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Contained herein are five audio samples that contain the first one minute and thirty-two seconds of the track “Breaking Glass” from David Bowie’s Low album.  Clocking in at one minute and fifty-two seconds, the album version isn’t much longer than these samples!

The samples are from five different analog/digital sources – RCA Vinyl, German RCA CD, Rykodisc CD, Rykodisc Au20 CD, and EMI CD – and span roughly 23 years.  Aside from fade in/out, absolutely no signal processing has been performed.  If A/D has been performed (vinyl rendering) the signal path has been exposed.  Graphical waveform views courtesy Adobe Audition and Microsoft Paint (click on image to open high-resolution version in a new window).

Which one do you think sounds best? My thoughts are documented below the samples/graphics.

Note: To anyone that might stumble upon this post that may have what they consider to be rare Bowie media, be it analog or digital, please contact me.  I’d like to exchange data for the purpose of scientific research, and am likewise happy to freely exchange any/all of my out-of-print Bowie collateral.

Breaking Glass
Source: RCA Vinyl [CPL1-2030] 1977
Signal path = Thorens TD 318 -> Ortofon X3-MC -> Yamaha A-28 Natural Sound Stereo Amplifier -> Digidesign Mbox 2
Resolution = 44kHz, 32-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

Breaking Glass
Source: German RCA CD [PD83856] 1984
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

Breaking Glass
Source: Rykodisc CD [CDP 7977192] 1991
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

Breaking Glass
Source: Rykodisc Au20 CD [RCD 80142] 1991
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

Breaking Glass
Source: EMI CD [7243 521907 0 6] 1999
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

I find it curious that the Au20 (the only “audiophile grade” sample present here) is the loudest of all, achieving an average RMS of of -20.34 dB L and -22.4 dB R, and a peak amplitude of -.09 dB in both channels.  None of the other samples have an equal peak amplitude, although the standard Rykodisc CD is only offset by .14 dB (with, as is the case with all of the samples sans the Au20, the left channel being dominant).  This would seem to imply that the Au20 was normalized and/or otherwise attenuated unequally.

Also worth noting is how similar the German RCA and EMI CD’s are in both peak amplitude and average RMS:

RCA RMS = -22.35 dB L -23.55 dB R; peak amplitude = -1.07 dB L -1.41 dB R
EMI RMS = -19.21 dB L -22.01 dB R; peak amplitude = -.83 dB L -1.5 dB R

To my ears (not my eyes, as the above statistics may imply), I find myself leaning towards either the German RCA CD or (gasp!) the EMI CD (most/all of the Bowie EMI releases are not regarded highly in audiophile circles for being either too harsh, limited, or noise-removed to death).  I find either Rykodisc CD to be considerably more harsh and brittle than the alternatives.  That being said, although it sounds dull and perhaps even muffled at first in comparison to the Rykodisc/EMI samples, the “round” bass of the RCA CD/vinyl is outstanding, and I think the low-end in general on most of the Bowie RCA releases trumps their Rykodisc and EMI counterparts.

To surmise, my preferred listening order/configurations for Low:

01. RCA Vinyl (via loudspeakers)
02. German RCA CD (via headphones)
03. EMI CD (via iPod/lossy)
04. Rykodisc Au20
05. Rykodisc CD

Contained herein are four audio samples that contain the first one minute and forty-seven seconds of the track “1984″ from David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album. The samples are from four different digital sources – German RCA CD, Japanese RCA CD, Rykodisc CD, and EMI CD – and span roughly 15 years. Aside from fade in/out, absolutely no signal processing has been performed. 24-bit graphical waveform views courtesy Adobe Audition and Microsoft Paint (click on image to open high-resolution version in a new window).

Which one do you think sounds best?

Note: To anyone that might stumble upon this post that may have what they consider to be rare Bowie CD’s, please contact me. I’d like to exchange data for the purpose of scientific research!

1984
Source: German RCA CD (PD83889) 1985
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

1984
Source: Japanese RCA CD (PCD1-0576) 1985
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

1984
Source: Rykodisc CD (RCD 10137) 1990
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

1984
Source: EMI CD (7243 521904 0 9) 1999
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file

Over a weekend in October 2002, Iced Ink v1.0 made our first official recordings in the basement of an old warehouse-type building in St. Paul, MN. The studio was called “Sunland Recording Studio”, and was run by one John Seals, who has since relocated himself (and his studio) to the great state of Alabama. I digress. As a trio (minus percussion, which was done in overdubs the next day), we tracked nine songs in less than the same number of hours. Both sessions were really fun, exciting, and very low-stress…the kind of recording environment that all musicians strive for!

Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, technical glitches and other highly-technologically-advanced shenanigans, one of the tracks (La Chica) was lost forever, and the mixing process took months. By the time I finally got the mixes, we had already tracked There’s a Bee in Here, and were in the mixing process, and since all but one of the tracks (Quagmire) from the Sunland sessions had been re-recorded, I archived the mixes and promptly forgot about them.

Arrive Fall 2005. While sorting through my archives and literally hundreds of DVD-R’s and such, I found a CD that was labeled “Sunland Mixes”. PJ Tracy, a family friend from way back, had handed this off to me sometime in 2003. I remember him saying that the mixes were 24-bit files in need of mastering, and that he thought the mixes were finally up to snuff. I listened to “Quagmire” and laughed a bit. Next I checked out TWATADATA and winced a little vs. how we used to play it back in 2002 (it was new at the time). Finally, I peeped Buy Me Toys and decided that these tracks needed to see the light of day. The performances are a little rusty and/or under-developed (we were just about to hit our stride around that time, I think), but the energy and the vibe is there, and in most cases, The Sunland Sessions sounds more like Iced Ink to me than the band that tracked There’s a Bee in Here. Joe’s bass, for instance, has never been so prominent in the mix, and you can really hear and enjoy T’s most excellent percussion contributions (they were frequently inaudible live).

Mastering this material was a good test of my ability, and since I was able to take my time (and work in a semi-professional mastering environment), the difference between the mixes and the finished, mastered tracks is literally night and day. I used iZotope’s excellent Ozone for the job, and couldn’t be happier with the results.

Thanks to John Seals and PJ Tracy for putting up with me/us. Thanks to PJ for the incredible mix job that he did. Thanks to Iced Ink v1.0 for the music, and especially to Krenner for being the musical jack-in-the-box that wrote these great compositions. Enjoy The Sunland Sessions!

- VGD 01.03.09

Download MP3 Format (~190 kbps VBR) | FLAC Format

Tracklist:

01 Buy Me Toys 3:03
02 Stupidface 3:22
03 Spincycle 3:42
04 McFranco 3:09
05 TWATADATA 4:27
06 Quagmire* 4:22
07 Todd 3:16
08 Bee 3:02

Michael Krenner – guitar
Joe Berkman – bass
Sara T – percussion
VGD – drums

Recorded & Engineered by John Seals & PJ Tracy – 10/2002
Mixed by PJ Tracy
Mastered by VomitGod 10.20/10.21.05

* previously unreleased

Music by Mike Krenner | (c) 2002 Painted Air Recordings

Cover Concept by Scarahead; Artwork by Krenner
VomitGod & Sara T Appear Courtesy All 4 Not / Strap-on Recordings

Notes:

TWATADATA is an acronym for “The World According to a Drunken and Trendy Asshole”.

There are no lyrics!

Iced Ink v 1.0 set sail and played their last show on March 26, 2005.

Check out iZotope’s Ozone.