Peter Gabriel re-releases first 4 albums on vinyl

[Firth]

Peter Gabriel's first four self-titled solo albums available once again on Double Heavyweight Vinyl from 2 October 2015. Half Speed Remastered - 45RPM

"I really wanted the first record to be different from what I’d done with Genesis so we were trying to do things in different styles. A bit of barbershop, which Tony Levin helped with, there were more bluesy things, a variety of songs and arrangements that were consciously trying to provide something different than what I’d done before." Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel’s first four self-titled solo albums are being made available on vinyl for the first time since 2002. Also being re-issued are the long out-of-print German vocal versions of Peter Gabriel’s third (Ein Deutsches Album) and fourth (Deutsches Album) records. The first three releases are affectionately known as Car, Scratch and Melt due to their iconic Hipgnosis designed covers. The fourth was named Security for the American market on its initial release. Released on 2 October 2015, the albums are available to Pre-Order now from: www.petergabriel.com/vinyl

All the albums have been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 45RPM, across two heavyweight 180g LPs to deliver maximum dynamic sound range. These records have really never sounded so good - pretty much as close to listening to the original master tape as it's possible to get. The vinyl was cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter’s main sound engineer Richard Chappell.

These vinyl editions will be gatefold sleeves, utilising imagery from the initial first LP pressings, sourced and re-scanned from original artwork. Each English language album comes as a limited edition of 10,000 Worldwide (German versions limited to 3,000 Worldwide). All are individually numbered. Albums include download cards with a choice of digital download (Hi-Res 24-bit/96k or 16-bit/44.1k).

[JKL2000]

Is it 100% pure vinyl?

[Mister Triscuits]

Is it 100% pure vinyl?

It's clear they're not, since clear they're not.

[LASERCD]

Digital transfers. Fail.

[Mister Triscuits]

Digital transfers. Fail.

Well, Security, at least, was a digital recording to begin with.

[Firth]

Digital transfers. Fail.

Why because you are an anti-digital phobe? BTW the package includes high res digital also. The vinyl is bull shit though, even though they are half speed mastered and are cut on 2 45s. One still has to have an extremely expensive turntable and cartridge and still the result is not as good as the original master converted to high res digital and played backed on a high res system.

[JKL2000]

Look at this quote. Poor Miko the Mime!

[Firth]

So if you listen to the video, the engineer says the 45 sounds as good or better than the master tape, and sounds better than the previous releases. He is either an idiot or is paid alot.

[Mister Triscuits]

So if you listen to the video, the engineer says the 45 sounds as good or better than the master tape, and sounds better than the previous releases. He is either an idiot or is paid alot.

At first blush, "better than the master tape" sounds preposterous. But I suppose a case could be made that it is possible for the music to sound subjectively "better" after mastering/processing, as long as your criterion for "better" isn't "more faithful to the sound of the live musicians." Not higher fidelity, just "better." Maybe with careful tweaking, the engineer achieves a sound that is closer to what the artist envisioned in the first place than what was actually captured on tape.

Or maybe it's all a bunch of marketing bullshit.

[Firth]

Y

At first blush, "better than the master tape" sounds preposterous. But I suppose a case could be made that it is possible for the music to sound subjectively "better" after mastering/processing, as long as your criterion for "better" isn't "more faithful to the sound of the live musicians." Not higher fidelity, just "better." Maybe with careful tweaking, the engineer achieves a sound that is closer to what the artist envisioned in the first place than what was actually captured on tape.

Or maybe it's all a bunch of marketing bullshit.

I wonder if PG's mastering people fucked up and put the RIAA eq on the master tape. Gabriel had mentioned that a reason for remastering was to remove the EQ for RIAA. Which still sounds preposterous, but it may be that this high dynamic half speed played on 45 rpm and then through a good phono and phono preamp. Although I would think that half speed mastering and 1.5 time faster playback may not need RIAA, but most phono preamp has that built in. I bought Match of the Day (Genesis) on a big 45 and the sound quality was great.

[Fracktured]

Already bought them on vinyl back when they were originally released. Probably sound better then also.

[LASERCD]

Why because you are an anti-digital phobe? BTW the package includes high res digital also. The vinyl is bull shit though, even though they are half speed mastered and are cut on 2 45s. One still has to have an extremely expensive turntable and cartridge and still the result is not as good as the original master converted to high res digital and played backed on a high res system.

Calling me of all people anti-digital is pretty funny.

The point is the original analogue masters exist. They were already used by Classic Records for 45rpm cuts. What's the point of adding an A/D to D/A stage to cut vinyl lacquers?

[Firth]

Calling me of all people anti-digital is pretty funny.

The point is the original analogue masters exist. They were already used by Classic Records for 45rpm cuts. What's the point of adding an A/D to D/A stage to cut vinyl lacquers?

If the original analogue masters have RIAA EQ as PG claimed, then modern digital removal, and accurate RIAA done in high res digital processing maybe worth it. The last impact I would worry about is appropriate A/D and D/A conversion.

[rcarlberg]

The point is the original analogue masters exist. They were already used by Classic Records for 45rpm cuts. What's the point of adding an A/D to D/A stage to cut vinyl lacquers?

What's the point?

The "point" is to produce the very best sounding LPs possible using today's technology, and that means mastering at half speed, that means playing back at the highest RPMs practical, that means using heavy-weight virgin vinyl.

And it also means starting with the very best source available. That is the digital master tape (in the case of Security) and the cleaned-up, un-RIAAed digital dub in the cases of PGI, PGII and PGIII. Like it or not, the hi-res digital master *is* the only copy that duplicates the original dynamics and frequency range of the analog multi-track masters.

Analog dubs cannot do that.

But we've been down this road before, I know you don't believe the science on this.

[rcarlberg]

I would think that half speed mastering and 1.5 time faster playback may not need RIAA, but most phono preamp has that built in.

It definitely would still need RIAA! If only for the reason you mention (RIAA decoding is built into all needle playback systems). But even without that, vinyl limitations -- even at 45rpm half-speed mastered -- would need serious FR shaping to approximate the original response.

I once heard a demo disc demonstrating what vinyl sounded like without RIAA pre-emphasis. It was surprisingly awful.

[Firth]

What's the point?

The "point" is to produce the very best sounding LPs possible using today's technology, and that means mastering at half speed, that means playing back at the highest RPMs practical, that means using heavy-weight virgin vinyl.

And it also means starting with the very best source available. That is the digital master tape (in the case of Security) and the cleaned-up, un-RIAAed digital dub in the cases of PGI, PGII and PGIII. Like it or not, the hi-res digital master *is* the only copy that duplicates the original dynamics and frequency range of the analog multi-track masters.

Analog dubs cannot do that.

But we've been down this road before, I know you don't believe the science on this.

Good point. I'm guessing the the original analog master in this case was archived in very high resolution using state of the art A/Ds, not what the original digital masters were. Starting from that source, or even the multichannel high res archives, is the way to go. With The way people whine when they hear the word remix, maybe these are remixes to some degree. For example the drums discussed in the video below could have been an overdub, and completely redone by remix, but they aren't going to admit that because of the psychosomatic hearing problems people have when hearing the word remix.

[rcarlberg]

I noticed, in the video, they are being VERY CAGEY when saying these remasters are the very best PG has ever sounded on vinyl. I have no doubt that's true.

But if you listen to the interview very carefully, you'll notice they never compare these vinyl remasters to the CDs.

[Fracktured]

This comes to mind for some reason

pbcrunch_thumb.jpg

[peterpyser]

Each time they've been repressed it was always the best sounding version.
Now they're even better than the master tapes?
Who do they think we are, absolute fools?

[JeffCarney]

If the original analogue masters have RIAA EQ as PG claimed, then modern digital removal, and accurate RIAA done in high res digital processing maybe worth it. The last impact I would worry about is appropriate A/D and D/A conversion.

Gabriel has long been confused about this. It seems to me I've gone over it with you before but I guess it didn't take.

There is NO RIAA EQ ON ANY TAPE! RIAA EQ is applied at the cutting of the lathe.

[rcarlberg]

There is NO RIAA EQ ON ANY TAPE! RIAA EQ is applied at the cutting of the lathe.

True... but a 2-track analog master tape intended for vinyl mastering would still have frequency limiting, dynamic range limiting and THD inherent in the analog copying process. Those could be bypassed by creating a new digital master.

[Firth]

U

Gabriel has long been confused about this. It seems to me I've gone over it with you before but I guess it didn't take.

There is NO RIAA EQ ON ANY TAPE! RIAA EQ is applied at the cutting of the lathe.

I forgot that you are the source of specific audio knowledge in the universe You may know what's done in general, however for whatever reason either RIAA was implemented inaccurately on the recording used, or it was removed inaccurately for the first digital versions of his early recordings. Peter Gabriel isn't an idiot, however he may dumb it down for the audience.

[Firth]

The

Gabriel has long been confused about this. It seems to me I've gone over it with you before but I guess it didn't take.

There is NO RIAA EQ ON ANY TAPE! RIAA EQ is applied at the cutting of the lathe.

There are some good reasons for remastering listed in responses in this thread:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...er-why.318800/

[mogrooves]

Which, if any, of PG's early solo albums is "proggy" or the "proggiest"? I've only heard the execrable "Sledgehammer" and the forgettable "In Your Eyes", but I'm interested in checking him out.

[rcarlberg]

There are some good reasons for remastering listed in responses in this thread:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...er-why.318800/

And some typical Steve Hoffman forum nonsense.

Buy the original vinyl records...nobody needs CDs or countless brickwalled remasters on worthless silver discs

Maybe the smiley was meant to denote irony, hard to tell.