Loreena McKennitt / Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Qobuz -24/96)

[DuckToller]

@The Computer Audiophile

 I wasn't sure if this post is better here or in the Qobuz thread. If more correct there, pls integrate.
Hi Folks,

Loreena's live recording from the concert in the Royal Albert Hall last year, as well available on DVD I think, is a nice work show with some nice recording and mastering, mostly between DR11 and 13.
My favorite is the last track on the first album, a rocking and multi-instrumental version of "The Bonny Swans."

The reason for posting is another track, Nr. 14 "MANX AYRE" which starts around minute 2 with a high pitched tone that sounds like a microphone defect or a broken tweeter, which obviously was my first  idea!!! 
I have rechecked with ROON and via Headphones that the problem is not related to either speakers or Audirvana, but comes with the Qobuz streaming.
Does anyone have, by chance, a differently sourced HiRes version of that song and can confirm my findings?

Thanks in advance
Tom aka DuckToller

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, DuckToller said:

@The Computer Audiophile

 I wasn't sure if this post is better here or in the Qobuz thread. If more correct there, pls integrate.
Hi Folks,

Loreena's live recording from the concert in the Royal Albert Hall last year, as well available on DVD I think, is a nice work show with some nice recording and mastering, mostly between DR11 and 13.
My favorite is the last track on the first album, a rocking and multi-instrumental version of "The Bonny Swans."

The reason for posting is another track, Nr. 14 "MANX AYRE" which starts around minute 2 with a high pitched tone that sounds like a microphone defect or a broken tweeter, which obviously was my first  idea!!! 
I have rechecked with ROON and via Headphones that the problem is not related to either speakers or Audirvana, but comes with the Qobuz streaming.
Does anyone have, by chance, a differently sourced HiRes version of that song and can confirm my findings?

Thanks in advance
Tom aka DuckToller

Checking now.

[The Computer Audiophile]

@DuckToller - I hear this on Qobuz, Tidal, and Amazon. 

 

It sounds like a trumpet in a way. Granted I'm only listening on my iMac speakers, but it's clearly audible. 

 

Hopefully someone will know exactly what this is. 

[DuckToller]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

... but it's clearly audible. ...

 

The trumpet or the flawed sound ?
"Someone" may have intended to sound it like that ?

[The Computer Audiophile]

30 minutes ago, DuckToller said:

 

The trumpet or the flawed sound ?
"Someone" may have intended to sound it like that ?

I just listened on my main system. WOW is that a terrible sound. 

[christopher3393]

I believe it is the sound of a hurdy gurdy played by well-respected Canadian Ben Grossman. On the original 2008 studio recording, you can hear the very competent Nigel Eaton on hurdy gurdy come in around 2:55:

 

 

Maybe there are special challenges in recording hurdy gurdy, an instrument that grates on many even when well played and recorded. I agree that it sounds particularly bad on the recent live release.

[DuckToller]

Thank you Chris that my hearing is now kinda "approved by The Computer Audiophile", that means a lot to me 😉

On a more serious note, my curiosity would be  more in the direction:
How a noise like that, which in my uneducated guess is not an original sound of one of the instruments recorded because the 2 minutes in that song is the single time you can hear it on the whole album, can arrive at a final product? 
Quality control ? A problem during the mixing/mastering ? If someone during the process of m/m had noticed it, why was it left on the file? Loreena herself is known a bit as a control freak ... Who would be the one to be targeted with a question about that? And would they be willing to change the file ?
 

Just saw a yt video from that song in Poland 2019, 10 days after  the Royal Albert Hall recording, and I'd reckon that there was a broken sound pick-up on one of the acoustic instruments, most probably the violin.

 

 

[DuckToller]

.. then when the hurdy gurdy man comes singing songs of love"
 

Love(d) the version of Steve Hillage, when I was 16, ... still ...

[TubeLover]

I'll have to check out this recording. I'm a huge Loreena fan, and have been for a very long time. I've seen her live a number of timnes, including a brilliant performance in Ann Arbor a few years back playing her Nights At The Alhambra Tour. I also have a couple oof live performances that are very rare that I regularly enjoy. I had the pleasure of meeting her years ago when I was dating another singer that she was friends with. 

 

JC