crapfromthepast
MusicFan
Joined: 14 September 2006
Location: United States
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Posts: 2237
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| Posted: 06 September 2015 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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I found a surprising amount of difference in sound quality, from disc-to-disc. Rather than list them chronologically like I usually do, I'll start with my recommendation, then give notes on everything else I have.
To my ears, the LP length sounds best on the 1995 remaster of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, where it runs 4:02. The song has a very wide soundstage, with the hi-hat panned pretty far to the right, and the individual vocals panned different amounts away from center. The song sounds great here - I can't envision how it could sound much better, but I haven't heard the MFSL gold disc of the SNF soundtrack.
The song sounds just about the same on the 4-CD Tales From The Brothers Gibb (1990), but the tail of the fade is about two seconds shorter than SNF. Both seem to use the same analog transfer, and both sound terrific.
The original 2-CD '80s-era release Saturday Night Fever soundtrack sounds good, but the levels are too low, leaving over 6 dB of unnecessary headroom.
The 2007 remaster of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is about 6 dB louder than the 1995 version, adds a small amount of compression/limiting and seems to boost the high end a bit.
The original 2-CD '80s-era release of Greatest(copyright 1979) severely narrows the soundstage by pushing everything toward the center, seems to come from a relatively high-generation tape source, has a slight hum (noticeable on the fade), and clips the very beginning of the first note.
Time-Life's 4-CD Great Love Songs Of The 70's And 80's Vol. 4 Endless Love (1991) has the same issues as Greatest.
I don't have easy access to the 45, but Aaron's recreation of the 45 length about 3:35. I fully trust Aaron's recreation skills, so based on Aaron's version, you can reproduce the 45 length by fading the 1995 SNF soundtrack version from 3:18.8 to 3:34.8, downbeat to downbeat. The timings work out the same if you use the Tales set as your source.
There's a short version on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 5 1977 (1990), but it starts its fade too early, around 3:10. It also sounds like a high-generation tape source, with a narrowed soundstage.
Finally, there's a short version on Warner Special Products' 3-CD Secret Love (1987), which has the same early-fade issue as Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 5 1977, and in addition, has its left/right channels reversed.
I recommend:
Get the 1995 remaster of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack for the LP length. Fade it from 3:18.8 to 3:34.8, downbeat to downbeat, for the 45 length.
Edited by crapfromthepast on 08 September 2015 at 7:04am
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