V/A - Opus Iridium (2xCD) Uptempo/Downtempo

[qa2pir]

Suntrip: If you want to be old school - don't master with a brick wall!

 

Seriously! Your music is as loud all the fucking time! The quiet intro is even louder than the most climactic parts.

 

Don't do this to good music.

[Sideffect...]

Suntrip: If you want to be old school - don't master with a brick wall!

 

Seriously! Your music is as loud all the fucking time! The quiet intro is even louder than the most climactic parts.

 

Don't do this to good music.

maybe change soundsystem

[Aerosis]

If you are comparing the volume levels of oldschool tracks with newer releases, then yes you'll find them louder and with fuller bass. This is more so the artists competing with modern standards than anything suntrip is doing through mastering. Goa also has much more sound in it compared to other psy that takes a more minimal but crisp aproach to production (short but loud sounds), goa has more delay (echo), reverb, and stereo as well as long pads that run all through it, maybe this is shaping your impressions ga2pir.

 

But really, Sideffect's advice is problably the best

[qa2pir]

If you are comparing the volume levels of oldschool tracks with newer releases, then yes you'll find them louder and with fuller bass. This is more so the artists competing with modern standards than anything suntrip is doing through mastering. Goa also has much more sound in it compared to other psy that takes a more minimal but crisp aproach to production (short but loud sounds), goa has more delay (echo), reverb, and stereo as well as long pads that run all through it, maybe this is shaping your impressions ga2pir.

 

But really, Sideffect's advice is problably the best

Don't talk to me like a to a baby. Suntrip conforms to the modern "standards" of uber-loud maximised music. Sure, dance music was made to sound loud compared to something like opera. But not devoid of dynamics.

 

If you say something like "switch soundsystem" you're seriously dumb. If Suntrip music sounds squashed to the max, and old school goa doesn't... You can't say my speakers are less eager to play Suntrip releases well. Speakers are just a stale dumbnut technical device. They play the soundwaves. They don't compress it. There is someone compressing Suntrip releases though.

 

BTW: The usual common agreement is that better soundsystems do a better job at "exposing" faults in music production. Mastering included.

 

PLUR out.

[Mike A]

what's wrong with super-maximised and compressed music?

 

sounds better. more bass, crisper sound.

it's not like uncompressed music where every track has different volume, forcing you to adjust the level on whatever you're playing it at.

 

if you're comparing it to the dynamicness of opera, well i have heard some opera recorded songs and they are awful.

it's all so silent, then suddenly screaming and stuff. maybe it works for the theater, but not for home listening.

i want my music balanced and compressed. fuck dynamics.

[Sideffect...]

Don't talk to me like a to a baby. Suntrip conforms to the modern "standards" of uber-loud maximised music. Sure, dance music was made to sound loud compared to something like opera. But not devoid of dynamics.

 

If you say something like "switch soundsystem" you're seriously dumb. If Suntrip music sounds squashed to the max, and old school goa doesn't... You can't say my speakers are less eager to play Suntrip releases well. Speakers are just a stale dumbnut technical device. They play the soundwaves. They don't compress it. There is someone compressing Suntrip releases though.

 

BTW: The usual common agreement is that better soundsystems do a better job at "exposing" faults in music production. Mastering included.

 

PLUR out.

for judging good or bad mastering, there for you need a good soundsystem,

you are acting like a baby reading your post,

we never threated you as a baby but you are acting like one

 

@ aerosis + 1 (too lazy to quote)

[qa2pir]

for judging good or bad mastering, there for you need a good soundsystem,

you are acting like a baby reading your post,

we never threated you as a baby but you are acting like one

 

@ aerosis + 1 (too lazy to quote)

You don't really need a "good soundsystem" to hear that the climax is as loud as the one or two layered intro. You can use something like Audacity to prove your point.

 

Mike A: If you read my post thoroughly, you'll find that I hold the opinion that dance music in general is made to be loud, and not to have a full dynamic range like opera music. However, Suntrip mastering goes beyond the sensible.

 

One thing left to add: If you want higher volume, there's usually a volume knob, button or slider. You don't need the music to be constantly loud.

 

I have to add though, that there are far worse examples in this regard. Mindsphere album, for example. Horribly squashed.

 

And one more: I'm judging Suntrip mastering from the CD "Twist Dreams" which is the one I've listened to. I used this thread just because it was active. I'm sorry if this mastering fault has been corrected since that release.

[Mike A]

One thing left to add: If you want higher volume, there's usually a volume knob, button or slider. You don't need the music to be constantly loud.

No. I don't want to constantly change the volume while listening to music.

[Sideffect...]

And one more: I'm judging Suntrip mastering from the CD "Twist Dreams" which is the one I've listened to. I used this thread just because it was active. I'm sorry if this mastering fault has been corrected since that release.

seems like an important variable

 

No. I don't want to constantly change the volume while listening to music.

+1

[qa2pir]

No. I don't want to constantly change the volume while listening to music.

So you want music to sound loud, even when it's not meant to? A whisper loud as a scream? A peaceful string intro as loud as a storming metal climax?

 

Thing is; you can easily make your music loud using a limiter, but there's no way to undo limiting already done. You'll buy a CD and it's squashed. No fun.

[Mike A]

So you want music to sound loud, even when it's not meant to? A whisper loud as a scream? A peaceful string intro as loud as a storming metal climax?

Yes. A whisper will still sound as a whisper, even if it's compressed.

I'm not talking about the overcompression such as the Metapsychic stuff, but compressed stuff is good. Again, I don't want to turn the volume knob because there's a whisper.

Thing is; you can easily make your music loud using a limiter, but there's no way to undo limiting already done. You'll buy a CD and it's squashed. No fun.

Right. Since when do mp3 players have limiters?

[qa2pir]

Yes. A whisper will still sound as a whisper, even if it's compressed.

I'm not talking about the overcompression such as the Metapsychic stuff, but compressed stuff is good. Again, I don't want to turn the volume knob because there's a whisper.

 

Right. Since when do mp3 players have limiters?

Boomboxes use (at least used) to have "loudness" buttons. It's not needed anymore since all popular music is already heavily limited.

 

A whisper is a whisper. It's made to be silent. If you want a loud record, that should be fixed during mixing to avoid "pumping" and weird artifacts. But there's no reason for wanting a loud record in this scene. It's just a stupid obsession carried over from uneducated idiots.

 

Music is a whole lot about the dynamics between silent and loud, and this is a major way of creating tension.

[Mike A]

a. loudness button isn't a compressor, it's an eq - boosting bass and trebles.

b. i am an uneducated idiot.

[Sideffect...]

b. i am an uneducated idiot.

me too, we should start a club

[frozen dream]

true the mastering is hard.

[qa2pir]

me too, we should start a club

Ever hear of the "loudness war"?

[Penzoline]

Opus Iridium fits easily in my top10 goa/psy albums of all time, it pretty much has only class A tracks *edited a small part out because it ain't true anymore*

I used to think "this tune makes me feel powerful" was a kind of a ridicilous statement but after Shakta's ten times around the world, it's not anymore.

 

But the best track in OI, for me, is definitely Filteria's "Birds Lingva Franca", which is also my number 1 favourite song of all time. It just makes me "zone out" and go crazy, I feel like I'm in the music.

[Sideffect...]

But the best track in OI, for me, is definitely Filteria's "Birds Lingva Franca", which is also my number 1 favourite song of all time. It just makes me "zone out" and go crazy, I feel like I'm in the music.

+1 best track filteria ever made

[Tristan]

edit

[Tristan]

qa2pir, I'll have to somewhat agree with you here. this is my main gripe with everything being produced in the last 5 years no matter the style, actually people today are so used to hear the over compressed sound that they can't even listen to older stuff because it would sound so alien to them. music indeed, and any style of it should have dynamics and in that matter there are some flames at you for no reason. so true, that a quiet part should be quiet and a loud part should be loud. all the compression kills the dynamics of the sound, period. but in a matter of fact I didn't quite notice that with Suntrip. sure, it has to conform with today's standards which are a bit ridiculous if you ask me, we're actually in a period (leaving Suntrip aside for a minute) where music is judged almost purely production-wise. it's the same as people watch guitarist's fingers with envy instead of actually listen to what he plays, it would be much better listening to it eyes closed.

since when music is of less importance? now back to Suntrip. as I mentioned, I didn't really notice über compression or stiff brick wall limiting. but ofcourse when you listen to it you can tell without a hitch it's '08 and not a '98, for the good and the bad. but I think it actually fits the style of the music, which is goa and melodic but not really oldschool per-se, as it is evolved into more of a "newschool goatrance". I do believe there's still place for the oldschool sound, though. and Opus Iridium is a great release, imho.

[Mike A]

Ever hear of the "loudness war"?

Yea. And I'm loving every moment of it.

[emmmgeee]

the reason the yanks drop the u is because of the civil war days. To save on printing costs. To justify me saying this I will say that this album is simply sublime.

[Penzoline]

V/A Opus Iridium is the best compilation of 2008 by far.

 

 

From the art to the the tracks, it's all - mostly - wonderful.

 

CD1 review

 

E-Mantra - Voyager II is very crisp spacey goa with a hint of mysteriousness and a progressive sound - just that the only problem is that it never reaches it's destination. Every single time I listen to it I leave un-satisfied, waiting for the real ending. But overall it's still Very good - ending might be lacking, but the journey is great. Update 24.5.09: Going back to this I must say, with a better ending, this could have been close to a masterpiece. It lacks a true climax.

 

Shakta - Ten Times Around The sun is what you'd except, 1997 shakta with 2008 production quality, it's fantastic. A true old school classic released in 2008.

 

Filteria - Birds Lingva Franca is a track that I was looking very much forward to hearing and it is un-questionably the pinnacle of Filteria sound up until now. The climax is so out of this world, I feel an Arabic and Russian influence in it, and that's something I've never heard before in my time of listening Goa. My #1 track of 2008!

Also I'd probably go completely mental if I heard this in a live set. I really hope the 3rd album gives us more of this kind of madness.

 

Artifact303 - Feelings, what can I say, uplifting super melodic with crisp true-to-the-last-bone Goa sounds. 303 all the way. Killer track that reached my top 4 of 2008 best tracks.

 

Ajna - The Art Of Happiness is the debut track from Ajna, again a very high quality Goa track. It's more psychedelic and feels more intelligent, in a way, than the other one's that were heard earlier. Pretty good, just that the latter part is not on par with the earlier part.

 

Radical Distortion - The Dreamer is amazing, this is the one that really makes me want to dance. Not anything like the earlier Radical Distortion, this is the goa Radical Distortion. Easily their best track up until now and in my top10 best tracks of 2008

 

Afgin - From The Heart is also a good track, definitely different from the rest as it's a lot more harmonic and slower. The track starts for me around the 5 min mark, after that it's really good, but before it's not really as I get really impatient with it. And that's the problem with this track, it evolves too slow/is too long for it's own good.

 

Ethereal - Moondawn is the longest track on CD1, the only downtempoish one and it's also the most repetitious. Saying most repetitious from this batch of tracks isn't saying much, so I need to clarify, it's REALLY repetitious and I don't like it because of that. It starts strong, but stays there and it wears out.

 

Overall this compilation is super strong. It has a few instant classics like 2, 3, 4, 6, few really great tracks 1, 5 and rest being high in quality, but just good or ok.

9/10 (4/10 scale|Not an average)

 

 

If anoebis or mars is reading this: Please release the back cover as high quality wallpapers, it's so wonderful!

[Ormion]

Shakta - Ten Times Around The sun is what you'd except, 1997 shakta with 2008 production quality, it's fantastic. A true old school classic released in 2008.

 

Ethereal - Moondawn is the longest track on CD1, the only downtempoish one and it's also the most repetitious. Saying most repetitious from this batch of tracks isn't saying much, so I need to clarify, it's REALLY repetitious and I don't like it because of that. It starts strong, but stays there and it wears out.

I second that.

Shakta's track is really identical to his 1998-99 style with todays production. Impressive track.

Ethereal is boring for me like all Ethereal tracks (except the Dreamweaver's Cosmic Lobster rmx).

[Sideffect...]

I second that.

Shakta's track is really identical to his 1998-99 style with todays production. Impressive track.

Ethereal is boring for me like all Ethereal tracks (except the Dreamweaver's Cosmic Lobster rmx).

indeed like I though shakta keeps his style an amazingly good combined with the new production soft/hardware

 

love it