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Topic: Bad sound on self-titled Tradition album |
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hostoftheair |
Posted: 10-Jul-10 12:56 |
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Of the three early Tradition records, I most enjoy listening to the eponymous "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem." Good song selection, nice energy in the singing.
However, the sound on my version is mixed atrociously. I'm not a sound technician, but even my amateur ears notice this. "Ballinderry" and "Castle of Dromore," for instance, are barely audible. You have to turn up your sound to absolute maximum to hear them. Then on the next song, "The Bold Tenant Farmer," Liam's first note is the volume of a jet engine, then the sound trails off at the end of his verse, then all four voices blast away your eardrums on the chorus. Same effect on "Eileen Aroon": You can barely hear the middle of the verse, then suddenly the end of the verse gets loud.
Does anyone's version of this album have properly-mixed sound? I probably bought one of the countless knockoffs of this recording, and I wonder if someone messed it up along the way. Or do all versions contain these issues? |
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Steve |
Posted: 11-Jul-10 12:40 |
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To be fair, they were made half a century ago ... |
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Spud Murphy |
Posted: 11-Jul-10 13:27 |
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Yes,1961 is the release date.That is a valid question hostoftheair, I always wondered myself why the sound on that Lp was not as good as the the other Lp's that David Hancock did the recording. Those being "Come fill your glass with us" and "Songs of Tommy Makem" The sound on those are really good to my ears. So I wonder if he is still around to comment? |
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Spud Murphy |
Posted: 11-Jul-10 13:29 |
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Oh yes! He also did the 2nd "Rising of the Moon" |
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LindaS |
Posted: 11-Jul-10 13:37 |
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Compared with today's hi-tech quality recordings some of the earlier Clancy and Makem material is decidedly tinny and lacking in depth of sound. Having said that; aren't we fortuneate to have so much recorded material available to us? There's always hope that more will be digitally re mastered and new material released from dusty archives. The recording being discussed was one of my very first Clancy Brothers LPs. It belongs to the era it was made. Re mastering of the old recordings might improve the quality but I think the originals will hold their own in our hearts! |
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LisaMC |
Posted: 11-Jul-10 19:45 |
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I have the Tradition reissue of this album, and I have no complaints about it. It was specifically stated that it was sonically cleansed using the Cedar system, whatever that is. I think it was done sometime in the early 00's, late 90's at the earliest. I wonder if the one you got was an early, non-remastered CD, possibly a bootleg? |
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hostoftheair |
Posted: 12-Jul-10 08:50 |
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Lisa, that's a good point. I bought my copy at least 10 years ago, so maybe I got a pre-"cleansed" version. I'll look into getting a more recent reissue. Thank you for that.
Steve and Linda: You probably have good copies of this album like Lisa does. I guarantee you'd notice if you didn't. Like I said, I'm not a sound expert. When the sounds experts chat here, I have to take their word for it because I can't hear most of the nuances they hear. However, this album is beyond "lacking in depth in sound"; it's virtually impossible to hear certain songs. Which is a shame, because it's the best of their early albums. I don't want to strain to hear "Eileen Aroon"; I want to hear all its poetic glory  |
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clancyfaninmn |
Posted: 12-Jul-10 14:24 |
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wait, wasn't this album recorded in a kitchen? or was that only The Rising of the Moon? |
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Martha |
Posted: 12-Jul-10 16:08 |
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I never noticed anything wrong with mine -- an LP I probably bought in 1966 and have since copied to a CD. But maybe I really do have a tin ear. And I have actually listened to an old cylinder recording or two, though by the time I heard them they were museum pieces. There was some atrocious sound quality. |
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sbc |
Posted: 12-Jul-10 22:07 |
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Host,
If you listen to some of the earlier cd issues of this album, they were plastered with so much noise reduction that they lost all depth and dynamic. I don't know if any later LP releases were toyed around with once the folks at Everest owned the tapes. The folks at Rykodisc seemed to do a very nice job of re-releasing the old albums from the original tapes in the late 90's. I found the Clancy/Makem releases to be particularly well done. They had to have gone back to the original multi-track (probably only twin track) for the self-titled LP becuase it's in stereo on the Ryko issue. Check that cd out if you haven't yet, there's a million cheap copies on ebay.
I believe the original LP was mono, but I've seen later issues with stereo at the top, post Tradition days. I've never heard the stereo LP issues from Everest, but I doubt they did a new mix from the twin track tape, as their releases used fake stereo or plastered stereo reverb onto it.
As to the mixing issues, like I said, my guess is that they had two tracks to work with, one for instruments and one for voices. I would have to listen to the cd again to see what was on each track, but they didn't have the kind of isolation for voices and instruments back then that four and eight track could later afford. The two tracks allowed for better balance between voices and instruments when mixed down to mono. Listen to the recent early Beatles stereo reissues (Please Please Me, With the Beatles, etc...) and you'll see what I mean. |
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hostoftheair |
Posted: 14-Jul-10 07:37 |
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Fascinating, SBC, thanks for those details. Perhaps I just got a defective copy of this album? I'll look into getting a new one. |
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sbc |
Posted: 14-Jul-10 15:47 |
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The easy way to tell is check the back cover and see if it lists Everest Records instead of Tradition Records. Also, do you have a stereo issue or mono? It will say on the front cover, hopefully.
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hostoftheair |
Posted: 16-Jul-10 15:51 |
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You called it, SBC. My CD is called "Home to Ireland: 28 Irish Favorites" and is a compilation of the eponymous Tradition album and the "Irish Folk Airs" album featuring Bobby/Peg Clancy duets and other solo recordings. The front picture features a red-haired woman in supposedly traditional Irish garb who doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Clancy Brothers or Tommy Makem (but perhaps it's supposed to be Red Haired Mary?)
And yes, the CD does indeed list "Everest Records." I now remember buying this for like 3 dollars because I thought it was a great bargain for 28 songs. This was back before I started reading this message board often. Now I know better |
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hostoftheair |
Posted: 16-Jul-10 15:56 |
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I knew I wasn't going crazy! I found a few similar reviews on Amazon, most amusingly the following:
"I grew up on Clancy Brothers LPs and very much looked forward to this CD when I saw it in the store. BIG Mistake! When I first played it I thought the CD player was broken. then I thought I was going deaf, then I realized that the audio on here can only be heard with equipment rented from the CSI team." |
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sbc |
Posted: 16-Jul-10 19:01 |
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Check it out....
http://www.amazon.com/Clancy-Brothers-Tommy-Makem/dp/B0000058QL/ref=s
r_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279324720&sr=1-5
Here's a copy of the remastered Ryko version. You will love it!
For some reason, reviews of the new "Carnegie Hall" set are mixed in with this item.
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