Mirage To Finally Be REMASTERED In 2011 - Page 4

James Kirk · #46 07-12-2015, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenB

Are these available as digital files only? And is this an official release (ie, did the band or Warner sanction them being made available for purchase)?

Hi Ken,

Yes, to both, they are in available in the following digital formats:
AIFF
ALAC
FLAC
WAV

In both 192kHz/24bit and 96kHz/24bit sample rates

HDTracks is a legitimate reseller from the original studio's and fully sanctioned by Warner and any other company that is on the HDTracks site.

The only drawback is that there are regional restrictions on some of the releases with the majority of them being available only in the US however, myself, being in Canada I was able to work around that by using a proxy service.

KenB · #47 07-12-2015, 12:42 PM

Great. Thanks for the info!

James Kirk · #48 07-12-2015, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenB

Great. Thanks for the info!

My pleasure Ken, take care

Macfanforever · #49 07-12-2015, 01:02 PM

I hope they have a physical copy for us old school fans.I know this is the new trend but I refuse to pay out for digital files.

James Kirk · #50 07-12-2015, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

I hope they have a physical copy for us old school fans.I know this is the new trend but I refuse to pay out for digital files.

Hi Skip,

A situation I can relate, sympathize with and complete understand. As a child of the early 70’s I have many fond memories of spending hours listing to my records, looking at the wonderful artwork and liner notes. I love physical media and have started collecting my favorite’s albums on vinyl again. Lots of fun.

However, that being said, I find that the very unfortunate turn in the music industry over the past few years to brick-wall or heavily compress music on CD has rendered the music listing experience of one that I loved to one that is rather unpleasant and fatiguing.

So while I always prefer to own something that is tangible I had to weigh out my options of owning a physical release but not enjoying the sound quality, even to the point of discomfort or buying a digital release of my favorite music that is at an extremely high audiophile quality. By going the digital HD download route I find my love and passion for music has returned, and I actually look forward to new release day again.

In all honesty however, the lack of physical media in my collection sucks, (I also have to make sure that I back my system up regularly

) but that is where I find myself in the music world today.
Take care Skip,

Christian

Macfan4life · #51 07-12-2015, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

I hope they have a physical copy for us old school fans.I know this is the new trend but I refuse to pay out for digital files.

Ha! I'm with you!

James Kirk · #52 07-12-2015, 02:34 PM

Now, I should add that not all HD Tracks are created equal. I don’t want it to come cross that EVERY HD digital download will sound better than the CD, this simply isn’t true.

Not having a lot of spare funds sitting about since becoming a father and buying my own house I make sure I do my due diligence and research titles that I am interested in. if I am going to drop $26+ on a download I want to make sure it is a reasonable increase in sound quality.

I find the Steve Hofferman music forums to be an invaluable source that has helped me in my decisions in the past.

The recent Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen remasters on HD Tracks are quite honestly absolute revelations. They sound absolutely wonderful. The Rolling Stones releases can be quite nice as well but you do have to cherry pick a bit. But for every wonderful release there can be poor ones as well.

Now keep in mind I am only critiquing the sound/mastering quality, not the performance or song writing quality, that being said I do fine Miss Nicks recent 24 Karat Gold HD Tracks release to be lacking. Too similar to the CD and not enough of an open sound stage that one starts to expect with HD music, and rather muted.

Also please keep in mind that these are just my opinions, yours may vary as I do find this to be subjective, what I like you may not, and I certainly do not want to impugn or criticize Miss Nicks’ talent in any fashion, I am just talking about the sound quality of this in particular release in HD. To be fair to Miss Nicks there is a note on the HD Tracks site that the 24 Karat Gold HD release is basically a 44k recording up converted to 96/24, so they are not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

That being said I do find that when I do listen to 24 Karat Gold my go to release has been the Vinyl version, I find that a nice listen.

In regards to Fleetwood Mac, I have found sonic improvements on almost all the HD releases, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Tusk, Mirage and Tango in the Night are all really nice, Say You Will I found to be rather brick walled and a tough listen, very similar to the CD. I prefer the DVD-Audio version as I get a kick out of the 5.1 surround sound.

I find that music sound quality should help you be pulled into the music, not repel you, which is what I find with a lot of the current mastering techniques, all in the hopes that “I want my music louder than anyone else’s” well yeah, it's loud, sure, but it doesn’t make me what to listen.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, I just wanted to make sure that if someone is going to dip their toe in to the HD music world they do a little bit of research before committing almost $30 and album.
Take care all.

Christian

michelej1 · #53 07-12-2015, 03:08 PM

Amazing news. Can't believe it actually happened and we didn't know it was available.

Michele

nicepace · #54 07-12-2015, 04:53 PM

I almost always burn myself a copy when I download something digitally, so to me it just creates an annoying extra step when an album is not available in physical form. But maybe I'm old school. Oh, and I still listen to vinyl, although not very often any more.

Macfanforever · #55 07-12-2015, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Kirk

Hi Skip,

A situation I can relate, sympathize with and complete understand. As a child of the early 70’s I have many fond memories of spending hours listing to my records, looking at the wonderful artwork and liner notes. I love physical media and have started collecting my favorite’s albums on vinyl again. Lots of fun.

However, that being said, I find that the very unfortunate turn in the music industry over the past few years to brick-wall or heavily compress music on CD has rendered the music listing experience of one that I loved to one that is rather unpleasant and fatiguing.

So while I always prefer to own something that is tangible I had to weigh out my options of owning a physical release but not enjoying the sound quality, even to the point of discomfort or buying a digital release of my favorite music that is at an extremely high audiophile quality. By going the digital HD download route I find my love and passion for music has returned, and I actually look forward to new release day again.

In all honesty however, the lack of physical media in my collection sucks, (I also have to make sure that I back my system up regularly

) but that is where I find myself in the music world today.
Take care Skip,

Christian

Hi Christian.I see where you coming from the same generation as me. The digital HD sounds great .I agree.Also I agree on backing those up.
On the other side of how great the internet and whats available of my favorite past time TV shows and movies and old music videos.I agree on lack of new CDs.I was so happy that vinyl is coming back and Stevie's 24K and CV released on vinyl.I just have to get used too of the new way on how music is delivered like I have and enjoyed with my TV shows and movies ,books and magazines in PDF. It saves room without having the clutter of boxes of physical VHS tapes,DVD's,books and magazines to kill my back moving them around.

I will accept the digital HD download route and not the crappy MP3's .

Thanks for the detailed info on this .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Ha! I'm with you!

I'm glad that you are in the same boat too.

Macfanforever · #56 07-12-2015, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicepace

I almost always burn myself a copy when I download something digitally, so to me it just creates an annoying extra step when an album is not available in physical form. But maybe I'm old school. Oh, and I still listen to vinyl, although not very often any more.

Yea .I always could burn them.I miss the artwork with the vinyl.CD artwork is to small for me to see.

James Kirk · #57 07-12-2015, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

Hi Christian.I see where you coming from the same generation as me. The digital HD sounds great .I agree.Also I agree on backing those up.
On the other side of how great the internet and whats available of my favorite past time TV shows and movies and old music videos.I agree on lack of new CDs.I was so happy that vinyl is coming back and Stevie's 24K and CV released on vinyl.I just have to get used too of the new way on how music is delivered like I have and enjoyed with my TV shows and movies ,books and magazines in PDF. It saves room without having the clutter of boxes of physical VHS tapes,DVD's,books and magazines to kill my back moving them around.

I will accept the digital HD download route and not the crappy MP3's .

Thanks for the detailed info on this .

I'm glad that you are in the same boat too.

Hi Skip,

Thank you for replying. I appreciate it, I used to be a HUGE poster on The Ledge in the mid to late 90’s but then found quite unexpectedly that life got in the way, as Mr. Lennon said “life happens when you are making other plans” and I simply drifted away from The Ledge, and when I would check back every now and then I found it to be a place with a lot of confrontation and acrimony so I stayed away. But lately I have enjoyed the conversations, yours in particular, and decided that maybe I could wade back in without getting my head bitten off

In regards to the HD music, yes I think we are of a similar age and experience, and at the end of the day, it is just a delivery system, be it Vinyl, CD or HD Download. Hey if you feel it in your gut and you have a visceral response to the music, that is the important thing regardless to how you hear it.

And again, I totally agree with you that paying good money for MP3 is insanity but I think when it comes to HD, you have a group of people trying to get the best quality out there and that it might be worth it.
I’ll stop now as I don’t want to sound like a shill for the HD companies

but I really enjoy it.

So today, after posting and reading the Ledge again, I had a great day, listened to Miss. Nicks 24 Karat Gold album on vinyl, listened to Mr. Springsteen’s The River album on HD, and various Fleetwood Mac songs on HD and had a wonderful time.

I realized today, I missed The Ledge and talking about music more than I thought!

Oh, and you are more then welcome with the HD information, if you or anyone else has any questions please feel free to ask.

Take care and I look forward to more conversations in the future.

Christian

**mylittledemon** · #58 07-12-2015, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Kirk

So while I always prefer to own something that is tangible I had to weigh out my options of owning a physical release but not enjoying the sound quality, even to the point of discomfort or buying a digital release of my favorite music that is at an extremely high audiophile quality. By going the digital HD download route I find my love and passion for music has returned, and I actually look forward to new release day again.

Same here. And Mirage and Tango sound superb.