Post by Michael Messer on Aug 25, 2023 8:35:07 GMT
Hi Marco,
For listening to Charley Patton recordings, which were never good quality even when they were first pressed, I don't think you need to worry about 24-bit or 16-bit, or whether is is ambient Stereo. I also don't believe that any technology can completely clean up the sound of those recordings. Maybe someday with AI there will be a way of improving the recordings, but right now we have what we have.
The Revenant 7 CDs set is a beautiful package and I like that they did not try to clean the 78s up, they just found the cleanest ones they could. The Catfish 3 CDs set was very good for its time and while I did not do any actual clean-up work on it, I was involved with that release. The problem with the Catfish one is that the job description to the mastering guys was to make it as clean as possible, no matter what else suffers. So while the tracks are pretty good for background noise, they are very dull sounding with no highs at all. Remember, this was done 23 years ago and lot has changed since then. However, on a mono 78 recording if you start removing hiss and crackle, you are also removing the music because it is all together in one layer. That is why I think maybe AI might be Charley's saviour.
Meanwhile, we have what we have, so you have to go deeper and listen through the background noise, and when you can do that and your brain no longer hears it, you will be listening to one of the absolute masters of African-American blues music. When I listen to Charley Patton, all I hear are his performances, not the lousy recording and damaged old 78 records.
I wish mastering people would stop messing around with trying to find successful ways to make these recordings stereo. All that happens is that the crackles and pops jump from side to side!
My advice is to get the Pristine 16-bit album. I am sure it will sound pretty good.
Shine On
Michael
For listening to Charley Patton recordings, which were never good quality even when they were first pressed, I don't think you need to worry about 24-bit or 16-bit, or whether is is ambient Stereo. I also don't believe that any technology can completely clean up the sound of those recordings. Maybe someday with AI there will be a way of improving the recordings, but right now we have what we have.
The Revenant 7 CDs set is a beautiful package and I like that they did not try to clean the 78s up, they just found the cleanest ones they could. The Catfish 3 CDs set was very good for its time and while I did not do any actual clean-up work on it, I was involved with that release. The problem with the Catfish one is that the job description to the mastering guys was to make it as clean as possible, no matter what else suffers. So while the tracks are pretty good for background noise, they are very dull sounding with no highs at all. Remember, this was done 23 years ago and lot has changed since then. However, on a mono 78 recording if you start removing hiss and crackle, you are also removing the music because it is all together in one layer. That is why I think maybe AI might be Charley's saviour.
Meanwhile, we have what we have, so you have to go deeper and listen through the background noise, and when you can do that and your brain no longer hears it, you will be listening to one of the absolute masters of African-American blues music. When I listen to Charley Patton, all I hear are his performances, not the lousy recording and damaged old 78 records.
I wish mastering people would stop messing around with trying to find successful ways to make these recordings stereo. All that happens is that the crackles and pops jump from side to side!
My advice is to get the Pristine 16-bit album. I am sure it will sound pretty good.
Shine On
Michael