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Question re new Depeche Mode "The 12" Singles" downloads


Question re new Depeche Mode "The 12" Singles" downloads

Postby Fred Taghon » Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:03 am

I have no interest in the recent DM "The 12" Singles" box sets. I collected most of the originals when they were first released and have long since sold them and moved on from vinyl. However, I did see several of the new box sets the other day at a local used record store and admit they are quite beautifully done visually.

Anyway, I learned recently that all of the contents of each vinyl box set are available for purchase as digital downloads (I'm in the USA and buy my downloads from Qobuz in full AIFF quality). I've noticed there are several tracks scattered over the sets that were not included in the 1991 or 2004 "Singles" CD box sets (like "People Are People (ON-USound Science Mix)" for example) and am curious as to sound quality of these digital downloads compared to the 1991/2004 "Singles" CD box sets. Everything regarding the downloads and the vinyl box sets claims "Remastered from original analog tapes" but I see no remastering credits anywhere. Is the quality of the downloads a noticeable improvement, or should I just buy the individual tracks that were missing from the CD-Single box sets?

I know the original 3 1991 box sets were all mastered rather quietly. Nearly every track has enough "space" where Normalizing without clipping would nearly double the volume.

Just curious if anyone can confirm who actually remastered all the tracks and how they sound...
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Re: Question re new Depeche Mode "The 12" Singles" downloads

Postby drivel » Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:01 am

Sony claims that 'The 12" Singles' were sourced from the original/master tapes, but no other details on the remastering. Anyhow here are the Dynamic Range album scores for the WAV downloads that came with the vinyl boxsets:

Speak & Spell - DR11
A Broken Frame - DR12
Construction Time Again - DR12
Some Great Reward - DR11
Black Celebration - DR11
Music for the Masses - DR11
Violator - DR12
Songs of Faith and Devotion - DR10
Ultra - DR8 (no surprise there)

The WEB version of Ultra is missing a track compared to the vinyl/WAV - 18 It's No Good (Bass Bounce Mix), but that's because it's a repeat of - 14 It's No Good (Dom T Mix), they got confused because the track was named differently on US/UK pressings!

I haven't seen any complaints about the audio quality of these releases, and obviously the tracks are much louder than on the earlier CDs.
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Re: Question re new Depeche Mode "The 12" Singles" downloads

Postby Fred Taghon » Thu Jun 09, 2022 7:09 am

Thanks for the info! I had actually found answers to my own question with some Google searches. DM's webmaster for the last 24yrs, Daniel Barassi, posted several times about being the guy in charge of the audio for the project. All of the tracks are flat transfers from the original mastered tapes. The only things he has done is digitally fix a few edits when needed, recreated fadeouts, made small EQ adjustments here and there and removed some "hum" on a couple tracks, none of which he considers "remastering". He personally listened to every vinyl test pressing and did A/B comparisons with the original vinyl releases to make sure the new ones sounded identical.

I auditioned a few of the new digital download versions on Qobuz and compared them to my 1991 "Singles" CD box sets and they sound very close. Most of the new files were "louder", but the volume of the first 3 CD box sets were definitely mastered with plenty of "space" for more audio gain anyway, and the dynamic ranges drivel provided prove that the 1981-1990 tracks have not undergone much compression and back up Daniel Barassi's statement that they are all flat transfers.

As for the two tracks I was most interested in, "Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead (Flexipop Version)" and "People Are People (ON-USound Remix)", I went ahead and bought the uncompressed AIFF (Mac's equivalent of WAV) files from Qobuz. This is the first time the ON-USound Remix has been officially released in CD quality audio and only the 2nd time for the Flexipop mix. They both sound fantastic and I'm happy to finally have them in CD quality. Loading them into audio software, they do indeed look similar in general to the 1991 "Singles" box sets, but with the audio "normalized" (made as loud as possible without clipping any of the peaks). If I normalized the audio from those original 3 CD box sets, they would likely be fairly comparable in volume to the new digital download files.

So, I doubt I will buy any more of the digital downloads from 1981-1986. The 2004 "Singles" CD box sets #4-#6 used newly remastered audio for the tracks from 1987 thru 2001. Though I always thought they sounded great, they are definitely mastered with much more compression than the first 3 box sets and are significantly louder. So I may consider buying the new digital downloads for some of those tracks. As drivel's dynamic range data confirms, compression started increasing significantly in music mastering by the mid 90s, so there's not gonna be much difference in the tracks from 1997 on.

I was hoping the full length Hands And Feet and Ecstatic Dub mixes of "Enjoy The Silence" would be included, but of course this project is based on the original UK releases and those 2 tracks were edited in the UK for time constraints related to chart requirements.

I'm hoping maybe this whole campaign will wrap up with a final box or two of 12" singles that were not connected to any studio album (eg "Shake The Disease", "It's Called A Heart") and maybe some of the USA only mixes ("It's Called A Heart", "But Not Tonight", "A Question Of Lust ", "Behind The Wheel", "Nothing") that have yet to be released in full CD quality audio. Barassi is a lifelong fan of the band and is in charge of their audio archive, so he is well aware of what fans want and what remains unreleased/unavailable on CD or digital downloads, so...just maybe???
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Re: Question re new Depeche Mode "The 12" Singles" downloads

Postby AJWAVE » Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:24 am

I got the digital downloads and checking them out on audition they were very loud. So I lowered them to -3dB and then EQ slightly. Otherwise there would be no way I could hear them
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