Re: SNR on Sensual World vs Hounds of Love

[Jon Drukman <jondr@sco.COM>]

No one yet knows why brownfld@ux1.cso.uiuc.EDU (Kenneth R Brownfield) said:
>this album."  I listened to the CD with _good_ headphones, and the songs that
>were engineered by Del seemed to a bit better, if different at all.  Also,
>Straight Down The Middle, which was engineered _and_ recorded by Del seemed to
>be among the better sounding, both EQ and S/N wise.

I briefly entertained the notion that the problem was in the mastering
stage, but that doesn't account for the incredibly obvious "tearing" and
hiss that accompany the entrace of practically every vocal part on the
album.

Do you have the US or UK disc?

>     Whoever recorded or mixed Rocket's Tail and turned the drums into mush
>should be shot.  It almost sounds compressed.

This is a fairly meaningless comment.  Compression is used on practically
everything to some degree.  Without it, you get that great amateurish
recorded in a basement feel as all the levels go zooming around.

>     The problem I think with TSW is that there was an incredible amount of
>mixing and dubbing as compared to Love Hounds (compare The Ninth Wave songs to
>The Sensual World, the song, and you can imagine the mixing differences.)  She
>_is_ mixing in analogue, so tape hiss (even 24-track, or whatever she uses)
>adds up, as well as any other flutter, etc.  This is more of an educated guess,
>so no flames, please.  If she went ADD, I think the problem would go away.

First, she uses 48 tracks.  Second, I think that TNW had more overdubbing
and mixing, at least given the way she talked about it in the interviews of
that period.  I seriously think the problem is in the engineering - Del did
a crap job and that's the end of the story.

Remember, on HoL the tracks were built up from the demos recorded right on
the master tapes.  I don't know if she stuck to that idea for TSW.

ADD would not solve anything, really.  If the sounds are recorded crappily,
then they're gonna sound crappy when you do the digital mix.  Clearer,
maybe, but still crap.  I've heard plenty of AAD albums that sound
phenomenally good, even better than some DDD ones.

If the songs were better, she could record them on a 4-track and I'd be
happy...

-- 
Jon Drukman (space children intro mix)       uunet!sco!jondr      jondr@sco.com
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Always note the sequencer - this will never let us down.