Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel (SQ LP).
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I'm on my third pressing so far, a VG+, an EX and a NM and they all sound weak and brittle to my ears. Let me know if you get a better one!
Oh crikey..! :yikes (steeling myself for a terrible sounding record now!) ..it's just come out of its shrinkwrap, so it might be alright.. could it be fourth time lucky..! I'll keep you abreast!
Barbara Joan Streisand - Barbara Streisand (SQ LP).[/ATTACH]
Well its not all grim but some of it is my fault and some of it is just unfortunate..
..the first boob I made was omitting to adjust the input level on Audacity from its default of 50%, so intiallly the transfer sounded very whimpy..
..also (mildly disappointingly) for what was sold to me as a "brand new" albeit 40-year old LP (it could have been re-shrinkwrapped having been used already..?) the beginning of the title track that opens side 1 is very snap crackle and poppy.. even after cleaning (I've taken to washing any LP I buy that initally sounds crackly etc in lukewarm water with mild detergent and a soft sponge, then rinsed throughly and left to dry.. the results so far have been amazing!) even so its still a rice krispies fest..
so I boosted the overall volume using the amplify tool, which helped.. then I (sacriligiously!) volume boosted the absolute quietest parts of the title track, they were just TOO dynamic in places (something I wouldn't ordinarily do but in this one instance it worked a treat).. now I'm onto manually decrackling track 1 (which is taking foreverrrrr) but none of the other tracks seem to need it.. so maybe it really is/was a new copy as described (and for 9 quid and a nice trip to the seaside.. I bought it in a record shop while I was down at Pride in Brighton on Saturday) I can't complain, though so far it is one of if not the most underwhelming of the SQ LPs I've been recording in lately from a sound quality point of view.. hmm.. I'll probabably give it a light sprinkling of EQ fairy dust at some point too.. meantime lots going on, new business venture, moving to a new place, my mid life crisis SQ folly (especially a disc like this that clearly needs some help!) may have to go on hold for a bit..!!
Musically, it's one of her best, IMHO. And I have them all! My favorite track is a Steely Dan song, even though this album came out a year before Can't Buy a Thrill. :yikes The track is I Mean To Shine. When I bought BJS, I had never heard of Becker or Fagen. But, I took notice of their great songwriting chops, I Mean to Shine never made it to an SD album. That's a shame. Yet, as good of performers as Becker & Fagen are, la Streisand's version would be pretty damn hard to top. And DF plays piano.
Enjoy!
Adam..."moving to a new place"...new digs?...maybe more space for all your music...just curious:lookaround
Thanks for the great info, Linda, amazing as always!
Which would you say is the best of Barbara's Quads from a discrete mix point of view?
All the Columbia Quads are about the same, mixwise, EXCEPT Live Concert at the Forum, which is kind of non-Quad. Of the Quads, musically, I like BJS & Stoney End the Best, followed by Lazy Afternoon and The Way We Were.
Sadly, my fave album of hers was the first after the Quad era that was 2ch only: A Star is Born. With Paul Williams, Tom Scott and the Chicago horn section, that album is pretty hard to beat, IMHO.
I don't have any Quads by either Johnny Williams or Andy Mathis. @:
Oh..! :yikes Not your cuppa tea?
Well its not all grim but some of it is my fault and some of it is just unfortunate..
..the first boob I made was omitting to adjust the input level on Audacity from its default of 50%, so intiallly the transfer sounded very whimpy..
..also (mildly disappointingly) for what was sold to me as a "brand new" albeit 40-year old LP (it could have been re-shrinkwrapped having been used already..?) the beginning of the title track that opens side 1 is very snap crackle and poppy.. even after cleaning (I've taken to washing any LP I buy that initally sounds crackly etc in lukewarm water with mild detergent and a soft sponge, then rinsed throughly and left to dry.. the results so far have been amazing!) even so its still a rice krispies fest..
so I boosted the overall volume using the amplify tool, which helped.. then I (sacriligiously!) volume boosted the absolute quietest parts of the title track, they were just TOO dynamic in places (something I wouldn't ordinarily do but in this one instance it worked a treat).. now I'm onto manually decrackling track 1 (which is taking foreverrrrr) but none of the other tracks seem to need it.. so maybe it really is/was a new copy as described (and for 9 quid and a nice trip to the seaside.. I bought it in a record shop while I was down at Pride in Brighton on Saturday) I can't complain, though so far it is one of if not the most underwhelming of the SQ LPs I've been recording in lately from a sound quality point of view.. hmm.. I'll probabably give it a light sprinkling of EQ fairy dust at some point too.. meantime lots going on, new business venture, moving to a new place, my mid life crisis SQ folly (especially a disc like this that clearly needs some help!) may have to go on hold for a bit..!!
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