Anyone else who think Farewell is really badly mastered?

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:58 am

Or is it mastered at all? A little EQ would make wonders for this CD and I am actually thinking of remastering it myself, just for my own listening...

St_Augustines_Pears · Post by **St_Augustines_Pears** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:26 pm

To me, FAREWELL sounds "muffled" (if that's the right word for it).

It's funny, because "Judas Kiss" and "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" from II Guys From Petra's VERTICAL EXPRESSIONS sound a lot louder and clearer.

Edward · Post by **Edward** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:54 pm

CD's, LPs, tapes, etc have a sound. Your speakers, amplifiers, preamplifiers, players/transports, tone arms, cartridges, cables and AC power all change the sound. A CD can play well on the studio monitors in the mix process, play well on mastering monitors, and then not translate well from one system to the next in the real world.

I have preferred the sonic signature of JDB's records over anything from the Elefante albums. Wake Up Call was probably the most organic sounding thing that Petra released post JDB. All of the other albums were two dimensional by comparison.

If you download Audicity (FREE!), and import songs from your Petra libraries, you will see that the mastering on J&H was not great, but it wasn't as bad as comparable releases from the mainstream. What you would like to hear and see graphically in Audacity is some space between the peaks and the big thick average (RMS) in the middle. Bad mastering takes that thick RMS part in the middle and explodes it to be peaking all of the time. At this point, we hear distortion, cymbals sounding phasy (swishing sounds), less definitive bass, and a complete collapse of the stereo image.

How do you check for stereo image? You speakers should placed equidistant from your front and side walls, arranged so that your high frequency drivers (tweeters) are ear level, with you and your speakers forming in an equilateral triangle (no more than 6' apart if they are smaller speakers). Adjust the toe in or out so that the tweeters are aimed toward your ears or wider, NEVER narrower or crossing. Crossing causes cancellations (phasing). You should hear a "phantom center" image, where the lead vocal should sit, bass should sit, kick and snare should sit. If you listen to less compressed music, this phantom image is sharper and very pronounced. Compressed music makes it thinner, and the whole thing sounds smeared.

Nooooooow we can have all of that greatness and listen on $9 ear buds. Sweet.

shawnpfan01 · Post by **shawnpfan01** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:01 pm

I think the cd is ok. But the whole Farewell recording was cheap. We all know how bad, no horrible the dvd is, it looks like it was put together by a bunch of teenagers in their garage.

But like I said the cd dosen't sound all that bad, i've heard worse sounding live recordings.

St_Augustines_Pears · Post by **St_Augustines_Pears** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:08 pm

shawnpfan01 wrote:I think the cd is ok. But the whole Farewell recording was cheap. We all know how bad, no horrible the dvd is, it looks like it was put together by a bunch of teenagers in their garage.

But like I said the cd doesn't sound all that bad, i've heard worse sounding live recordings.

LIVE FROM EARTH by Pat Benatar is probably the worst sounding live album I've ever heard.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:13 pm

St_Augustines_Pears wrote:Pat Benatar

That's why.

The Petra Zone

Anyone else who think Farewell is really badly mastered?

Anyone else who think Farewell is really badly mastered?

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