I'm an ex- high end audio designer. I have the jennifer warnes and the patricia barber, and I used those many, many times as examples of good quality audio.
I'm an audio engineer and much of the sound stage and imaging improvements heard in modern recordings comes from the use of a technique called " Mid Side Processing" that allows the processing of the middle or center information and the sides or left and right channels to be processed separately in the mastering stage. Also mastering grade converters are a step above even the very best consumer converters.
@@volpedo2000 There are some very good hi end audiophile DAC's out there that sound amazing. Having said that , mastering grade converters are designed to take a much hotter signal and clip in a much more forgiving way than converters designed for consumer use. They often use discreet analog circuits and even transformers in the audio path using high current power supplies. The very best DAC converter "chip" only cost a few bucks but it's the analog circuit that sets mastering grade converters apart from most stuff designed for home use. They can also be very expensive.
Big thank you for recommending Patricia Barber Companion album... OMG ... this cd truly sounds amazing...never thought that live recording could sound like this...I thought Diana Krall sounds unique...but I guess she has a worthy competition here. I play this cd ( which also happen to be HDCD ) on my Rotel RCD-1072 cd player hooked to a Rotel RA-1570 integrated amplifier and with Bowers and Wilkins 603 floorstanding speakers....I feel like I'm there in the club while she's recording!
Thank you so much for the info in general and the Patricia Barber introduction in particular. Just listened to "The Beat Goes On". Speechless. Spellbound. The recording/mixing/mastering quality; the band and their arrangement and interpretation; her voice and style; and yes...that organ. Stunning.
Thank you. I never heard of Patricia Barber before. but because of your video, I'm now obsessed. The fun of finding new music to really enjoy. Thanks again.
I just bought a copy of Companion. I bought a like new condition 1999 copy. The sound of this CD shocked me! I was just finishing up listening to other Sony recordings and then put this Patricia Barber CD in and I was stunned by the lively, articulate and dynamic presentation from this recording. Will certainly be looking for more Blue Note recordings. Thanks! BTW, there were so many newer versions than the 1999 copy. I stuck with the original. I can't imagine the other versions are any better.
You are absolutely right... A better system makes music better. There is more clarity, more dynamic realism, and of course the sound stage gives a realization that the performance is there for you. The other thing about improving a sound system is it makes (almost) everything sound better, new or old. So yeah, it is all about the music, but if the music is reproduced better the entire experience of listening improves.
Blue Note Records has from the beginning always been about the the best sound quality attainable. The late great engineer, Rudy VanGelder said that lable owner Alfred lion,( one of my heroes) had good ears and helped him to get the "Blue Note" sound. Soon many others followed their formula.
💯% Agree. I was thinking how good the VanGelder recordings sound hours ago this morning. I’m not that analytical in my music listening, but it’s easy to hear quality in recordings. 👍🏼🎶😎☕️
@@Norman-bone13 I'm not too analytical myself these days. I just enjoy the music. However, I installed a pre-owned Sota Sapphire to my system and my analytical side temporarily appeared and dissipated quickly as I enjoyed the music more. I think this happens to all music loving audiophiles whenever a new component is acquired. But hey man, this is from a 64 year old O.G Black man and music loving audiophile. Let's enjoy the music and our systems. To all fellow music loving audiophiles, jam out!!
@@williamcampbell3868 I feel you bro. I was not being critical, just making point about how good the Blue note recordings sound. If I notice it eventually while listening in the music, it definitely is an exceptional recording. I still get excited about new gear. Jam on and enjoy it all! 👊🏽😎🎶
Appreciate the recommendations. As I watched your video I searched on eBay and a found a lot of of three Marcus Miller CDs: Laid Back, Afrodeezia, and M2 for $12. I can't wait to add them to my collection.
Thanks for taking the time to point out some great engineered CDs. I will be buying a few of these. I love all types of music so I simply look for well recorded music whatever the type that it is. Some recordings are so flat and bland. I find many recordings made in the 1950s and 1960s, to be vastly superior to recordings done today. It shows that attention to detail was employed. I am thinking that if attention to details and pride of the recording is employed using what is known and available today, it will surpass the great recordings from years ago.
One of the best songs I've heard (even though I don't particularly like the band 311, this song is enjoyable) is 311's cover song of the cure's 311-Love Song... was my go-to test song on all my car stereo setups. also, the artist Too Short (again, not a fan of rap so much) has excellent sounds from what was a complete unknown to a master of mixing and talent... he was (imo) understated too much.... no pun intended.
Yes. I have all the John scofield mid 90s albums and I fooled my vinyl eccentric friends into believing it was an audiophile grade L.P. Also since about 2000 but mainly 2010 onwards digital recording technology has advanced A lot, I worked in studios most my life and the differences in the last 15years have been astonishing.
I dont have those CDs but I did stream them in lossless format .. and I have to agree the sound is excellent. Here’s my challenge to you- play these two CDs: Two Against Nature - Steely Dan Everything Must Go- Steely Dan Those are their last two albums. They are amazing sound for CD. Plus: Seek out the Blue Note RVG Remasters series .. those are all the old Blue Note albums from way back, remastered by Rudy Van Gelder for CD. They came out amazingly nice. Also the recent Blue Note Tone Poet remasters on CD sound spectacular as well. Good video.
Hi, new subscriber. I do have few cds 💿 of Patricia Barber worth owning another great recorded cds Lizz Wright, Diana Krall also check out Lady Blackbird well recorded album beautiful voice 👍🏼😊
My stereophile first cd with the dog barking in each speaker to test phase, the dog barking in the left & right speakers is always far right & forward of the speakers. Thats a Great cd to set up speakers.
In theory we will all agree with you, but ultimately if you have a hifi system with a very high level of resolution, I can assure you that it doesn’t do a poorly recorded/mastered CD any favours 🤕 It literally becomes unlistenable.
Check out reference recordings, they are outstanding, nice to see you bigging up the cd, well recorded & mastered cds, are still a fabulous sounding media👍
The Japanese Blue Note CDs from the 80's are even better than early west german CDs which are often also superb. E.g Coltrane's Blue Train, 1986, Japan, Made by Toshiba EMI. His impulse albums 32XD Impulse CD Collection, Made by Warner-Pioneer, Japan are also sound better than other issues.
Thanks for your coverage of CDs, especially from Bluenote. I have a good number of Bluenote jazz CDs and LPs. I bookmarked all of your recommended artists in Tidal. I have a good digital system but will look for their CDs.
All Tecet cds are outstanding stereo or 5.1 Tube mic preamps recordings in churches or custom studio settings. They have a good selection to try out very high definition.
A 3-letter code on CDs indicates how they were produced. The first letter is recording, then mixing, then mastering. They are usually either AAD, ADD, or DDD. All end in D because CDs are digitally mastered. DDD are usually better sounding. Telarc made some of the best.
These letters were a marketing tool from the early days of CD, and have no bearing whatsoever on sound quality. AAD can sound great, and all DDD recordings can sound dreadful. There’s a thousand other variables more important than whether a recording is Digital or Analog.
At the beginning of the video you said that early CD's were mastered like LP's and didn't sound very good. Could you expand on that or point me to a link, please?
Most of audiophile CD are not worth musically speaking.A lot of music on the other hand can help you enjoy your system. Patrica Barber isn’t my favorite album (Blue cafè) but sounds astonishing when I play it in HDCD with my Denon 😊
Sooooo The only possible way for a CD to sound "better" would have to be either an original digital capture, OR, a capture from the 2 inch tape!!!! Please explain! Next question: where did "bluenote" acquire the recording? PLZ RESPOND.
I already known some of that CD’s but not all of them, I will look for them. Talking about sound quality, your voices sounds to much compressed, perhaps an agressive noise reduction algorithm. Take care of this. Regards
Hate to be that guy, but _Famous Blue Raincoat_ came from Cypress Records, NOT Blue Note. Cypress was distributed by A&M; as far as I can tell, no one from Blue Note had any involvement in the recording of that album.
CD's particularly RED Book std is outdated and offers poor digital repro. The best digital source is either hi-res 24bit/96+ kHz alac or flac off a local media server (NOT INTERNET STREAMING) or recording such hires files onto DAT at 16b/48kHz.
all respect...but you spend 10's of thousands on your front end--and have 60+ year old ears that can't hear anywhere near what even a 40-year-old can hear. You are not an objective judge of sound quality for anyone under 60....at best.
@@ProfoundProductions Word up to you guys man! A lot of people on social media are morons, buffoons and imbeciles, This @peteanddrake4242 person or persons are one or more of the metaphors I mentioned, and unfortunately typifies 88% of Americans today. Ignorant, disrespectful and uninformed, leave them to their own devices. This is from a 64 year old Black man O.G music lover and hi-fi enthusiast.
I'm an ex- high end audio designer. I have the jennifer warnes and the patricia barber, and I used those many, many times as examples of good quality audio.
I'm an audio engineer and much of the sound stage and imaging improvements heard in modern recordings comes from the use of a technique called " Mid Side Processing" that allows the processing of the middle or center information and the sides or left and right channels to be processed separately in the mastering stage. Also mastering grade converters are a step above even the very best consumer converters.
Do you mean professional ADCs are better than consumer DACs?
@@volpedo2000 There are some very good hi end audiophile DAC's out there that sound amazing. Having said that , mastering grade converters are designed to take a much hotter signal and clip in a much more forgiving way than converters designed for consumer use. They often use discreet analog circuits and even transformers in the audio path using high current power supplies. The very best DAC converter "chip" only cost a few bucks but it's the analog circuit that sets mastering grade converters apart from most stuff designed for home use. They can also be very expensive.
@@dannyprecysroadtoforever5234 Do you have any you would recommend for home use instead of audiophile DACs?
Big thank you for recommending Patricia Barber Companion album... OMG ... this cd truly sounds amazing...never thought that live recording could sound like this...I thought Diana Krall sounds unique...but I guess she has a worthy competition here.
I play this cd ( which also happen to be HDCD ) on my Rotel RCD-1072 cd player hooked to a Rotel RA-1570 integrated amplifier and with Bowers and Wilkins 603 floorstanding speakers....I feel like I'm there in the club while she's recording!
Thank you for such interesting recommendations! It helps me to discover new artist and enjoy great sounding nice music!
Thank you so much for the info in general and the Patricia Barber introduction in particular. Just listened to "The Beat Goes On". Speechless. Spellbound. The recording/mixing/mastering quality; the band and their arrangement and interpretation; her voice and style; and yes...that organ. Stunning.
I just bought this cd for five $$, nothing better than owning the media
Raincoat is more than just well recorded. The writing and vocals are incredible.
Thank you. I never heard of Patricia Barber before. but because of your video, I'm now obsessed. The fun of finding new music to really enjoy. Thanks again.
Blue Note, Verve, and Concorde CDs are great jazz recording studios...i have all the CDs you have mentioned...clean and crisp
Can you tell the difference between some of the newer, Blue Note CDs and older ones?
Don't forget GRP
I just bought a copy of Companion. I bought a like new condition 1999 copy. The sound of this CD shocked me! I was just finishing up listening to other Sony recordings and then put this Patricia Barber CD in and I was stunned by the lively, articulate and dynamic presentation from this recording. Will certainly be looking for more Blue Note recordings. Thanks! BTW, there were so many newer versions than the 1999 copy. I stuck with the original. I can't imagine the other versions are any better.
You are absolutely right... A better system makes music better. There is more clarity, more dynamic realism, and of course the sound stage gives a realization that the performance is there for you. The other thing about improving a sound system is it makes (almost) everything sound better, new or old. So yeah, it is all about the music, but if the music is reproduced better the entire experience of listening improves.
Blue Note Records has from the beginning always been about the the best sound quality attainable. The late great engineer, Rudy VanGelder said that lable owner Alfred lion,( one of my heroes) had good ears and helped him to get the "Blue Note" sound. Soon many others followed their formula.
💯% Agree. I was thinking how good the VanGelder recordings sound hours ago this morning. I’m not that analytical in my music listening, but it’s easy to hear quality in recordings. 👍🏼🎶😎☕️
@@Norman-bone13 I'm not too analytical myself these days. I just enjoy the music. However, I installed a pre-owned Sota Sapphire to my system and my analytical side temporarily appeared and dissipated quickly as I enjoyed the music more. I think this happens to all music loving audiophiles whenever a new component is acquired. But hey man, this is from a 64 year old O.G Black man and music loving audiophile. Let's enjoy the music and our systems. To all fellow music loving audiophiles, jam out!!
@@williamcampbell3868 I feel you bro. I was not being critical, just making point about how good the Blue note recordings sound. If I notice it eventually while listening in the music, it definitely is an exceptional recording. I still get excited about new gear. Jam on and enjoy it all! 👊🏽😎🎶
Appreciate the recommendations. As I watched your video I searched on eBay and a found a lot of of three Marcus Miller CDs: Laid Back, Afrodeezia, and M2 for $12. I can't wait to add them to my collection.
Thanks for taking the time to point out some great engineered CDs. I will be buying a few of these. I love all types of music so I simply look for well recorded music whatever the type that it is. Some recordings are so flat and bland. I find many recordings made in the 1950s and 1960s, to be vastly superior to recordings done today. It shows that attention to detail was employed. I am thinking that if attention to details and pride of the recording is employed using what is known and available today, it will surpass the great recordings from years ago.
One of the best songs I've heard (even though I don't particularly like the band 311, this song is enjoyable) is 311's cover song of the cure's 311-Love Song... was my go-to test song on all my car stereo setups.
also, the artist Too Short (again, not a fan of rap so much) has excellent sounds from what was a complete unknown to a master of mixing and talent... he was (imo) understated too much.... no pun intended.
Yes. I have all the John scofield mid 90s albums and I fooled my vinyl eccentric friends into believing it was an audiophile grade L.P.
Also since about 2000 but mainly 2010 onwards digital recording technology has advanced A lot, I worked in studios most my life and the differences in the last 15years have been astonishing.
Cafe blue ...............realy enjoyable and good sounding .
I dont have those CDs but I did stream them in lossless format .. and I have to agree the sound is excellent.
Here’s my challenge to you- play these two CDs:
Two Against Nature - Steely Dan
Everything Must Go- Steely Dan
Those are their last two albums.
They are amazing sound for CD.
Plus:
Seek out the Blue Note RVG Remasters series .. those are all the old Blue Note albums from way back, remastered by Rudy Van Gelder for CD. They came out amazingly nice.
Also the recent Blue Note Tone Poet remasters on CD sound spectacular as well.
Good video.
I play those two Steely Dan CDs all the time amazing and you are correct TOP SHELF.
Thanks for posting this..Much appreciated.
Hi, new subscriber. I do have few cds 💿 of Patricia Barber worth owning another great recorded cds Lizz Wright, Diana Krall also check out Lady Blackbird well recorded album beautiful voice 👍🏼😊
There are several more like GRP, ECM, Enja etc...
Rudy Van Geller is the sound engineer of a lot of Blue Note album s big fan
Even older Blue Note CDs sound fantastic!
My stereophile first cd with the dog barking in each speaker to test phase, the dog barking in the left & right speakers is always far right & forward of the speakers. Thats a Great cd to set up speakers.
Audiophiles should only own music they like, buying an album because of its sound quality isn't recommended
In theory we will all agree with you, but ultimately if you have a hifi system with a very high level of resolution, I can assure you that it doesn’t do a poorly recorded/mastered CD any favours 🤕 It literally becomes unlistenable.
Yep, then you are just listening to your stereo and not the music. I have to enjoy the music first.
Trading bitcoin isn't recommend
..
@@rebirthofthecool5619
Check out reference recordings, they are outstanding, nice to see you bigging up the cd, well recorded & mastered cds, are still a fabulous sounding media👍
I like you Conrad Johnson gear a lot and the Altecs. I bet your system sounds awesome.
Forgor to mention....blue note also got caught up in the loudness wars which destroyed a lot of classic remasters in the late 90s-2000s.
Thanks! These albums make my "mediocre" system sound great! No need to upgrade anything now... 😁
Nice amplifier I have the same one Conrad Johnson Premier 11A
Early Blue Note CDs are the best kept secret in audio HIFI. 😮
Early west german CDs are best secret
It’s not a secret
The Japanese Blue Note CDs from the 80's are even better than early west german CDs which are often also superb. E.g Coltrane's Blue Train, 1986, Japan, Made by Toshiba EMI. His impulse albums 32XD Impulse CD Collection, Made by Warner-Pioneer, Japan are also sound better than other issues.
Well said! I imagine it can be heard on Tidal tracks if they’re from Blue Note.
Thanks for your coverage of CDs, especially from Bluenote. I have a good number of Bluenote jazz CDs and LPs.
I bookmarked all of your recommended artists in Tidal. I have a good digital system but will look for their CDs.
Marcus Miller Laid back ,and I would say all his albums are and sound great …listen to Funk Join on his album Free …😊
Check out Miles Davis Tu Tu which was written by Marcus😊
7:20. I was fully prepared for you to say you noticed the Speakers were made by Blue Note lol
Any comment on Telarc and Chesky recordings, these are my favorites up to now.
All Tecet cds are outstanding stereo or 5.1
Tube mic preamps recordings in churches or custom studio settings. They have a good selection to try out very high definition.
A 3-letter code on CDs indicates how they were produced. The first letter is recording, then mixing, then mastering. They are usually either AAD, ADD, or DDD. All end in D because CDs are digitally mastered. DDD are usually better sounding. Telarc made some of the best.
These letters were a marketing tool from the early days of CD, and have no bearing whatsoever on sound quality. AAD can sound great, and all DDD recordings can sound dreadful. There’s a thousand other variables more important than whether a recording is Digital or Analog.
The SPARS code on the mastering seems to be different from person to person. AAD seems to be preferred for me.
Try the Twin Peaks soundtrack.
Bought my copy of Marcus Miller: Laid Back, wondering how far I can walk into the soundstage : )
At the beginning of the video you said that early CD's were mastered like LP's and didn't sound very good.
Could you expand on that or point me to a link, please?
I think anything remastered by Bernie Grundman is great😊
Most of audiophile CD are not worth musically speaking.A lot of music on the other hand can help you enjoy your system. Patrica Barber isn’t my favorite album (Blue cafè) but sounds astonishing when I play it in HDCD with my Denon 😊
Blue Note has been recording Jazz for years....big Jazz players
Sooooo The only possible way for a CD to sound "better" would have to be either an original digital capture, OR, a capture from the 2 inch tape!!!! Please explain! Next question: where did "bluenote" acquire the recording? PLZ RESPOND.
I already known some of that CD’s but not all of them, I will look for them.
Talking about sound quality, your voices sounds to much compressed, perhaps an agressive noise reduction algorithm. Take care of this.
Regards
pretty much the entire DMP CD catalog was well recorded!
Hate to be that guy, but _Famous Blue Raincoat_ came from Cypress Records, NOT Blue Note. Cypress was distributed by A&M; as far as I can tell, no one from Blue Note had any involvement in the recording of that album.
Yes you are right 😊
Thanks...is there a place where you buy your CDs from in particular?
Amazon
Soundstagy? Soundstaginess?
Yes.
CD's particularly RED Book std is outdated and offers poor digital repro. The best digital source is either hi-res 24bit/96+ kHz alac or flac off a local media server (NOT INTERNET STREAMING) or recording such hires files onto DAT at 16b/48kHz.
I use Patricia Barber and Diana Krall for years to judge audio equipment.Kind regards from a pro musican.Barber isn't jazz for everybody.
😆
all respect...but you spend 10's of thousands on your front end--and have 60+ year old ears that can't hear anywhere near what even a 40-year-old can hear. You are not an objective judge of sound quality for anyone under 60....at best.
All respect… but stfup, grown people talking.
Go back to your William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Albums!
@@ProfoundProductions Word up to you guys man! A lot of people on social media are morons, buffoons and imbeciles, This @peteanddrake4242 person or persons are one or more of the metaphors I mentioned, and unfortunately typifies 88% of Americans today. Ignorant, disrespectful and uninformed, leave them to their own devices. This is from a 64 year old Black man O.G music lover and hi-fi enthusiast.
Could you repeat that? I'm 65 and went to too many KIX concerts in the 80s.
Assumptions, generalizations Yada yada
I dont want somebody playing a bass guitar in my house thabk you very much