Jefferson Airplane "Surrealistic Pillow" tidbit

[dudelsack]

I gotta hear this gold mono/stereo disc, now.

[MK]

If I get a copy, I will. They don't seem particularly rare, amazon.com's got a ton, but I'm gonna wait for a good price.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

If you're interested, I can upload mine to Pedro's later this week.

[MK]

That would be cool! Then I can compare it with my aluminum CD - even though "Hunte"'s analysis seems pretty solid.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

It's up and running:

http://btmusic.org:2710/torrents-details.php?id=10958

[MK]

Thanks for posting Surrealistic Pillow, you totally da man, but I've got some bad news for mono lovers, there's definitely noise reduction, or some kind of processing.

So far I've only snagged the mono mixes for this gold disc. I compared it to the aluminum CD tracks, and to be honest, I don't hear much of a difference in the mastering, if any. These are definitely not bit-for-bit clones, the volume is slightly different and the length of the individual tracks vary a little, but the mastering sounds the same. This is painfully obvious when compared to Irwin/Anesini's mastering of those two mono mixes included on their reissue. Again, only mono mixes of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love" were included on the Irwin reissue, and though they're identified as 'mono single versions', I can only assume the same masters are involved - the mixes sound the same on cursory listen.

Again, match the levels on all tracks, and when you play the opening of "White Rabbit," crank it up: the NR on Paul Williams's reissues (either on the gold disc or aluminum) is VERY obvious. Some people complained Irwin's mastering is too bright, so just for the hell of it, I reduced Irwin's mastering by 3 db at 10k and 2 db at 6k, most likely WAY too much but I figure it should cover any possible boost as well as any possibly amplification of tape hiss. The NR on Williams's reissues is STILL obvious, in comparison, it still sounds wiped clean.

This shouldn't be a big surprise, go to Williams's website, House of Hits, or whatever the hell it's called, and he mentions 'restoration' a lot, including some discussion about 'cleaning' up noise, hiss, etc. That can only translate to NoNoise/CEDAR/etc., and I'm pretty sure that's the case here.

Haven't looked at the stereo mixes yet, but this totally sucks. Dammit Irwin, you couldn't include BOTH sets of mixes? Eh, whatever...

[JWB]

Irwin put out the mono Airplane LP's on vinyl.

[lukpac]

Thanks for posting Surrealistic Pillow, you totally da man, but I've got some bad news for mono lovers, there's definitely noise reduction, or some kind of processing.

So far I've only snagged the mono mixes for this gold disc. I compared it to the aluminum CD tracks, and to be honest, I don't hear much of a difference in the mastering, if any. These are definitely not bit-for-bit clones, the volume is slightly different and the length of the individual tracks vary a little, but the mastering sounds the same. This is painfully obvious when compared to Irwin/Anesini's mastering of those two mono mixes included on their reissue. Again, only mono mixes of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love" were included on the Irwin reissue, and though they're identified as 'mono single versions', I can only assume the same masters are involved - the mixes sound the same on cursory listen.

Interesting. I haven't compared the mono mixes, but the mastering on the stereo mix is *certainly* different. I'll have to listen again to remind myself of the details, but there wasn't any question, per Mr. Hunte's post.

This shouldn't be a big surprise, go to Williams's website, House of Hits, or whatever the hell it's called, and he mentions 'restoration' a lot, including some discussion about 'cleaning' up noise, hiss, etc. That can only translate to NoNoise/CEDAR/etc., and I'm pretty sure that's the case here.

His Sam Cooke stuff sucks next to the ABKCO mixes, even if those are sometimes narrowed.

[Andreas]

So you hear noise reduction on the Gold CD (mono mixes)? Interesting...I thought it was a good deal better than on the aluminum stereo/mono CD. Maybe I concentrated too much on the differences of the stereo mix.

[MK]

Do you have Irwin's CD reissue? When you compare it to the gold CD and the aluminum mono/stereo edition, it's REALLY obvious that NR was used on both the gold CD and aluminum disc.

BTW, I should add the aluminum CD I have was purchased through Columbia House and has the CRC imprint on the tray card. I doubt there's any pressing differences, but just throwing that out there.

[lukpac]

Do you have Irwin's CD reissue? When you compare it to the gold CD and the aluminum mono/stereo edition, it's REALLY obvious that NR was used on both the gold CD and aluminum disc.

Like I said, I only compared the stereo mix, but yeah, Irwin's disc was one of them.

[lukpac]

I just listened to my samples again. If they are in the order I think they are, the Irwin disc doesn't sound too different from the original CD, other than being a bit louder. The aluminum twofer has a *lot* of NR. The gold disc seems like it might indeed have some NR, but there's certainly more high end than on the aluminum twofer. Not sure if that's less NR or better EQ (or both), but the gold disc does sound quite a bit better.

[MK]

Are you talking about the stereo mix or mono mix, and when you say the 'original' CD, is that the old RCA CD?

If you want, I can splice together a small wav file of the mono "White Rabbit" from Irwin's disc, the gold CD, and the aluminum CD and post that, but I'd need to find a place to host it.

[lukpac]

Stereo and yes. I believe.

You can e-mail it to me if you wish.

[David R. Modny]

Hunte's a crackpot. Ever since he took that blow to the head with his Etch-A-Sketch...his hearing's been for shit.