by 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???