Bjork Medulla distortion

[Walter Harley]

Just started listening to Bjork's new album, Medulla. (Haven't seen any
mention of it here yet, pardon me if I missed a thread.)

On my hifi, which is admittedly in the audiophool camp, it sounds like crap.
I mean, it's musically interesting, but my first thought was "do I have a
defective CD?". It sounds like a bad transfer, something I'm a little
sensitive to these days... like there's high-frequency noise gated by the
amplitude of the signal. I made it to track 4 and then I had to stop
listening.

When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.

Anyone else noticing this? Any opinions (from those who've listened to the
album, please) as to whether it's intentional, unintentional, or just a
poorly pressed CD? Certainly, if there's anyone willing to play around with
sonic defects on purpose, it's Bjork.

[andrewunix]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:41:06 -0700, suggested:
:
: When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
: suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.

Maybe it's clipping in the DAC. Have you tried dropping the level a few
dB and then burning it to an audio CD?

--
agreenbu @ nyx . net andrew michael greenburg

[andrewunix]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:41:06 -0700, suggested:
:
: When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
: suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.

Maybe it's clipping in the DAC. Have you tried dropping the level a few
dB and then burning it to an audio CD?

--
agreenbu @ nyx . net andrew michael greenburg

[transducr]

"Walter Harley" > wrote in message >...
> Just started listening to Bjork's new album, Medulla. (Haven't seen any
> mention of it here yet, pardon me if I missed a thread.)
>
> On my hifi, which is admittedly in the audiophool camp, it sounds like crap.
> I mean, it's musically interesting, but my first thought was "do I have a
> defective CD?". It sounds like a bad transfer, something I'm a little
> sensitive to these days... like there's high-frequency noise gated by the
> amplitude of the signal. I made it to track 4 and then I had to stop
> listening.
>
> When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
> suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.
>
> Anyone else noticing this? Any opinions (from those who've listened to the
> album, please) as to whether it's intentional, unintentional, or just a
> poorly pressed CD? Certainly, if there's anyone willing to play around with
> sonic defects on purpose, it's Bjork.

are you hearing it on anything other than the lead vox? i've only
casually heard it at a listening station once, but noticed a little
distortion on peaks of the lead vocal.

she used a handheld 58 for much of the main vocal work (as per her
usual). it just sounds to me like some vocals through a 58 that got
tad too hot here and there, but as i said, i only heard a few tracks
that one time.

[transducr]

"Walter Harley" > wrote in message >...
> Just started listening to Bjork's new album, Medulla. (Haven't seen any
> mention of it here yet, pardon me if I missed a thread.)
>
> On my hifi, which is admittedly in the audiophool camp, it sounds like crap.
> I mean, it's musically interesting, but my first thought was "do I have a
> defective CD?". It sounds like a bad transfer, something I'm a little
> sensitive to these days... like there's high-frequency noise gated by the
> amplitude of the signal. I made it to track 4 and then I had to stop
> listening.
>
> When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
> suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.
>
> Anyone else noticing this? Any opinions (from those who've listened to the
> album, please) as to whether it's intentional, unintentional, or just a
> poorly pressed CD? Certainly, if there's anyone willing to play around with
> sonic defects on purpose, it's Bjork.

are you hearing it on anything other than the lead vox? i've only
casually heard it at a listening station once, but noticed a little
distortion on peaks of the lead vocal.

she used a handheld 58 for much of the main vocal work (as per her
usual). it just sounds to me like some vocals through a 58 that got
tad too hot here and there, but as i said, i only heard a few tracks
that one time.

[Walter Harley]

"transducr" > wrote in message
om...
> are you hearing it on anything other than the lead vox? i've only
> casually heard it at a listening station once, but noticed a little
> distortion on peaks of the lead vocal.
>
> she used a handheld 58 for much of the main vocal work (as per her
> usual). it just sounds to me like some vocals through a 58 that got
> tad too hot here and there, but as i said, i only heard a few tracks
> that one time.


That's definitely possible. Although it begs a whole new set of questions,
like "why use a mic preamp that distorts so ugly, if you know you're going
to be recording too hot?". This is definitely not "artistically interesting
distortion" like, say, PJ Harvey on To Bring You My Love - at least, not to
my ears it's not.

[Walter Harley]

"transducr" > wrote in message
om...
> are you hearing it on anything other than the lead vox? i've only
> casually heard it at a listening station once, but noticed a little
> distortion on peaks of the lead vocal.
>
> she used a handheld 58 for much of the main vocal work (as per her
> usual). it just sounds to me like some vocals through a 58 that got
> tad too hot here and there, but as i said, i only heard a few tracks
> that one time.


That's definitely possible. Although it begs a whole new set of questions,
like "why use a mic preamp that distorts so ugly, if you know you're going
to be recording too hot?". This is definitely not "artistically interesting
distortion" like, say, PJ Harvey on To Bring You My Love - at least, not to
my ears it's not.

[blacktick]

I'm listening to it right now--thanks for reminding me it's out--
and it seems like you have a badly pressed copy. I had one like
that from REM about 8 years ago. Vocals sound compressed and very
tube driven to me but nothing that makes me not want to listen more.

"Walter Harley" > wrote in message
...
> Just started listening to Bjork's new album, Medulla. (Haven't seen any
> mention of it here yet, pardon me if I missed a thread.)
>
> On my hifi, which is admittedly in the audiophool camp, it sounds like
crap.
> I mean, it's musically interesting, but my first thought was "do I have a
> defective CD?". It sounds like a bad transfer, something I'm a little
> sensitive to these days... like there's high-frequency noise gated by the
> amplitude of the signal. I made it to track 4 and then I had to stop
> listening.
>
> When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
> suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.
>
> Anyone else noticing this? Any opinions (from those who've listened to
the
> album, please) as to whether it's intentional, unintentional, or just a
> poorly pressed CD? Certainly, if there's anyone willing to play around
with
> sonic defects on purpose, it's Bjork.
>
>

[blacktick]

I'm listening to it right now--thanks for reminding me it's out--
and it seems like you have a badly pressed copy. I had one like
that from REM about 8 years ago. Vocals sound compressed and very
tube driven to me but nothing that makes me not want to listen more.

"Walter Harley" > wrote in message
...
> Just started listening to Bjork's new album, Medulla. (Haven't seen any
> mention of it here yet, pardon me if I missed a thread.)
>
> On my hifi, which is admittedly in the audiophool camp, it sounds like
crap.
> I mean, it's musically interesting, but my first thought was "do I have a
> defective CD?". It sounds like a bad transfer, something I'm a little
> sensitive to these days... like there's high-frequency noise gated by the
> amplitude of the signal. I made it to track 4 and then I had to stop
> listening.
>
> When I rip it to a .wav file and visually inspect, I don't see anything
> suspicious; for instance, no sign of clipping, and no dropouts.
>
> Anyone else noticing this? Any opinions (from those who've listened to
the
> album, please) as to whether it's intentional, unintentional, or just a
> poorly pressed CD? Certainly, if there's anyone willing to play around
with
> sonic defects on purpose, it's Bjork.
>
>