Horrible S/N on AOTC CD?

[billyb 0]

Has anyone else noticed an extreme amount of noise in their AOTC CD? Specifically, the softer parts (including the intro) of Across The Stars has (gasp) only a 20dB S/N. It's not my equipment, and the noise appears to be general hiss. I'd like to say that if the track was louder it would be "normal", but it really seems like there is more hiss on every track of this CD than I've ever noticed on any CD before. I'm actually running the whole CD through a noise filter (then to re-burn or MP3) so that I can listen to it without that darned hiss.

Comments? Observations?

Billy

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Haven't noticed it at all, to me AOTC sounds very good.

Stefancos-

[John Crichton 4]

Tracks 6 and 8 have a horrible background hiss, and 2 has it a little bit.

[Jay 37,355]

When I first got the mp3s of AOTC, I burned them to CDR and listened to it in my car A LOT. I thought the sound was absolutely amazing for a CD that originated from MP3s.

A month later when the official CD came out I bought it and put it into my car stereo and - my god, whats all this hiss??? The official CD is so hissy!!!

The promo that the original mp3s were ripped from must have better sound - either that or the group that made the original mp3s de-hissed them before releasing them.

I think we should add that to the pettion for a complete score - as well as having all the original music, it should have as good sound quality as the TPM UE!

-Jason

The Lost World (complete)

[moviemusicman 0]

I haven't noticed any excessive background hiss on my CD. I have turned up the volume to an almost unlistenable level on track 02 (Love Theme from Attack of the Clones), and do not notice any ambient hiss or static. I have a high end Denon Reciever , Marantz CD player, and PSB loudspeakers, if that helps.

BTW, why does everyone refer to track 02 as "Across the Stars?" The CD, usually regarded as the definitive source, refers to it as the "Love Theme from Attack of the Clones." The music video, released as a Quicktime movie on the Official Star Wars site, contains tracked music from many other parts of the score, including the Chase Through Coruscant (track 03).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Originally a music video featuring track 2 was supposed to be released, but for some reason they chanced that, even though they kept the title.

The European version of the AOTC CD lists track 2 as

02 Across the Stars (Love Theme From Attack of the Clones)

Stefancos- who doesn't like the title Across the Stars

[Morn 8]

When I first got the mp3s of AOTC, I burned them to CDR and listened to it in my car A LOT. I thought the sound was absolutely amazing for a CD that originated from MP3s.

You don't know mp3's very well

[Jay 37,355]

Yes I do. I've been listening to them from the beginning. I never said the AOTC mp3s sounded better than the CD, just less hissy.

And 192k/sec MP3s are really not too bad at all. You could never tell the difference a lot of times unless you purposely listened for it.

-Jason

The Lost World (complete)

[Morn 8]

I agree. 192 and above is what I look for.

[AHerrera83 0]

Oh yes, the amount of hiss is astounding. I hope Sony fixes this if they ever release an ultimate edition.

BTW, if they do, I also hope they include the concert version of the Love Theme. I was very surprised that they didn't include DotF and Anakin's Theme (apart from the End Credits and the FX-laden single).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

They did include both themes, remember the End Credits?

Stefancos- :roll:

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

The orchestral sound on the CD is better than other things Murhpy has done, but still not great. And yes, there's a horrible lot of hiss. At least on the European CD. I wonder if it has anything to do with the copy protection?

Marian - who spent a lot on his audio equipment and is thus really angry about Shawn Mushy.

[King Mark 3,631]

Why does on every c.d. release,people start to hear deafening background noise or hiss or whatever....there was the same complaint about A.I.

The sound on AOTC is fine,and I have quite good headphones.

K.M.

[ocelot 508]

That's strange, I haven't noticed any hiss.... Is it only on the European ones?

[Jay 37,355]

I have the regular American release from Target and I'd say its one of the hissiest non-bootleg scores I own. But not throughout though, only in certain parts. I only really notice it though when I turn up a really quiet part in my car. I haven't noticed the hiss in my system at home.

-Jason

"The Great Dual" (sic) from The Phantom Menace

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

What's particularly annoying is that the noise changes. Some tracks have a rather deep bass noise, like from a poor cable connection.

there was the same complaint about A.I.

A.I. sounds like sh**.

Marian - who wonders what has became of Shawn Murphy who used to make great-sounding albums like Hook and Sneakers.

[Morn 8]

Marian, maybe his problem is just mixing it down to 16bit 44.1khz, the DVD audio sounds way better.

[Guest]

The reason people complained about A.I. might be that this amount of noise should not be on a pro recording? The same goes for AOTC - I couldn't believe the amount of hiss on Across The Stars etc. For the guys who can't hear it I am not sure what to say. I guess it's good that you have hearing loss in this situation, just make sure not to end up working as a music producer/engineer, please. Maybe Murphy can't hear it either.

[Morn 8]

Thankfully hiss doesn't bother me much. However, I do think that AI and AOTC recordings sound a bit flat.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

I didn't notice a lot of noise on A.I.. My main problem with that recording (and many other recent Murphy recordings) is that he mixes all the instruments together. The best thing about orchestral music is that there is not a single melody, all the instruments play different parts and you can hear different things every time you listen to it. And what does Murphy do? He "clouds" the sound. On A.I., you can barely hear anything except the "main melody".

He used to do great albums. And since Williams AND Horner now seem to be using Simon Rhodes a lot, I wonder if he is indeed having problems with his hearing.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He used Rhodes only 3 times, right?

Murphy is still the "default" recording engineer for williams.

Stefancos- trying to get Windows XP to work properly.

[Director 1]

Simon Rhodes is a very good engineer.

Shawn is one of Johnny's best friends and a producer of many of his non-score albums.

Shawn's mix for The Patriot, parts of A.I., and a few moments in Episode II are quite disappointing, but the Sony Stage is rather huge and sectionals are hard to pick up with condenser mics.

Director - who needs to get Windows XP

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Rhodes sounds very fine. The best-sounding Williams album in years is still Rosewood, a fantastic-sounding HDCD recorded by Dennis Sands.

Marian - who has seen WinXP and doesn't want it.

Small Soldiers (Jerry Goldsmith)