked at the top - original on the bottom):


I think it sounds much better....

 

[MyCuff]

Just got outbid at $23.27. Did anyone win this?

eBay item number: 171606403669
JANE'S ADDICTION - STRAYS- DUALDISC-CD
Ended:
Dec 29, 2014 , 6:13PM
Winning bid:
US $23.77
[ 5 bids ]