Simple Minds "Sparkle in the Rain" (March 2015)

[Perp]

Wow! Finished listening to the surround mix. For my first listen, I did not like it. In fact, I hated it. As already stated above, the center channel was tooooooo loooooow. The only song that I thought may have potential there was "East At Easter". That is, until the song kicked in. Again, the center channel vocal sounded buried. Also, the background vocals in many of the songs were too low in level. Overall, some songs are worse than others. It almost sounds like the album was mixed in surround out-of-phase.

btw, I do like the included by mistake, HiRes mono mix. It sounded much better than the surround version. :yikes

 

[fredblue]

From SuperDeluxeEdition, Steven Wilson himself:

"Hello folks, this is Steven Wilson – I did the new mixes of Sparkle in the Rain that are on this edition. It’s been difficult for me to monitor because I’m in Europe on tour and therefore not in my studio, but I have been able to establish that unfortunately there are issues with the transfers of both the stereo and the 5.1 mixes. The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious, but the bottom line is that it does not sound as it should. I’m not sure what happened exactly, it may have been some kind of file corruption, but before you ask; no I wasn’t sent any kind of check disc, though I have had assurance that I always will be in future. We will sort this out, but I need to ask you to be a bit patient with this one, it’s probably not going to be a “quick fix”. My apologies."

 

[Robert van Diggele]

Thanks Adam. I guess Steven Wilson has just joined the QC team

How can something like this can go wrong? From my own experience with testing from Nosound I assume the process goed as follows:
SW transfers the files to Neil Wilkes. NW make a dvd a iso which the test team listens to and goes through all menu options and report back with possible changes. Once everything is fine, the final files are transferred to the label or pressing plant right away? So is there somebody at the label side tweaking the files?

(This is no criticism on the QC team, as I know they are the best, but I try to understand how these things can happen)

 

[splinter7]

And here I was about to write that this was SW's first massive miss - almost reassuring to read there is a problem.

However, I can't believe he wrote "The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious". Granted that I was not promised a miracle with this remix (the original is a muddy, veiled mess), but what is wrong on this disc is dreadfully obvious. Output in the front speakers is almost non-existent - Center speaker vocal are low and veiled - Rear speakers are too hot.

Still, I appreciate SW declaring there is a technical problem - now I will settle in and hope it does not take a year to get a replacement copy.

 

[rtbluray]

I modified my posts in the "Separating Fact from Fiction" thread as I obviously cannot endorse the surround mix and say there is anything wrong with it when Steven himself says there is.

I still believe that the channels are mapped to the correct speakers, so that's not the issue. It's something else, but I have no clue what that something else is.

More investigative work to do I suppose.

 

[Drabs]

I haven't checked through all the posts, but has Neil Wilkes made any comments on all this?

 

[timbre4]

I haven't checked through all the posts, but has Neil Wilkes made any comments on all this?

He has not;. We will follow the official announcements for now.


Keep Calm and Have Patience

 

[Perp]

From SuperDeluxeEdition, Steven Wilson himself:

"Hello folks, this is Steven Wilson – I did the new mixes of Sparkle in the Rain that are on this edition. It’s been difficult for me to monitor because I’m in Europe on tour and therefore not in my studio, but I have been able to establish that unfortunately there are issues with the transfers of both the stereo and the 5.1 mixes. The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious, but the bottom line is that it does not sound as it should. I’m not sure what happened exactly, it may have been some kind of file corruption, but before you ask; no I wasn’t sent any kind of check disc, though I have had assurance that I always will be in future. We will sort this out, but I need to ask you to be a bit patient with this one, it’s probably not going to be a “quick fix”. My apologies."

This makes sense. I was about to sell my Deluxe set off but will wait patiently and enjoy the other discs in the set. Oh, I do need to check out the bonus material (videos).

 

[user 1679]

My deluxe box version arrived today - shame I'll to wait a while to hear it properly but at least I can enjoy some of the other extra stuff, like the live discs.

I must say that Grooves did a really good job with packing it for shipment - the box in a box and then another heavier box. I'd order from them again easily.

 

[GOS]

My deluxe box version arrived today - shame I'll to wait a while to hear it properly but at least I can enjoy some of the other extra stuff, like the live discs.

I must say that Grooves did a really good job with packing it for shipment - the box in a box and then another heavier box. I'd order from them again easily.

Well.....my copy arrived from Grooves as well today. Mine came in a very flimsy packet. It looked like it had been around the world...lmao. That's OK. It was not broken at least.

 

[GOS]

Hehe- so I just put the disc in. Well, I can't comment on the sound right now. Eh.......
The disc is "stuck" on the menu. I can't get it to play the songs. It's stuck....took it out...put back in. Same thing. Not sure what 's going on.

 

[rtbluray]

Hehe- so I just put the disc in. Well, I can't comment on the sound right now. Eh.......
The disc is "stuck" on the menu. I can't get it to play the songs. It's stuck....took it out...put back in. Same thing. Not sure what 's going on.

DVD-A or Blu-Ray?

 

[GOS]

DVD-A or Blu-Ray?

blu-ray. It's "stuck" in the "menu" mode.....and it won't let me change it....nor will it let me advance songs. Though, it advances on its own.

 

[alk3997]

On the third song. My first thought is, this is a mess! Surround channels are way too loud and, as reported, center channel is too low.

Thank you for reporting the low center channel! I spent time checking levels yesterday on my system and couldn't find a problem. I haven't had time to transfer the BD to computer to see if there is an easy answer to fixing the center channel.

The question is whether everything going to the center channel is low or just the vocals. If it is "everything" than that becomes much easier to fix than just the vocals.

The LPCM 5.1 and the DTS-MA 5.1 both have the exact same issues, so I have to believe that the disc mastering folks actually mastered what they were given.

But, you're right, this disc is "garbage" (as polite as it gets for this mess) in its present form. As I mentioned I have the BD version.

Andy

 

[rtbluray]

blu-ray. It's "stuck" in the "menu" mode.....and it won't let me change it....nor will it let me advance songs. Though, it advances on its own.

From what I see on my copy, it's supposed to stay on the "menu" screen with the tracks and audio options as the album plays. It defaults to DTS-HD MA 5.1, but you can switch the audio using the audio button or the colored buttons (Red for DTS-HD MA 5.1, Green for LPCM 5.1, and Blue for "mono". Yellow jumps to the original stereo mix)
I can switch between tracks using the skip buttons, and using the arrows buttons to navigate the onscreen selections.

Hope that helps!

 

[alk3997]

From SuperDeluxeEdition, Steven Wilson himself:

"Hello folks, this is Steven Wilson – I did the new mixes of Sparkle in the Rain that are on this edition. It’s been difficult for me to monitor because I’m in Europe on tour and therefore not in my studio, but I have been able to establish that unfortunately there are issues with the transfers of both the stereo and the 5.1 mixes. The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious, but the bottom line is that it does not sound as it should. I’m not sure what happened exactly, it may have been some kind of file corruption, but before you ask; no I wasn’t sent any kind of check disc, though I have had assurance that I always will be in future. We will sort this out, but I need to ask you to be a bit patient with this one, it’s probably not going to be a “quick fix”. My apologies."

I think the 5.1 issues are more than obvious. I haven't listened to the stereo version but if they are actually worse than the 5.1-channel issues, I probably don't want to.

If anyone is thinking of purchasing this in either DVD-A or BD, I'd wait until the problems are fixed. I need to decide whether to return this disc to Amazon or wait out a fix that is "probably not going to be a 'quick fix'".

 

[JanBakker]

To me the rears are ok (nice and clear on the high end) the fronts and center seem to be cut off on the high end somehow and are too low in volume, the low end seems to be ok at the first couple of listens. This is my first impression of this disc.

 

[Perp]

To me the rears are ok (nice and clear on the high end) the fronts and center seem to be cut off on the high end somehow and are too low in volume, the low end seems to be ok at the first couple of listens. This is my first impression of this disc.

I'll (wincing) have another listen but on first try, the rear channels were too loud and some of the instruments were buried on some of the songs. The low center channel level is the most obvious. As I reported earlier in this Thread, I really think there may be some sort of phase issue happening.

 

[GOS]

OK, upon third try - seems it has gone past the "menu stage". Not sure what that was all about. But yeah. I'd say the audio quality of this disc is weak at best. I can see this being shelf clutter....hehe. Oh well.

 

[Perp]

Someone Posted CD 2 of the Deluxe Box set. I had a feeling these discs could be compressed but this is dismal. This will be my last 'blind buy' until I see advanced DR values. :howl

Not sure why it's taking this person so long to Post the entire set. I guess, I'll have to get my copies evaluated.