Storm Corrosion 24/96 HDtracks

[leitmotif]

First time posting on these forums but I have been a loyal reader for years. In fact, I have purchased a few computer gadgets because of the wonderfully detailed reviews and discussions here. I love my Halide Design Bridge.

 

Moving on, I just wanted to share some information on the new Storm Corrosion album that has been released on HDtracks. This is a project between Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). This is a heavily orchestrated experiment in sound that is certainly *NOT* metal or prog rock, and I must say it is presented in absolutely beautiful high resolution detail. The album's mixes were purposely uncompressed and bypassed mastering by Steven Wilson to have greater dynamics and sonic detail on the Blu-ray audio release. A brick wall is not to be found here. The 24 / 96 LPCM 5.1 mix on the disc is stunning, but even the 24 / 96 stereo mix shines as one of the best I have heard this year. It complements some of the best classical and artsy hires albums I have in my collection. Though there is a wide variance of instrumentation, the music might best be described as acid folk, but with medieval and minimalist overtones. There is very little in the way of percussion, though it is used to implement certain movements. The tracks Storm Corrosion and Ljudet Innan are the highlights for me, but everything flows so well as a whole. Even considering the artists involved, this isn't going to be an album you will rock out to in your car. However, it makes for an absolutely beautiful experience through your home audiophile equipment. A nice dark red wouldn't hurt either.

 

The high resolution stereo mix of the album is available from HDtracks here or you may receive it as a download with purchase of the vinyl from Roadrunner (if it is still available).

[Rocat]

The high resolution stereo mix of the album is available from HDtracks here or you may receive it as a download with purchase of the vinyl from Roadrunner (if it is still available).

 

Thank you for the review. I'd love to know if the tracks are the SAME i'll find in the CD. I got Remain in Light (by Talking Heads) from the same seller... there are tracks wich are obviously remixed, if compared with the classic release...this fact, I reckon, was not stated by the seller at the time I downloaded the Hirez files. I'm not gonna ask refunds or else, but, all the same, I'm not happy with the seller policy. Bye.

[leitmotif]

Thank you for the review. I'd love to know if the tracks are the SAME i'll find in the CD. I got Remain in Light (by Talking Heads) from the same seller... there are tracks wich are obviously remixed, if compared with the classic release...this fact, I reckon, was not stated by the seller at the time I downloaded the Hirez files. I'm not gonna ask refunds or else, but, all the same, I'm not happy with the seller policy. Bye.

 

I own this album on CD, Blu-ray and Vinyl. I received 24 bit FLACs via Roadrunner's site here via a download code packaged in the vinyl's gatefold. Since I did not purchase the 24 / 96 stereo FLACs from HDtracks, I can therefore only assume they are the same as the 24 / 96 stereo FLACs provided by Roadrunner. If not, that would make little sense, but of course, most things stopped making sense to me years ago. Other than this, the only difference between in the stereo mix on the CD and Blu-ray (or these FLACs) would, of course, be the resolution and the fact that the stereo on the CD is dithered and mastered for CD where as the Blu-ray is the original 24 bit source. This is according to Steven Wilson, who mixed the album before submitting to the label. Does the high resolution stereo sound better than the CD? Yes. But that is entirely subjective by me. The fact is if you want to own the original unmastered high resolution source material, it is available for download.

 

I will add if you have a Blu-ray player and an audiophile 5.1 setup, nothing is going to trump that. The 24 / 96 5.1 mix is simply stunning! But the 24 / 96 stereo is fantastic as well if that is your audiophile setup.

[leitmotif]

Here's a quote by Steven Wilson.

 

The CD and CD/Blu-ray editions of the Storm Corrosion album are beginning to appear on various mail order sites for pre-order now. I realise not everyone has a blu-ray player, but if you do please try to hear the 96K/24 bit version, especially in surround sound. This is my personal favourite surround mix so far, something about the music lends itself perfectly to 5.1. All editions feature flat transfers of the mixes - to keep the music as natural and dynamic as possible the mastering stage has been completely bypassed, so please exercise your volume control for "loudness". (-:

 

Based on this quote above, I am incorrect. The CD 16 / 44.1 mix appears to also have been bypassed in the mastering stage. But obviously it was brick walled around 20-22 kHz since it is a dither from the original source. I will listen to both again and see if I can discern any difference between the 24 / 96 FLACs from Roadrunner and the 16 / 44.1 FLACs I ripped from the CD. That, of course, would still be subjective. I'm sure this goes on all the time around here, but is probably intended for the other subforum. Anyway, again, the intention of this thread was to give a heads up that the high resolution stereo tracks are available on HDtracks. Hope this was helpful.

[goldsdad]

There's an excellent animation to accompany the track "Drag Ropes" at last.fm - Storm Corrosion

[leitmotif]

I have listened to both the 16 / 44.1 and the 24 / 96 stereo FLACs via Halide Bridge > DSM3 studio monitors. Again, this is entirely subjective and the thread may now need to be moved to the other subforum because of this post. But since the question was raised earlier, I must say the 24 / 96 has more dynamic range and sounds more natural to my ears. I suspect this is due to the nature of the recording and lack of mastering at the 16 bit level. In other words, the issue with sound quality may be even be more pronounced than comparisons between traditional modern releases on hires and CD because the CD wasn't a "proper master" at 16 bits, but just dithered down from the 24 / 96 stereo mix. Again, I am only going by what Mr. Wilson has stated in his quote, and he may have been talking about the Blu-ray audio only even though he says "all editions". But a CD release may have benefited more from true mastering within the 96db range where as the Blu-ray mixes are fine to be left alone at their much higher resolution. This has been my discovery of more classical music recordings that were not mastered like modern rock music, and benefit more from higher resolutions. At any event, the 24 / 96 stereo mix sounds better to me on my DSM3 studio monitors than the CD. Of course, neither of these mixes have the magic of the 24 / 96 5.1 LPCM surround I experienced through my Marantz receiver, which is nothing overly special, but not exactly crap. Bottom line, this is a beautifully sounding piece of work that does seem to benefit from the higher resolution formats. Enjoy.

[DangerJP]

Fantastic album ! Crystal clear production and beautiful, haunting music.

 

I've bought the CD+Blu-ray combo, but I've only listened to the CD 16 bit / 44 kHz version at this point.

 

 

Does HD tracks include the instrumental and demo tracks that are supposed to be on the Blu-ray disc ??

 

I've ripped both CD and Blu-ray audio, but can't seem to find these extra tracks, even if they're playable from a standalone Blu-ray player.

 

Here's the content as displayed by Blu-ray stream extractor (the app. recommended by CA's guide):

 

For any audio stream, it clearly indicates 6 chapters, but it should indicates 13 chapters (6 album tracks + 5 instrumental tracks + 2 demo tracks).

 

Maybe I've missed something in the ripping process...

[leitmotif]

HD Tracks does not include any bonus or instrumental versions of the tracks found on the Blu-ray Audio Disc, only the six tracks that make up the album.

[DangerJP]

Ok thanks.

 

Guess I have to listen to them from the physical disc then.

[dpstjp2]

Does HD tracks include the instrumental and demo tracks that are supposed to be on the Blu-ray disc ??

 

I've ripped both CD and Blu-ray audio, but can't seem to find these extra tracks, even if they're playable from a standalone Blu-ray player.

 

For any audio stream, it clearly indicates 6 chapters, but it should indicates 13 chapters (6 album tracks + 5 instrumental tracks + 2 demo tracks).

 

Maybe I've missed something in the ripping process...

 

I've just ripped them, but it's a little more complex as HDBRStreamextractor can't seem to get them all.

 

BDInfo will find all the .mpls files on the BD, and tell you what streams are in them.

 

If you use TSMuxer you can pull out the individual playlists for:

Whole album (5 chapters and chapter 0 is the first track) in both 5.1 and 24/96 (from memory it's 00002.mpls). You'll need to demux the two different audio streams and slice them up using the timings from the chapter list extracted from the MKV. You've created from Bluray stream extractor.

 

The Instrumental and demo tracks show up as the higher playlist numbers (00004.mpls to 00010.mpls I think). TSMuxer will extract these for you to .WAV files. Strangely each .mpls file seemed to have three copies of the same PCM file in it. You only need to demux one stream from each ..mpls as a result, then work out which file is which track.

 

That gives you your 13 tracks (6 in the whole album .mpls and 7 in individual .mpls files).

 

It's an effort, but the CD + BluRay physical package is not that much more expensive than HDTracks and you get both the CD and 5.1 PCM, as well as the 2.0 24/96 bonus tracks.

[bleedink]

I've just ripped them, but it's a little more complex as HDBRStreamextractor can't seem to get them all.

 

BDInfo will find all the .mpls files on the BD, and tell you what streams are in them.

 

If you use TSMuxer you can pull out the individual playlists for:

Whole album (5 chapters and chapter 0 is the first track) in both 5.1 and 24/96 (from memory it's 00002.mpls). You'll need to demux the two different audio streams and slice them up using the timings from the chapter list extracted from the MKV. You've created from Bluray stream extractor.

 

The Instrumental and demo tracks show up as the higher playlist numbers (00004.mpls to 00010.mpls I think). TSMuxer will extract these for you to .WAV files. Strangely each .mpls file seemed to have three copies of the same PCM file in it. You only need to demux one stream from each ..mpls as a result, then work out which file is which track.

 

That gives you your 13 tracks (6 in the whole album .mpls and 7 in individual .mpls files).

 

It's an effort, but the CD + BluRay physical package is not that much more expensive than HDTracks and you get both the CD and 5.1 PCM, as well as the 2.0 24/96 bonus tracks.

 

The 5.1 mix is simply stunning. This is now my go to surround music demo disc. Gorgeous vocal harmonies. I personally was happy to listen to the surround version first. After that I really can't imagine being happy listening to the stereo version. Of course, SW is known for his ability to make compelling surround music. I wish more artists were willing to take the risks this man has. For the listener, it is a very rewarding experience.

[DangerJP]

I've just ripped them, but it's a little more complex as HDBRStreamextractor can't seem to get them all.

 

BDInfo will find all the .mpls files on the BD, and tell you what streams are in them.

 

If you use TSMuxer you can pull out the individual playlists for:

Whole album (5 chapters and chapter 0 is the first track) in both 5.1 and 24/96 (from memory it's 00002.mpls). You'll need to demux the two different audio streams and slice them up using the timings from the chapter list extracted from the MKV. You've created from Bluray stream extractor.

 

The Instrumental and demo tracks show up as the higher playlist numbers (00004.mpls to 00010.mpls I think). TSMuxer will extract these for you to .WAV files. Strangely each .mpls file seemed to have three copies of the same PCM file in it. You only need to demux one stream from each ..mpls as a result, then work out which file is which track.

 

That gives you your 13 tracks (6 in the whole album .mpls and 7 in individual .mpls files).

 

It's an effort, but the CD + BluRay physical package is not that much more expensive than HDTracks and you get both the CD and 5.1 PCM, as well as the 2.0 24/96 bonus tracks.

 

Thanks for the detailed procedure ! I will certainly look into TSMuxer !

 

Reading the bleedink comment makes me want to go out and buy an HT surround system.