XPost: rec.audio.pro   
   From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   Audio Empire   wrote:   
   >I have some early CD reissues of  RCA  "Living Stereo" recordings from the   
   >50's. If I listen on headphones, I can definitely hear drop-outs on many of   
   >them.   
      
   Many of those weren't made from anything approaching the original masters, and   
   a lot of them were made in a very sloppy fashion on PCM-1610 machines which   
   sure didn't help anything.   
      
   > I can also hear the tape hiss. On the "processed" RCA/BMG SACD reissues   
   >of some of these same titles,  as well as on some of the JVC XRCD reissues, I   
   >hear no dropouts or tape hiss even on headphones.   
      
   The JVC XRCD discs are made directly from the masters with no processing,   
   and they are absolutely stunning.  What impressed me about the process if   
   anything was that I _could_ hear the tape hiss, and I could hear it well   
   enough to guess the tape formulation.   
      
   I don't know about the SACD reissues, that was after my time with that stuff.   
      
   >> Listen to some of the Everest remasterings which are just straight dubs   
   >> right off the master tapes with the center channel mixed in.  Or the   
   >> Mercury reissues that David Chesky did, which again are straight dubs with   
   >> no processing.  They sound spectacular, because the originals sounded   
   >> spectacular in the first place.   
   >   
   >My main point was that when this modern autocorrelation software is applied,   
   >the result - aside from what you want it to do - is inaudible. It is   
   >impressive.   
      
   Having used CEDAR and NoNoise, I agree that it can be used carefully in   
   a reasonable fashion... but people expect miracles from it, and it's not   
   capable of miracles.  The only miracles you get happen in the session and   
   not in the mastering room.   
      
   >> 1/2" 3-track is nothing to sneeze at... and 3-track 35mm magfilm is   
   >stunningly   
   >> quiet even by modern standards.   
   >   
   >I don't disagree. 35mm magnetic film had very good S/N.   
      
   The amazing thing is that fifty years later, it still does.   
   --scott   
      
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra.  C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)