[ProAudio] FeralA - Recordings released encoded with Dolby A
Richard L. Hess
lists at richardhess.com
Sun Feb 9 15:03:31 EST 2020
Hi, James,
Thanks for writing. I'm glad you're getting good results with John's
software.
His initial goal was to make what we're now calling "FeralA" recordings
(and others) sound better than the versions that he was able to
purchase. Someone introduced me to him as I had publicly given up my
quest for a software Dolby A decoder. John and I have been working
together (he's the programmer) to try and make a go of this. I think his
latest version will have fixed a few lingering issues we've been
discussing and now that he's done so much work on "FeralA" we want to
include it in the manual as a separate section for those who wish to
remaster from recordings that are less than ideal. The Universal vault
fire comes to mind as an event that means that the stuff that's out
there is the best version available in some instances.
Yes, the confusion factor is great.
Are you saying the suit would be unthinkable today? I tend to agree.
Cheers,
Richard
On 2020-02-09 5:52 p.m., James Perrett wrote:
> I've been doing quite a few transfers of Dolby A encoded tapes over
> the last few months and have tried a demo version of John's software
> one some of them. The software has worked well once it is properly
> matched to the audio. One thing that I notice is that the undecoded
> audio sounds similar to a modern multiband compressed master -
> probably because that's pretty much what it is. I wonder whether the
> decision to release the encoded version was actually an artistic one
> rather than a technical glitch? On a couple of releases I've actually
> gone the other way and used Dolby A decoding as a fix for
> over-compressed mixes that I've received.
>
> Most of the masters that I've transferred have been well labelled with
> tones clearly marked - although there have been instances where the
> tones weren't recorded at the same time as the master and were just
> tacked on afterwards once the final mix had been chosen from (in some
> cases) 20 alternatives. In my experience there are an awful lot of
> alternative masters sitting in the record companies' vaults and an
> unsuspecting record label person could easily pick the wrong one to be
> used for a reissue. In one case recently I was sent a production
> master for an 8 track cartridge version of an album complete with
> fades halfway through songs - fortunately they were also able to
> obtain the vinyl production master but I don't know if they were able
> to find the original mix.
>
> In the 70's I remember reading about a court case where one of the
> budget labels (RCA Camden I think) was prosecuted for putting out a
> Dolby A encoded recording without decoding it. I think it would have
> been in Hifi News around 1974 but I don't know if I still have a copy
> here. I'm not sure what prompted the prosecution but it would be
> almost unthinkable these days.
>
> Cheers,
>
> James.
>
> On Sun, 9 Feb 2020 at 17:32, Richard L. Hess via ProAudio
> <proaudio at bach.pgm.com <mailto:proaudio at bach.pgm.com>> wrote:
>
> My colleague in the software decoder for recordings made with Dolby A
> noise reduction has been very interested in commercial releases that
> appear encoded.
>
> He has spent a good deal of time researching this. Thankfully, he's
> spared me most of the listening, but he's getting very good
> support from
> some online audiophiles, including one, I think, who writes for The
> Absolute Sound or something like that. I can hear the difference
> in the
> samples he sent me.
>
> The premise is that many albums were released without proper Dolby A
> decoding.
>
> I've been told this is the case for a few albums, including at
> least one
> recent re-release which was mixed undecoded from the Dolby A
> multitrack.
>
> What makes this more interesting is that he's finding a handful of EQ
> curves need to be applied to the recording prior to decoding.
>
> He has also found that many/most of these decode better as
> Sum/Difference (or MS).
>
> He thinks that there might have been a reference document in the
> mastering industry--it is that consistent.
>
> Does anyone know anything about this, or is it just happenstance?
>
> We don't think it's a common failure mode of old decoders--but it
> appears intentional.
>
> I know this sounds crazy, but there seems to be experimental
> support for
> this and the consistency of it is interesting.
>
> Does anyone know of any processes that were used in mastering back in
> the 70s that might create this. We don't think it's the Aphex Aural
> Exciter--that is a different kind of annoyance for my colleague.
> He has
> done some experimenting on a De-Exciter.
>
> Example artists are Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton John, and to some
> extent Abba.
>
> One of the reasons I've not attempted to shut down his FeralA
> experiments is that it has led to better finessing of the
> parameters and
> better decoding of real Dolby A recordings.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> --
> Richard L. Hess email: richard at richardhess.com
> <mailto:richard at richardhess.com>
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada http://www.richardhess.com/
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>
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>
> --
> **********************************************************************
> * James Perrett
> * JRP Music Services, Hampshire, U.K.
> * Audio Mastering, Restoration, Recording and Consultancy
> * Phone +44 (0) 777 600 6107
> * e-mail james at jrpmusic.net <mailto:james at jrpmusic.net>
> * http://www.jrpmusic.net
> **********************************************************************
>
>
--
Richard L. Hess email: richard at richardhess.com
Aurora, Ontario, Canada http://www.richardhess.com/
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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