The Complete Singles Collection

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Yes, or they forget to knock, leave a card that tells you that you were out (when you know that you weren't) and where to go and retreive your package.

[Marian]

Nice new photo Glenn, you look somewhere warm and sunny!
There was a radio article about that the other day Lena, I think it was Jeremy Vine. Several people had had things put in the bin for safety and then put them out for the bin men!
Jeremy Vine had a crate of wine delivered to a neighbour and they refused to hand it over!!

[Lena & Harry Smith]

That is unbelivable, but one postman we had, put a card through our letter box and scarpered. I caught up with him and he didn't even have the package with him. I think he was playing Postman's Knock. He had got it in the trolley that was already tied up outside the pub near us.
I asked him if all that running away from doors had made him thirsty.

[hodgo]

Richard, in the thread on the upcoming "Greatest CD" you mention that unlike previous compilations you've gone back to the original master tapes as sources for vastly improved sound, I wonder does that also apply to "The Complete Singles Collection" too, or were older inferior sources used.

[ROBERT M.]

We've had the explanation before Graham.............somewhere

[Rmoore]

Go to the main site Graham and you'll find an article called Spotlight on the Making of Complete Singles Collection which answers all you question and more - and gives you a few sneaky peak sound clips as well!

http://www.mattmonro.com/Spotlight_singlesr.html

Richard

[mariana44]

My sister has been having the same kind of problem as you--just walking past--putting a card through the door-and not even knocking-she has 2 dogs, so they would know. They are not even putting an item number on , so she cannot arrange delivery on the net--and even when she arranges redelivery they still do not arrive !!

What do they expect people who are out at work to do. ??

Is it just a coincidence that she lives just a few miles from you , Harry & Lena ???

[hodgo]

Go to the main site Graham and you'll find an article called Spotlight on the Making of Complete Singles Collection which answers all you question and more - and gives you a few sneaky peak sound clips as well!

http://www.mattmonro.com/Spotlight_singlesr.html

Richard

Thanks Richard I'm still finding my way around here.

What a fascinating read I'm so glad that Michelle and yourself are doing this properly by going back to the best original sources. I found it enlightening also to read the spotlight on you it made for a really enlightening read. Can I ask you a question? with many remasters today and music in general there's a loudness war going on with EQ levels raised far too high, also more often than not noise reduction is used excessively therefore sucking the life out of many great recordings, where in the scheme of things do these issues and your work with Matt stand. I did wince when I saw Peter Mew's name and the fact he did some transfers, his Bowie remasters to name just one of many similar projects, are way too loud & compressed, I just hope he's made flat transfers with Matt's recordings.

[Don Cooper]

Hi,Graham.

On a very-related note...and to hit Richard with a double-whammy: Thought's on the recent
SHM-CD format from Japan. I have first four Talking Heads in this format and have heard-tell
that far from being remasters ,they have simply banged-up the EQ to 11 in the digital transfer
process.I do not own any high-end stuff so hard to discern noticeable plus or minus They
sound louder but unable to detect further detail...
Ideas?

Don

[hodgo]

Hi Don

Regarding the SHM format and for that matter gold CD's it's a con in my view, it's just another way of selling more CD's it makes no difference to the sound quality, that's all in the mixing & mastering, at the end of the day it's digital and all just 0's & 1's, SHM, Gold or standard CD's makes no difference, the only way you get a difference is if the format used offered higher resolution such as 24 bit DVD or Blu Ray, and even then "Double Blind Testing" shows the human ear can't tell the difference.

Like you I suspect that all many companies have done with these SHM CD's is use this format as the selling point, whilst raising the EQ levels to make them sound different and in effect this makes them inferior, but many people seem to think louder is better so are fooled, not realising raising the EQ removes detail from the recording, they seem to forget that there is a loudness dial on amplifiers and other playback devices.

[Rmoore]

First of all let me defend Peter Mew.

He is a very good engineer who does what he is asked to do - admitedly some of the discs he has worked on are over compressed and have far too much noise reduction, but this is usually what he has been asked to do.

Peter transfered all of the tapes completely flat in 24 bit - as requested - he also remixed two songs very nicely.

The 'Modern' way of issuing tracks is to make them as loud as possible, However I am of the opinion that this is generally un-nescesary with back catalogue material and not the way I do things.

I would beg to differ that things are eq'd to make them louder though, this is down to compression and limiting.

I have a particular sound in the work I do and the remasters I do are quite bright compared to some but i love clarity and warmth so I rarely leave a track 'flat'. But that's the point of mastering - to get all the tracks to sound good and fit together - so you may find there are minor differences in volume and eq between the same tracks on the greatest compaired to the singles collection - I HATE great jumps in volume that make me reach for the volume control.

You'll be pleased to know that the new CD's are not limited, use noise reduction in just a couple of places (and only to parts of a track not the whole song) and compression wise I only used it where nescersary - Some of the tapes I used were session tapes with very little compression so I had to use some to make them sound correct - but if memory serves me right I only used this on three occasions (You're the top of My Hit Parade, My Kind Of Girl and Gonna Build a Mountain). Any other compression heard is how it was mixed in the 60's & 70's.

SHM cd's are not that different to normal cd's apart from the materials used to make them which makes it easier for a laser to read and therefore less errors occur in playback - however I would doubt that this would make an enormous amount of difference on high end systems. Unfortunately it seems that far to many people are happy to listen to low quality MP3's and through tinny headphones without any regard to quality - It is a real shame that high resolution audio has no taken off. Matt in surround sound in 24bit 192khz would be stunning!

I am not somebody who thinks that their CD player needs to sit on special spikes and use solid titanium plated 24 carrat gold cables to sound good, but the idea that quality of any kind no longer matters does get me worked up!

Richard

[hodgo]

Hi Richard

Thanks for the detailed info it sounds like you've done a really great job, in a way like the Beatles remasters were treated with love and respect something that unfortunately is missing from many modern day remasters. I realise that Peter Mew and many other engineers only do what the record companies ask of them afterall they need to eat. As I've got older I've become more choosy with sound quality and that's one of the reasons I frequent the Steve Hoffman forums, though I'm no extreme audiophile I've learnt often the majority of master tapes if transferred correctly need little or no tinkering other than to correct anomolies here & there, which sounds to me as though that's how you've used it on these tapes.

The main thing I think drove me to caring more about mastering and trying to understand it, was hearing remastered music that hurt the ears, with the final straw being the way that Bob Norberg massacred the wonderful Sinatra Capitol catalogue, "Nat King Cole Singles Collection" and many other items in the Capitol catalogue, now there is a man who believes all tapes need changing and tweaking so much that it completely ruins the sound, and he unlike Peter Mew doesn't need to be told by a record company to do it, he really does believe in all this himself and can see no wrong in what he does.

From what I've read on this site & heard in the Rare Matt CD, I believe the Matt Monro catalogue is in good hands with your goodself on board and it's great to have engineer who cares & is prepared to discuss his work with a very fussy fan like me, and like you I hate mp3 and wish SACD and other high res formats had taken off.

[Rmoore]

I have to say that whilst I admire the work of Steve Hoffman I can't bear to visit his forum as there are far to many people opinionated people who think that every recording should be transfered flat from every tape and that any form of compression is evil and that any body but Mr Hoffman must be useless - which is not living in the real world.

It's all a bit too snooty to me!

I wish SACD had taken off - I don't think it's even made a minor mark in the UK. In the US there is a small following leading to things like some Nat King Cole albums being issued in 3.0 surround (Basically the 3 track tapes transfered to disc) These must be quite incredible - if only I had a SACD player and a surround system!

Hope my mastering comes up to scratch when you hear the discs!

Richard

[john]

I am certain they will be brilliant Richard, you have done such an amazing job with everything else.

[Don Cooper]

Thanks Graham and Richard ,very salient comments on our Parka obsesssions I know, but I prefer a better class of Anorak...

I agree about SACD=Tubular Bells....DVD=The Talking Heads back-catalogue CD/DVD British releases, and the US equivalent on
Dualdisc. I have a Sharp DVD/Radio "Boombox" which is an odd hybrid but purchased to improve on the sound quality (2-way/4spkr) of Music DVD's. You should hear the Odeon Matt releases And not even DVD-A...

My two revelatory Music playback moments: Mid-Seventies auditioning closed-back but not expensive headphones in a camera/hifi retailer in Brum. My fave band were Thin Lizzy and the assistant replayed Jailbreak from a Reel-to-Reel machine.
I thought I was standing onstage with the band!
Later in the decade hearing Tom Scholz's Boston on John Peel. I bought the US Vinyl import next day and could not believe the
step-up in quality from UK vinyl. Then the CD Record Company remaster came along and ripped the warmth and lotsa detail
out Then...Tom Scholz took the original Master Tapes and remastered in his home studio the first and second albums.They
are simply unbelievable-the greatest use of the process I have ever heard. Till a few weeks time then,Richard ?

p.s. Andrew Sandovals Monkees remasters are exemplary,too.

pps.Richard.Can the noise-cancelling process assist with the left-channel leakage into Matt's From Russia?