crisnee Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Has anyone compared compared Van Gelder remasters to the originals? If not, any opinions or second hand knowledge as to the quality of his remasters? Chris Link to comment
CatManDo Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 One word: avoid They range from horrible to good, but I haven't heard one RVG CD that sounds better than the previous McMaster CD mastering. The later ones (2003-) generally sound quite good. On the earlier titles, Rudy used heavy dynamic compression, boosted the treble and somethimes reduced the stereo spread. There are tons of discussions on Blue Note CD releases on the Steve Hoffman forum. Claude Link to comment
crisnee Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hey thanks Claude. I thought something like that might be the case. I heard one of his remasters quite some time ago that I thought sounded pretty bad (but wasn't sure if I remembered correctly) because then recently I heard one (from 2007) that sounded good, but not really much different than the original. It's just odd that he should have remastered so many albums and that the company put his name on them when his output is mediocre at best. Chris Link to comment
Kimo Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 The 2 HDtracks downloads that I purchased pretty much sound like their CD counterparts, except perhaps a little smoother. Link to comment
Ben Caldas Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 I agree with that assessment. One word: avoid They range from horrible to good, but I haven't heard one RVG CD that sounds better than the previous McMaster CD mastering. The later ones (2003-) generally sound quite good. On the earlier titles, Rudy used heavy dynamic compression, boosted the treble and somethimes reduced the stereo spread. There are tons of discussions on Blue Note CD releases on the Steve Hoffman forum. Link to comment
oso Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Which albums? The 2 HDtracks downloads that I purchased pretty much sound like their CD counterparts, except perhaps a little smoother. Link to comment
oso Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 The Sound of his newer recordings is very different. I have not made up my mind as to whether it is an improvment. Here on Houston Person's The Art and Soul the cymbal sound seem to go on for ever, not very natural. compare it to this 1960 recording of Arnett Cobb now that sounds GOOD....or am I old fashioned? Link to comment
firedog Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I've heard some of his I like and some I don't. But all the newer Blue Note hi-res remasters since 2012 sound better than Rudy's of the same albums - for everyone I've heard. I don't think this is because of the hi-res, I think the newer Blue Note series of remasters are better remasters. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
CatManDo Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I don't think this is because of the hi-res, I think the newer Blue Note series of remasters are better remasters. The Blue Note hi-rez releases were mostly done by Bernie Grundman and Alan Yoshida. Bernie is a mastering institution, and Alan Yoshida did state of the art remasters of Riverside, Prestige, Fantasy, etc albums for XRCD release in the 1990's. Rudy van Gelder is a recording engineer legend of course, but this is based on his 1950's and 60's work. His 80's and later recordings are nothing special, and IMHO he was a poor choice for remastering his own Blue Note recordings. I think PR had a lot to do with it. Claude Link to comment
jazzaddict Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 The remastering on the RVG edition of Andrew Hill's Point of Departure is abysmal. I feel sorry for anyone whose first experience of this wonderful music comes via this frankly off-putting edition. Link to comment
Kimo Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Which albums? Actually up to 4 now. Same result. Dakar, Settin' the Pace, and Coltrane from Coltrane, and Relaxin' from Miles. Link to comment
Kimo Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 these albums doesn't belong to Blue Note 24/192 remasters RVG remasters include more than Blue Note. Blue Spirits is the only RVG Blue Note remaster that I have. I have not heard the CD for this one, so I can't compare. Link to comment
rodmanlewis Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 The remastering on the RVG edition of Andrew Hill's Point of Departure is abysmal. I feel sorry for anyone whose first experience of this wonderful music comes via this frankly off-putting edition. Relief! I thought I was the only person in the universe who thought this. Link to comment
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