Sunday, April 19, 2015

5 Jam sehari dalam tren/bas/jalan kaki & Latest IRON MAIDEN EXCLUSIVELY MASTERED FOR ITUNES from original analog source - lets begin with the most crucial and triggering my curiosity - the first album

A new Maiden news, even its about them TAKING MORE $$$$$$$MONEY$$$$$$ FROM ME!!! DAMN YOU MAIDEN!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!! LOL!!!  So my usual rants and complaints in Malay language and then in English. So please bear with me.


Ipod Nano on a XPS 13 2015

Buat masa kini, Hari2 atau malam2 yang aku kerja, sekurang2 nak gi kerja aku kena naik mrt (train), bas, jalan kaki ambil masa semua 2 JAM.
Balik tambah lagi 2 JAM. Kalau pergi sana sini, contoh rumah orang tua, berapa jam sehari aku kena jalan kaki, naik bas, naik train. 5 JAM? 6 JAM? so on average every work day or work night senang cakap aku akan spend 5 hours travelling gi kerja balik kerja.

Ini yang hari aku kerja la...
Kalau duduk cramp bontot, kalau diri nak collapse kepala lutut, tapi....Selagi ada rezeki, kerja je la, ENDURE je la... satu hari nanti rezeki abis kat sini, entah tak tahu bila masa terdekat atau jauh lagi masih dapat peluang bekerja di tempat sekarang,
maka kat tempat lain la kita carik rezeki yang lain..

Tu yang hari kerja... tapi kalau hari off day, rest day...berapa jam aku dalam bas ekpress, aku kat TBS, aku naik LRT, jalan kaki...

Jadi masa2  SEPERTI gini aku guna peluang sepenuhnya untuk buat apa aku nak buat, MY PRIVATE TIME!, termasuk mendengar lagu2, band2 dan penghibur yang aku minat.....Sebab tu aku cuba pastikan aku ada alat2 yang sesuai yang akan membantu aku buat apa aku suka buat.. apa yang aku minat dalam masa aku dalam bergerak ni...  ada mp3 player, ada Ipod, mungkin aku nak kena beli satu gadget untuk main FLAC secara portable... (nope aku tak gunakan henpon atau tablet untuk pasang lagu)
I mean, ni passion aku dan aku memang lama betul duk dalam MRT/LRT, bas awam bas ekpress, berjalan kaki jarak dekat, jarak jauh sikit, jarak jauh banyak 1km , 2km, 3km dan lebih...


So aku memang melompat dalam hati bila baca apa STEVE HARRIS sebut tentang dia mastering dari analog tapes album2 studio Iron Maiden dan 2 live albums KHAS untuk Itunes.

Fikiran aku mudah je, Itunes ni walau aku tak suka dan tak sokong product Apple, tapi apa aku fikir Itunes ni untuk orang2 tengah bergerak... So sesuai ngan aku dan cocok untuk aku.

Aku tak boleh lari dari Itunes, pasal kadang2 dorang dapat 1st priority - Contoh - versi Manowar Kings Of Metal MMXIV tu dikeluarkan menerusi Itunes sebulan lebih sebelum album physical.

Adakah aku boleh tunggu? Giler aku dah tak boleh tunggu BRIAN BLESSED (dekni legend - korang yang tengok series BlackAdder tentu tahu betapa legend nye dia) jadi Grandfather ""tell me a story" kat Warriors Prayer MMXIV. Aku kureng ngan Manowar sekarang tapi MMXIV Kings Of Metal memang aku nantikan apa dorang boleh improve dan tak menghampakan walau takde Ross The Boss.

SO jarang2 yang sangat amat, kerana minat aku TERPAKSA mendapatkan product dari Itunes.
Selalu nye 99% of the time, aku prefer RIP 320kbps dari koleksi cd aku. Tapi kali ni aku beri peluang cuba Maiden Mastered for Itunes ni, pasal aku minat Maiden, dan aku memang dengar muzik on the move jadi aku cuba satu dua album dulu.




Jadi album pertama sekali aku dapatkan dari seleksi Iron Maiden Mastering KHAS UNTUK ITUNES ialah tentunya album pertama mereka yang memang dari dulu lagi selalu gembar-gembur rasa kurang puas hati terhadap produksi Will Malone.

Sila baca komen Steve tentang first album ni kat bawah ni kat warna kuning tu...

OK so ni aku nye ulasan first album, dengar ni kat dalam train yang bising, bas yang bising, kaki lima yang bising... (aku pakai headphone... )..

Drums dia... Oooo Clive Burr... trrrrr...trrrrr....trrrrr....  huhu...

Phantom Of The Opera - wahhh memang betul la dari acuan lama dia pakai...  1 saat , 2 saat, 3 saat, 4 saat............, 9 saat, 10 saat - !!Youtorturemebacktothelair!!...

Sanctuary takde. Ni ikut cara pasaran UK 35 tahun dahulu la ye...
Aku rasa NTOTB pun takde Total Eclipse kat mastered Itunes version ni..

Aku fikir...
Berapa banyak kali ni aku dah belanja untuk album pertama Maiden ni?
Bermacam2 versi cd dari first press, different country issues, Jepun nye, dan remastered versions 1998 yang aku terpaksa akui memalukan Maiden sendiri, dan jugak vinyl lain2 pressing lama dan sekarang, dan tentunya zaman sekolah dulu - kaset. Dan ni baru 1st album.

Tapi ni pertama kali aku beli lagu2 Maiden tanpa ada benda (physically) nak pegang kat tangan.
Tapi aku sangat minat mendalam Maiden, dan aku sebagai peminat sanggup berbelanja lagi sekali Itunes ni kerana perkataan keramat ni  - MASTERED FOR ITUNES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE MASTER ANALOG TAPES.

OK, selain first album, aku sambar Dance Of Death.

Pasal, ni adalah album Maiden yang aku rasa tertekan bila dengar versi studio. Something is wrong gitu.
Nanti la lain kali sambung cerita...




MONTSEGUR!!!

IRON MAIDEN CATALOGUE NOW MASTERED FOR ITUNES

Published: Apr 07, 2015
Parlophone Records (BMG/INgrooves Music Group for the USA) are delighted to announce the release of nineteen IRON MAIDEN catalogue albums which have been Mastered For iTunes (iTunes.com/IronMaiden), encoded from 24-bit / 96 khz high resolution masters and now re-mastered with iTunes in mind, delivering the music to listeners exactly the way the artist and recording engineer intended. These are brand new re-masters from their original analogue sources, exclusively produced for iTunes. 

All fifteen studio albums, 2 Best Of compilations and 2 live albums were personally selected by Maiden's founder member Steve Harris for this superior mastering technique : Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number Of The Beast, Piece Of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, No Prayer For The Dying, Fear Of The Dark, The X Factor, Virtual XI, Brave New World, Dance Of Death, A Matter Of Life And Death, The Final Frontier, Somewhere Back In Time, From Fear To Eternity (2CD), Live after Death (2CD) and Rock In Rio( 2CD)

Steve comments,
"The Mastering For iTunes procedure allows the listener to experience the music as close as possible to the way the artist intended it to be heard.  So of course I was very keen for the Maiden albums to be mastered in this way. The records have been available digitally before, when this medium first became a platform for music distribution but that was mastered with CDs in mind. The iTunes process involves a different approach and it's great to finally deliver the music to our fans in as close to a pure and accurate sound as we could possibly achieve.For example, as most people know, I was never really happy with the sound on the first Maiden album but listening to it now, the guitars are louder, the drums more substantial and the overall tone is so very much improved in my opinion. Tony Newton and Ade Emsley who worked closely with me on the project did a terrific job recapturing everything from the original masters and together we've re- mastered them all digitally and I'm really happy with the results."


Tony Newton adds:
“The process started with locating all of the original album mix tapes (or whichever format they were mixed to). Then the choice of analogue to digital convertor was chosen for the most accurate capture to make it as close as possible to the sound of the mix as it was intended by the band.  When a lot of these tapes were last captured it was in the 1980's, early days of digital and only 44.1khz/16bit files were possible. On top of this the new A/D convertors are far superior now, and of course it is possible to produce files of far higher resolution. The result of this is that the songs now sound more defined with added depth and warmth. I was very excited to be asked to be part of this project, I honestly feel that there is a massive improvement in the quality of these classic albums.”

Fans can download the Mastered For iTunes versions of the albums from April 7th from iTunes.com/IronMaiden and learn more about Mastered For iTuneshere.  





As 99% of the time, I only listen to music while I am on the move in the subway trains, public buses, and walking in the streets or anywhere, music in a mobile format is important to me. 
99% of the time it will be something personally ripped by myself from my collection to 320kbps.
So if a AAC Itunes format means I can listen to my favourite band better, then I dont mind buying more and more of the Mastered for Itunes series.

So what I think so far of the Itunes Mastered Iron Maiden selection of albums as chosen and given the master treatment from the original tapes by Steve Harris?


Like I believe most people who will purchase this Itune mastered version, the critical one will be the very 1st album.
My ears wont detect, and I am not a Sound expert but seems I notice more of Clive Burr. Also we got the way Phantom Of The Opera was supposed to be ..... complete with THAT ending.

Everything sound so much smoother when I am listening to these songs on crowded, noisy environments of public transport and streets using headphones, though I guess I need to hear more Itunes Mastered albums to decide better.

I suddenly realised there are a lot of ""sound experts" on the internet once Miaden released this Itunes Mastered series. Its interesting to read that, but for me irregardless, as long as I like it so be it.

I may end up admitting an AAC file from Itunes is simply more suitable for those listening while on the move compared to any self-rip 320kbps rips...
But now I had read some info of a HD files of Maiden being released. So maybe it will be on flac I wont know..


Damn the day I decide I like this band when I was a kid long ago, I think I am going to blow my pocket money on more of the Mastered Itunes albums if not all.
I already got Dance Of Death. I just think its too ponderous the first time around when listening as a 320kbps rip thru headphones.
Hope this will be better.

Lets see how this progress in the next few days and week once I get to listen to more albums.

A Matter Of Live And Death will be interesting as it was never mastered before its release.
plus the Martin Birch years, the non-Martine Birch years , the Kevin Shirley years... the Nigel Green years..
Its nice to return to the happiness, warmth, excitment and self-fulfillment of listening to Maiden after a few months break. LOL!!

5 comments:

Rafi said...

kat fb ngan instagram Maiden dia tunjuk satu2 master tape dari 1st album sampai la dance of death.kalo dengar guna ipod memang lagi berlemak la bunyi ya yek.

Skudal said...

wah menarik nih

Ijau D. Koceng said...

sama la dgn aku, kalau dgr lagu2 sambil mobile aku prefer mp3 player (sony walkman 2GB, so kena guna compression 128k je) tak guna handphone walaupun handphone aku model yg ada walkman (w810 yg primitif)

tapi utk full pleasure biasanya aku pasang CD dlm kereta

berteromber said...

agak2 nanti dia rilis dalam bentuk cd tak?...

D'arsil said...

fuhh terbaik tu...