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Hi, James,<br>
<br>
Thanks for writing. I'm glad you're getting good results with John's
software.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Yes, the confusion factor is great. <br>
<br>
Are you saying the suit would be unthinkable today? I tend to agree.
<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Richard<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2020-02-09 5:52 p.m., James Perrett
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAAvhV6enBdUEaHwKGn7=3zV6QxTKXwNLNDTdCOexBhthuDs1BA@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>James.</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, 9 Feb 2020 at 17:32,
Richard L. Hess via ProAudio <<a
href="mailto:proaudio@bach.pgm.com" moz-do-not-send="true">proaudio@bach.pgm.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">My
colleague in the software decoder for recordings made with
Dolby A <br>
noise reduction has been very interested in commercial
releases that <br>
appear encoded.<br>
<br>
He has spent a good deal of time researching this. Thankfully,
he's <br>
spared me most of the listening, but he's getting very good
support from <br>
some online audiophiles, including one, I think, who writes
for The <br>
Absolute Sound or something like that. I can hear the
difference in the <br>
samples he sent me.<br>
<br>
The premise is that many albums were released without proper
Dolby A <br>
decoding.<br>
<br>
I've been told this is the case for a few albums, including at
least one <br>
recent re-release which was mixed undecoded from the Dolby A
multitrack.<br>
<br>
What makes this more interesting is that he's finding a
handful of EQ <br>
curves need to be applied to the recording prior to decoding.<br>
<br>
He has also found that many/most of these decode better as <br>
Sum/Difference (or MS).<br>
<br>
He thinks that there might have been a reference document in
the <br>
mastering industry--it is that consistent.<br>
<br>
Does anyone know anything about this, or is it just
happenstance?<br>
<br>
We don't think it's a common failure mode of old decoders--but
it <br>
appears intentional.<br>
<br>
I know this sounds crazy, but there seems to be experimental
support for <br>
this and the consistency of it is interesting.<br>
<br>
Does anyone know of any processes that were used in mastering
back in <br>
the 70s that might create this. We don't think it's the Aphex
Aural <br>
Exciter--that is a different kind of annoyance for my
colleague. He has <br>
done some experimenting on a De-Exciter.<br>
<br>
Example artists are Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton John, and to
some <br>
extent Abba.<br>
<br>
One of the reasons I've not attempted to shut down his FeralA
<br>
experiments is that it has led to better finessing of the
parameters and <br>
better decoding of real Dolby A recordings.<br>
<br>
Thanks!<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Richard<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Richard L. Hess email: <a
href="mailto:richard@richardhess.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">richard@richardhess.com</a><br>
Aurora, Ontario, Canada <a
href="http://www.richardhess.com/" rel="noreferrer"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.richardhess.com/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm</a><br>
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
ProAudio mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:ProAudio@bach.pgm.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">ProAudio@bach.pgm.com</a><br>
<a href="http://bach.pgm.com/mailman/listinfo/proaudio"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://bach.pgm.com/mailman/listinfo/proaudio</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>**********************************************************************<br>
* James Perrett<br>
* JRP Music Services, Hampshire, U.K.<br>
* Audio Mastering, Restoration, Recording and
Consultancy<br>
* Phone +44 (0) 777 600 6107<br>
* e-mail <a href="mailto:james@jrpmusic.net"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">james@jrpmusic.net</a><br>
* <a href="http://www.jrpmusic.net" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.jrpmusic.net</a><br>
**********************************************************************<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Richard L. Hess email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:richard@richardhess.com">richard@richardhess.com</a>
Aurora, Ontario, Canada <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.richardhess.com/">http://www.richardhess.com/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm">http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm</a>
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.</pre>
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