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John Williams & Boston Pops Orchestra - Complete Philips Recordings (NEW 2022 21-CD boxset)


Jay

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48 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Hmm just realised. Haven't got a single one of these albums. Perhaps it should go on my shopping list. 

 

I am missing some albums from the Sony box as well but only a handful. But this istempting. 

 

I've got lots from the Sony box, so that didn't make sense for me. But from this one I have only By Request and a CDR copy of The Planets, so the Philips is absolutely on my list (even though I probably won't play most of these very often).

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9 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

My test will consist of checking the WAV forms of "The Planets" CD, and those of the Suite from Jane Eyre (originaly released on Pops Britannia).

 

They are the most "problematic" recordings, mastered at a very too low volume on the original CDs.

 

Avoid clipping at all cost was a major concern for those 80s CDs...

 

Turn up the volume. Problem fixed.

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5 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Turn up the volume. Problem fixed.

 

At my age, turning up the volume on these old 80s mastered recordings, that means to have an heart attack each time the music get intense!

 

And just to handle 2 or 3 peaks, that means to listen to all the rest at a so quiet volume, so I don't hear anything!

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9 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

At my age, turning up the volume on these old 80s mastered recordings, that means to have an heart attack each time the music get intense!

 

And just to handle 2 or 3 peaks, that means to listen to all the rest at a so quiet volume, so I don't hear anything!

 

So you're not saying the volume is low, but the dynamics are high? You don't want simply a raised volume on the re-release, but strong dynamic compression?

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11 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

So you're not saying the volume is low, but the dynamics are high? You don't want simply a raised volume on the re-release, but strong dynamic compression?

 

You can raise the volume of these recordings "a bit" (Decca did it for a reissue of The Planets in 2015)... but you can't raise the volume too much, because you'll quickly get clipping.

 

However it's possible to add a bit of dynamic compression still being respectfull to the recording, I dit it with my own FLACs.

 

Even Mike Matessino adds a bit of dynamic compression when he remasters old analog recordings...

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1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

At least it would be nice if they had unified the volume levels of all the recordings in the box, so that we get some kind of coherent listening experience for the whole thing. 

 

 

At least, yeah it would be interesting.

 

Actually the old Phillips CDs are mastered individually to avoid clipping, that's all.

 

It's as dumb as this.

 

EDIT: I just redid the test, the album average volume of The Planets reissued by Decca in 2015 is 91,2 dB. The original Phillips CD is.. 86,1 dB...

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2 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

At my age, turning up the volume on these old 80s mastered recordings, that means to have an heart attack each time the music get intense!

It's called dynamic range; and I prefer such recordings that at least try to replicate what is really going on in a concert hall, albeit they will never achieve the same level of adrenaline. ;D

 

Just my 2 Euro cents,

Martin

 

P.S.: Unfortunately in these times of dynamically overcompressed music such musical recordings are called "to quiet". *sigh*

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Well if you just want to raise the volume without adding compression, you can add 4,5 dB to "The Planets", same for "Pops Britannia".

 

Anyway, by thinking twice about it, they'll have no choice to raise the volume of "Pops Britannia", because they put it on the same CD with "By Request" (which is already at a correct volume)...

 

(I'm currently re-encoding all my Phillips albums in FLAC, I only had the mp3s on my PC... woops).

 

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If anyone has heard the Japanese Decca's reissues of the Philips including BY REQUEST- you will be surprised how crisp and louder their pressings is. I actualy upgraded this from Japan directly and it was ver impressive to my ears and played well on a high end system.

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13 hours ago, Martinland said:

It's called dynamic range; and I prefer such recordings that at least try to replicate what is really going on in a concert hall, albeit they will never achieve the same level of adrenaline. ;D

 

Just my 2 Euro cents,

Martin

But that does not really reproduce the concert hall experience. First of all on the quiet parts you have a high amount of rush depending on the recording. In the concert hall you hear these parts much better. Everything is clearer. Ironically I would say, the compressed version reproduces much better the concert experience than those untouched recordings with maximum dynamic range. The only thing bringing you closer to an actual concert hall experience would be a coughing seat neighbor.

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6 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

But that does not really reproduce the concert hall experience. First of all on the quiet parts you have a high amount of rush depending on the recording. In the concert hall you hear these parts much better.

 

If "rush" means noise, then you're probably confusing digital recordings with analogue ones. And no, in the concert hall you usually can't hear the quiet parts better, because there you'll have people rustling and coughing and sneezing.

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On 08/01/2022 at 5:08 PM, Martin B. said:

Now listed with a price on Amazon.co.uk - £117 !!

Having a laugh at that price so have ordered it from Amazon.it for around £60. Can always cancel if co.uk drops the price.

 

It's now £69.50 on Amazon UK.

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Huh? They absolutely showed all 21 CDs.

 

image.png

 

You can see the new artwork that puts the "By Request" and "Pots Britannia" covers on one new cover.

 

image.png

 

 

I still can't believe how foolish they were to do that instead of simply releasing the 22 albums as they were.  It actually took them MORE effort to make the product worse than it could have been.

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21 minutes ago, rough cut said:

But damnit, it looks NICE!

 

A lot nicer than my scuffed-up-second hand copies of the same albums…

 

Is it worth it… ? Hmm…

 

I'll wait for a discount.

Just now, GerateWohl said:

To date I own none of these albums. So, I am really looking forward to this.

 

I've got a spare copy of By Request if you want the whole album.

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They remastered the Herrmann Phase 4 albums. I’m kinda hoping they will follow suit here as well. The Herrmann issue was a UK production. So I hope for the best otherwise it would be a wasted opportunity.

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All the original Philips discs I’ve ever heard have sounded great, including on the pretty high-end systems I’ve owned over the years. They need remastering like JW needs counterpoint lessons.

 

Mark

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3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Maaaan I love that Aisle Seat arrangement of "Chariots of Fire" so much.  Glad they picked it to feature in the trailer.

 

It's one of the best tracks in the whole series!

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This looks great! But the booklet looks even slimmer than I had anticipated.

 

I also don't understand the logic of the red Philips banner. For some albums they are using the original LP cover (Pops in Space, Aisle Seat, Digital Overtures), but for others they are using later CD reissues (Pops on the March, That's Entertainment, We Wish You a Merry Christmas). I would have prefered the original LP cover for albums that had one since it looks nicer and cleaner. I know, it's a detail...

 

And I still personally do not mind CD 21 without duplicate tracks. You can prefer otherwise, but no one can say it doesn't make sense to remove duplicated tracks! Yes, it was more effort -- which they did because they thought it was the logical move.

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I just re-encoded all my CDs in FLACs... no compression this time, but I adjusted the volume...

 

These are great recordings!

 

image.png

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