GoGo Penguin: Man Made Object (24/44)

[Musicophile]

I've just published my review of GoGo Penguin's latest release, Man Made Object here: GoGo Penguin’s Man Made Object – The True Successor to EST? | musicophilesblog – From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms

 

To make it short, an excellent album!

 

 

The only issue I have is the recording quality. I got the 24/44 from Qobuz, and here's the Musiscope plot for the first track:

 

 

As you can see, the mastering is extremely loud, close to peak for quite a bit of the track. Obviously this album is influenced by Electro, and maybe they wanted to achieve a specific sound. I'd still prefer to have a bit more than the very poor dynamic range of 7-10 on this album.

 

That said, the music is outstanding and worth checking out.

 

Thanks to Nikhil for originally pointing out this group to me!

[firedog]

We could argue over whether they are a jazz trio or not. I tend to think they fall a little more on the "not" side of the spectrum, if it matters.

 

But I like the album a lot, too. It's most important that it is good music, not what we call it.

[Musicophile]

We could argue over whether they are a jazz trio or not. I tend to think they fall a little more on the "not" side of the spectrum, if it matters.

 

But I like the album a lot, too. It's most important that it is good music, not what we call it.

 

You certainly have a point. I personally still include them in Jazz, but there is more than one argument to put them into a different genre.

[Richard Dale]

You certainly have a point. I personally still include them in Jazz, but there is more than one argument to put them into a different genre.

 

I saw GoGo Penguin at the 2015 Manchester Jazz Festival and they were certainly one of the highlights of the festival for me. They were playing standard Jazz with a standard lineup there (excellent live sound quality - they brought a lot of their own gear to use instead of the microphones etc provided). I've got their first two albums and they sound like jazz to me too. Maybe this latest album is a bit of a departure. I went to Qobuz to download it, but I found that no downloads are allowed from Spain temporarily - bummer!

[maelob]

Love the band, discovered a year ago with Tidal and wow love their sound - love that they combine jazz with elements of what to me is like new age atmospheric sound lol sorry not a music expert but to me it sounds really cool.

[Melvin]

24/44.1 is an interesting choice from Go Go Penguin and/or Blue Note. Makes me wonder if a higher resolution version will become available. The release is now on TIDAL btw.

[Musicophile]

24/44.1 is an interesting choice from Go Go Penguin and/or Blue Note. Makes me wonder if a higher resolution version will become available. The release is now on TIDAL btw.

I just saw that Acoustic Sounds is selling a 24/96 version, but with the disclaimer "Mixed resolution". No idea what they mean by that, maybe some tracks on there are 24/96 natively. However, both Prostudiomasters and Qobuz only sell 24/44.

 

GoGo Penguin-Man Made Object-FLAC 96kHz24bit Download|Acoustic Sounds

 

As said above, don't expect miracles from the SQ anyhow, the strong compression will always be a limiting factor.

[Melvin]

HDTracks is only selling the 24/44.1 as well .. so far.

[BRLowry]

I purchased, and downloaded the album from Acoustic Sounds. They advertise it as 24/96, but after downloading, it was actually 24/44.1.

[Boris75]

Very nice music; many thanks to Musicophile for making me discover it.

 

It would be even nicer if they had not compressed the Studio Master version so much:

 

foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

log date: 2016-02-07 22:51:42

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analyzed: Dabrye / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (1)

Matthew Herbert / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (2)

Nick Blacka / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (3-13)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

DR Peak RMS Duration Track

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR10 -0.50 dB -11.36 dB 4:33 13-All Res (Dabrye Remix)

DR7 -0.79 dB -11.11 dB 6:01 11-Unspeakable World (Matthew Herbert's Onc Workout)

DR8 -0.14 dB -11.00 dB 5:16 01-All Res

DR9 -0.07 dB -12.68 dB 4:44 02-Unspeakable World

DR7 -0.14 dB -11.13 dB 4:23 03-Branches Break

DR7 -0.14 dB -10.17 dB 5:39 04-Weird Cat

DR10 -0.14 dB -12.40 dB 4:24 05-Quiet Mind

DR8 -0.14 dB -11.62 dB 6:31 06-Smarra

DR11 -0.14 dB -13.94 dB 4:47 07-Initiate

DR10 -0.15 dB -14.87 dB 3:22 08-GBFISYSIH

DR10 -0.14 dB -13.77 dB 3:59 09-Surrender To Mountain

DR8 -0.14 dB -9.38 dB 4:45 10-Protest

DR9 -0.81 dB -12.51 dB 3:35 12-Initiate (Stray Remix)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Number of tracks: 13

Official DR value: DR9

 

 

Samplerate: 44100 Hz

Channels: 2

Bits per sample: 24

Bitrate: 1521 kbps

Codec: FLAC

================================================================================

 

Album details - Dynamic Range Database

[Musicophile]

Very nice music; many thanks to Musicophile for making me discover it.

 

It would be even nicer if they had not compressed the Studio Master version so much:

 

foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

log date: 2016-02-07 22:51:42

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analyzed: Dabrye / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (1)

Matthew Herbert / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (2)

Nick Blacka / Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) (3-13)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

DR Peak RMS Duration Track

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR10 -0.50 dB -11.36 dB 4:33 13-All Res (Dabrye Remix)

DR7 -0.79 dB -11.11 dB 6:01 11-Unspeakable World (Matthew Herbert's Onc Workout)

DR8 -0.14 dB -11.00 dB 5:16 01-All Res

DR9 -0.07 dB -12.68 dB 4:44 02-Unspeakable World

DR7 -0.14 dB -11.13 dB 4:23 03-Branches Break

DR7 -0.14 dB -10.17 dB 5:39 04-Weird Cat

DR10 -0.14 dB -12.40 dB 4:24 05-Quiet Mind

DR8 -0.14 dB -11.62 dB 6:31 06-Smarra

DR11 -0.14 dB -13.94 dB 4:47 07-Initiate

DR10 -0.15 dB -14.87 dB 3:22 08-GBFISYSIH

DR10 -0.14 dB -13.77 dB 3:59 09-Surrender To Mountain

DR8 -0.14 dB -9.38 dB 4:45 10-Protest

DR9 -0.81 dB -12.51 dB 3:35 12-Initiate (Stray Remix)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Number of tracks: 13

Official DR value: DR9

 

 

Samplerate: 44100 Hz

Channels: 2

Bits per sample: 24

Bitrate: 1521 kbps

Codec: FLAC

================================================================================

 

Album details - Dynamic Range Database

 

Boris

 

Not sure if you read my original post up there, but that's pretty much what I said in there.

 

Glad you like he music though!1

[maelob]

The other two albums were less compressed. My favorite is v2.0

[firedog]

DR9 is pretty good these days. A lot of albums are DR7 or less. Not saying I like it, that's just the way it is. As far as 24/96, is it only the the bonus tracks on the deluxe version?

 

Sounds good on Tidal, if you don't want to spend money on compressed hi-res.

[CatManDo]

I agree with firedog. DR is certainly not "extremely loud". For me, it's still acceptable, although it's clearly not good. In my experience, it's with DR8 and lower where listening becomes uncomfortable.

 

I noticed that many "jazz" albums which target a younger audience are recorded/mastered more like pop albums, which unfortunately today means with a lot of dynamic compression.

[mkrzych]

 

I noticed that many "jazz" albums which target a younger audience are recorded/mastered more like pop albums, which unfortunately today means with a lot of dynamic compression.

 

This is very BAD. Jazz and classical have to maintain the feelings and emotions, which can be perceived ONLY with good, not compressed recordings. Otherwise, it's just music.

[firedog]

I agree with firedog. DR is certainly not "extremely loud". For me, it's still acceptable, although it's clearly not good. In my experience, it's with DR8 and lower where listening becomes uncomfortable.

 

I noticed that many "jazz" albums which target a younger audience are recorded/mastered more like pop albums, which unfortunately today means with a lot of dynamic compression.

 

Agree. Generally DR8 is a bit difficult for me, but under that I just find it unpleasant to listen to. DR9 and 10 I find acceptable. I don't think there's very much music, even rock, that would be consistently under DR9 or 10 unless it was intentionally compressed into it. Obviously some very modern/electronic popular music is "supposed" to sound highly compressed - so that's an exception.

 

I too have noticed the trend in recent years for jazz to be compressed to DR8 or less. That never used to happen. AFAIR, the last couple of Pat Metheny albums I heard were pretty well volume compressed - part of the reason I wasn't willing to pay for a download of them. Another reason to use the dr-loudnesswars site.

[Musicophile]

I guess for this particular album the DR actually was an artistic choice. This music is inspired by Electronica, and therefore I'd assume this is a sound they were after.

[CatManDo]

I just saw that Acoustic Sounds is selling a 24/96 version, but with the disclaimer "Mixed resolution". No idea what they mean by that, maybe some tracks on there are 24/96 natively. However, both Prostudiomasters and Qobuz only sell 24/44.

 

There are two versions on Acoustic Sounds, one with bonus tracks (remixes) and one without

 

Category: FLAC 96kHz/24bit Download

 

Note: Mixed Resolution

 

Total download size: 694MB Total play length: 1:01:58

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/112943/GoGo_Penguin-Man_Made_Object-Any

 

Category: FLAC 96kHz/24bit Download

 

Total download size: 534MB Total play length: 47:49

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/112942/GoGo_Penguin-Man_Made_Object-FLAC_96kHz24bit_Download

 

From this info, it looks like only the bonus tracks are 24/44.

 

But: 534MB that's much too small for 48 minutes of 24/96 content.

 

I rather think this is 24/44 content all the way.

[Musicophile]

Thanks for flagging Claude, I just noticed Qobuz has the Deluxe Edition as well.

 

I need to check with their customer service if I can exchange the purchase.

 

Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) | GoGo Penguin – Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

Again, according to Qobuz, this version is fully 24/44.

[theppd]

Nice album reminded me of my favorite band — Hidden Orchestra!

[Boris75]

Boris

 

Not sure if you read my original post up there, but that's pretty much what I said in there.

 

Glad you like he music though!1

 

Hi Musicophile,

Actually, I purchased the album after reading your post on your blog but before reading your MusicScope report here. I wish the Studio Master version had used a not-so-compressed master, but I don't regret my purchase. Again, thanks for recommending this album, which I would never have discovered without your advice.

Cheers,

Boris.

[Boris75]

Thanks for flagging Claude, I just noticed Qobuz has the Deluxe Edition as well.

 

I need to check with their customer service if I can exchange the purchase.

 

Man Made Object (Deluxe Edition) | GoGo Penguin*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

Again, according to Qobuz, this version is fully 24/44.

 

I guess they should be forthcoming, especially given that the two versions fetch for the same price.

 

By the way, I have noticed that the new owners seriously jacked up the prices of high-res downloads on Qobuz (except for Qobuz Sublime subscribers).

[Musicophile]

Hi Musicophile,

Actually, I purchased the album after reading your post on your blog but before reading your MusicScope report here. I wish the Studio Master version had used a not-so-compressed master, but I don't regret my purchase. Again, thanks for recommending this album, which I would never have discovered without your advice.

Cheers,

Boris.

I'm often publishing a review of the music on my blog and a more technical comment here. In any case, glad you like it. Again, credits to Nikhil for finding this band in the first place.

[Musicophile]

I guess they should be forthcoming, especially given that the two versions fetch for the same price.

 

By the way, I have noticed that the new owners seriously jacked up the prices of high-res downloads on Qobuz (except for Qobuz Sublime subscribers).

They were kind enough to allow me to download the Deluxe version for free, Kudos to their customer service (altough I don't get what the point is of selling a non-deluxe version at the same price in the first place).

 

On the pricing, indeed, they often used to be the cheapest source and now they are more in line with other competition.

 

I personally don't mind being a Sublime subscriber, which is turning more and more into the greatest deal ever.

 

Already on this album, €9.99 sublime vs. 17.49€ regular highres, I've saved >30% of my monthly subscription fee. With the typical number of albums I purchase I'm pretty sure I'm essentially getting the streaming for free.

 

And at <€10, having a compressed version does hurt a bit less....

[Melvin]

HDTracks had different prices listed for the standard and bonus albums which makes me wonder if Qobuz simply made a mistake in pricing.