Audio Quality - Promo Vs Official Release

[Guest peacock]

Hello fellow members,

I've got the official 2-disc release from La La Land, which has been digitally mastered. How does the the audio compare

to the promo cds? Does it sound wider, more "airy" with a better stereo image? Less harshness perhaps?

Electronic music is a hobby of mine so I'm very interested in the production aspect of it all.The Millennium soundtrack is very alive

and wonderful sounding and is a favorite of mine. Part of it (besides all the talent) is the heavy use of the Synclavier. The Synclavier does

indeed sound very human, even compared to the modern options available today.

Great website you got going here. Very interesting if you're a MM fan.

On a side note: Too bad the music from Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominons wasn't included. The scene where

Franks sees Bletcher's ghost is just great.

Best

Tomas

[exit75]

Hello fellow members,

I've got the official 2-disc release from La La Land, which has been digitally mastered. How does the the audio compare

to the promo cds? Does it sound wider, more "airy" with a better stereo image? Less harshness perhaps?

Electronic music is a hobby of mine so I'm very interested in the production aspect of it all.The Millennium soundtrack is very alive

and wonderful sounding and is a favorite of mine. Part of it (besides all the talent) is the heavy use of the Synclavier. The Synclavier does

indeed sound very human, even compared to the modern options available today.

Great website you got going here. Very interesting if you're a MM fan.

On a side note: Too bad the music from Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominons wasn't included. The scene where

Franks sees Bletcher's ghost is just great.

Best

Tomas

Interesting subject. I have just compared this "same" track that appears on all 3 releases:

LalaLand - Track 09 "Chernoby" from Marantha

Promo CD - Track 13

Best of Millennium - Track 05

There seems to be no real change to the sounds, but percussion on the lalaland release seems to be slightly louder on this release and overall there is slightly more dynamic.

The Promo CD compared with the Best of track is pretty much identical. However, unlike the others, the Promo CD version of this track has no gap between the trademark MM "Bang Bang" at the begining - the main music starts immediately after.

So it seems time was taken over the lalaland version to rejig things a bit.

This is comparing the versions I have. The promo CD circulating is a bad rip. I bought a copy from ebay hoping it was a decent copy, but it turned out to be the same badly ripped lossy source. And of course the itunes best of was irritatingly only available in lossy format.

[ethsnafu]

What a fascinating subject and reply. I know music appreciators often debate the pros and cons of the various formats and though I find the discussion fascinating it's not one I understand. That said, I have all three versions as well and find that the differences, if any, are very minor. It seems to me that in creating the La La Land release that the versions we have for the "Best Of..." release were pretty much included in release in the same form.

I have the Promo CD as well and the quality is not great I have to confess but it's brought me a great deal of joy over the years nonetheless.

Eth

[The Old Man]

Definitely a good question for audiophiles! I think if you listened with a decent of cans on your head you would probably notice some differences, especially with the MP3 ripped CDs of the rather naughty original promo.

I think the LaLa Land version is superb quality though and you'd be hard pressed to beat it.

Welcome to This is who we are by the way! Superb first post!

[Guest peacock]

Thanks for the welcome!

I got a email reply from Larold Rebhun, the "Mix Meister" ( what a great guy, answering some random dude like me) and apparently the music that

went out of Snow's studio for the show was already mastered to a degree. He had a EQ and Compressor/Limiter across the stereo mix. This would mean

that there was not much dynamic left for the "re-mastering" at Digital Outland, and would explain why they sound nearly identical.

Anyone notice the difference in noise? "Big Yellow House" has a rather low level of noise compared to the following track "Rain"

Track 16 "Santos Elves" also has a low level of noise compared to track 19 "The way it was". Wonder why.

Edited June 5, 2010 by peacock

[The Old Man]

Fascinating stuff Peacock! Way above my head but thanks for sharing this info for those who understand!

[Guest peacock]

Here's a youtube clip with music from the show. Is the music from the promo-cd?

Thanks all for writing.

[Guest peacock]

Regarding the Synclavier. Funny thing that the system Snow uses would cost around 200.000$ in the late eighties. A similiar system

would today cost around 12.000$.

Edited June 5, 2010 by peacock

[SadEyes]

Here's a youtube clip with music from the show. Is the music from the promo-cd?

Thanks all for writing.

Yes, this is from the Promo, track 12, it´s labeled wrong on YouTube, this track is not from the episode "Midnight of the Century", but from the episode "Force Majeure", the Promo-CD only contains music from the first season of the show.

[ty7du]

Are there any tracks on those promo/best of that were left out of the La La Land 2 disc limited edition?

I drool at the thought of getting more Millennium music.

I do have good headphones and a decent monitor set, but sadly don't have either promo or best of, I just never knew about these releases.

Oh... I was so hoping it was the cue where they are searching for the origin of the phone call, in the arc building, in Force Majeure. That track, I would love to have. One of a couple missed opportunities in the 2 disc edition.

I wish it was possible to have music from each season on separate discs.