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Post by dsjr on Jun 13, 2019 14:59:15 GMT
Excellent but tragic article -
I had no idea this was so severe and it's agonised reading. So many *original* multi-tack masters gone forever -
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2019 15:27:03 GMT
Was reading that the other day as a matter of coincidence. Disturbing how incompetent Universal were and their efforts to cover things up. Some tapes reported as destroyed were obviously moved or there are safety copies held by the artists. Some Steely Dan tapes moved which was lucky for Universal as Irving Azoff was on their case. Tom Petty people appear to have the masters as the recent vinyl reissues were cut from analogue. Looks like Carpenters tapes have gone. Also recent Intervention records titles on A&M for Flying Burrito brothers suggest there is still a good 'master' tape available. Lots of stuff that will never get heard. Apparently only small percentage got archived to digital. Still you only need to press 'delete' rather than start a fire for modern recordings to disappear. UMC aren't the only offenders as a lot of recent Columbia audiophile reissues incl Dylan are from copies, as original masters are damaged or lost.
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Post by macca on Jun 13, 2019 15:45:44 GMT
Since all the analogue masters were copied digitally I did wonder where he was going with that article until I got to this:
'Right now, sound-savvy consumers are taking the next leap forward into high-resolution audio, which can deliver streaming music of unprecedented depth and detail. But you can’t simply up-convert existing digital files to higher resolution. You have to return to the master and recapture it at a higher bit rate.'
So he's got no idea what he's talking about which renders the rest of the article pretty much worthless as you don't know what else he's got wrong. The analogue masters would all have degraded beyond salvation eventually anyway so is it really such a big deal?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2019 19:53:36 GMT
Upsampling files made with inferior Dacs years ago isn't going to give you the quality that going back to the master tapes does. Also you missed the fact that only a small percentage of these tapes were digitised. A lot of forgotten and undiscovered material including outtakes was lost forever in the fire. Some pretty historic recordings included. I think the author got inside info on the inventory Universal listed in claiming compensation from the film company. Info they kept from the press and public. It certainly is a major disaster but it's taken years for that to become apparent.
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Post by macca on Jun 14, 2019 6:30:40 GMT
Upsampling files made with inferior Dacs years ago isn't going to give you the quality that going back to the master tapes does. Also you missed the fact that only a small percentage of these tapes were digitised. That's what he claims, he also says Universal stated otherwise. My point being you can't make a 'high rez' copy of an analogue tape no matter what ADC you use. If he got that wrong how many other 'facts' did he get wrong? I find it hard to believe that anything by the big name artists he mentions was not digitally copied years ago. Out-takes, the lot. If you take Elvis or Buddy Holly for example, you can buy pretty much anything they did when they were anywhere near a microphone and tape recorder. |
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