Forums dot lukpac.org

Want a heart attack? Crank up the volume and wait for the first note. If you survive, don't be surprised if your ears are bleeding.

This is some SHRILL shit. The same goes for everything else on the Gil Evans box set and later pieced out on the individual CD's. Just a warning.

BTW, unless you're into EQ'ing your own CD's, for Miles Ahead, check out the mono CD. I'm a little shakey on the history, but apparently this was issued on a fake stereo disc, and then around 1993, it was reissued with similar artwork (with an added Legacy logo on the back) but mastered from the original MONO mix. A touch sharp, but I hear the original LP's are like that too. Regardless, nothing like the Schaap CD which gives us a nice stereo mix with crappy EQ.

Phil Schaap shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near a mastering room. He's to be commended for other things, but every one of the discs he worked on sounds like SHIT.

Schaap worked on the Ellington Newport disc, did he not? Who did the mastering on that?

Forget about mastering credit, if he's the reissue producer (the primary or only reissue producer), that's the sound you get. Mark Wilder and I think Vic Anesini are sometimes credited with mastering, but the sound isn't consistent with other stuff they mastered WITHOUT Schaap in charge.

Yeah, I hate to use the term "ear-bleeder," since it's so overused at a certain forum that shall remain nameless. But that Porgy and Bess remaster is a fucking ear-bleeder.

Small world, I picked this up on Tuesday. To me it's not as bad as the stereo 1997 "Miles Ahead", but the treble is still boosted too much. I wonder if the Japan SACD is the way to go on this Porgy and Bess?

I was messing around in Cool Edit Pro with the parametric EQ trying to get this to sound better. Anyone EQ their own discs here? I'm new to it myself.

I haven't nailed down a good setting yet. It may need a little more bass, maybe a reduction in "air" (the 14k-16k region...I think Schaap likes extra air on his discs), but I don't have a well-mastered source to compare to.

edit: Okay, I gave Porgy & Bess a listen on my computer and basically tapered off the top portion. Basically a gradual, downward curve on the EQ.

-1 dB at 4k, -2 dB at 6k, -3 dB at 8k, and -3 dB at 16k

I didn't add any bass because the bottom end became noticeably more prominent with the upper frequencies tamed.

It's all to taste, but if you think the horns are still too piercing, try taking out another dB or two at 8k. If you want a fatter bass, try adding a dB at 250 and 100 cycles, maybe 50 cyles too.