• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    282 months ago

    What’s interesting is just how different the quality was of some of the stereo releases vs the mono bounces. For an example, the stereo HDCD version of Pet Sounds is a little wack, but even if you joined the two channels to mono it sounds a hundred times better than the shittastic mono release. Got to wonder if they optimized it for AM radio play the way that similarly awful sounding releases in the early 2000s optimized for iPod earbuds.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      22 months ago

      This is why, when it comes to old music, I always try to listen to it the way it was originally intended.

      Pet Sounds, as beautiful as it is, was originally released in mono. It was mastered to be listened to in mono, at a time when stereo was mostly just a novelty.

      It wasn’t until much more recently that they’ve taken those masters and created “real” stereo mixes from them. While they can often sound pretty good, they never quite reach the level of the best sounding mono mixes of the same material.

      Just my opinion of course.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        22 months ago

        That may be a thing with some releases, but I’m convinced that the original pet sounds and even the MFSL mono release are very inferior to that one HDCD stereo release. Still I’m listening to in 16bit/44kHz form, but to me it sounds way higher fidelity and likely is closer to the source. I can pick out instruments and sounds that I didn’t hear in the other version.

        In general though I find modern ‘remasters’ are horrible and compressed and I think it’s lame that services like Spotify usually have only the most recent (and therefore worst) version of a given album.

        May the source be with you

    • JackbyDev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      12 months ago

      Is that why some 00’s songs sound so compressed?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        02 months ago

        00s music sounds so shitty because that was when digital music first became a thing. People thought 128kbps bitrate MP3s were acceptable (until they hear that mp3 they got from KaZaa play over the PA at their wedding and realize it sounds like raccoons fighting in a trashcan).

        • JackbyDev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          32 months ago

          No, like songs I listen to today on Spotify or from TV shows during that era sound weirdly compressed.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            22 months ago

            I think it’s the tendency of producers in that era, around 2000-2010 was peak Loudness War, and many albums were pushed into clipping. IMO it started getting better through the 2010s as the emphasis on radio charts started to wane and listening habits shifted away from earbuds and portables.

    • @OlinOfTheHillPeople
      link
      12 months ago

      What’s the best way to listen to Pet Sounds? I guess I’ve only heard mp3/streaming versions.

      • @theangryseal
        link
        32 months ago

        Yeah I’d like to hear the superior version myself.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        22 months ago

        My favorite release is Capitol Records / 72435-26266-2-5 / Mono & Stereo / Remastered by Joe Gastwirt Using the HDCD Process. That release has both stereo and mono mixes, and the actual fidelity is much better than any other version I’ve found.

      • @TheDeadHorse
        link
        22 months ago

        I appreciate this version. But if you’re listening to digital you can just listen to many and figure it out yourself.

      • @daggermoon
        link
        22 months ago

        Early CD editions should sound pretty good. Haven’t done a detailed listening before so I can’t be sure.