<font color='#000000'>I have to start by saying that I'm a long time Marillion fan. I've followed them since the very first album and thereafter. They are one of my all time favorite bands, so this memo is not a criticism to the band, but to the record company.
Although I am pleased to s
ee that Marillion finally has enough support to release DVD's, I am disappointed that Racket Records and perhaps even Marillion, fell short on their sound formats.
My reason is not based on me wanting to be surrounded by music and false echo's coming from rear speakers, but instead it is directly related to the audio compression and remix as it iss related to overall audio quality.
I've spent the past 5-years completing the ultimate Home Theater and Music System (check out our staff reference system). With the amount of equipment in this collection and the overall quality of music it can produce, it becomes increasingly difficult to find CD's that reproduce quality audio.
This is mainly because most Audio Engineers like to boost certain frequency levels in their mix with the assumption that the majority of listeners are using Booze or other midfi loudspeakers you can purchase at local chain stores. The growing percentage of people that do not submit to marketing ploys and own superior Loudspeakers (for less money, mind you), are left with having to deal with these exaggerated harsh sounds from the CD's as they are reproduced on their flat, accurate speakers. If you doubt this, go listen to a Creed CD on a pair of Paradigm's or RBH Speakers. With superior, accurate Loudspeakers like these, you will quickly determine that the mid-range and high frequencies on these CD's (and many others) are all garbled together and sound like mush.
It's this very dilemma that forces me to play most of my Marillion CD's (and Creed CD's) in the car instead of on our staff reference system system.
The other reason for the poor sound quality is related to dynamic compression. Most Recording Engineers boost the levels too close to the dynamic limits of a 16 bit system. They do this to yield a "louder" CD to appeal more to the masses and users of lowfi equipment.
This is very similar to the concept of photos and their related formats such as .bmp, jpeg, tiff and so forth. The better formats that offer improved video pictures are the less compressed jpeg or uncompressed tiff.
The latest audio formats such as DVD Audio, SACD and so forth, have developed techniques where the compression ratio is significantly decreased resulting in a quantifiable improved sound quality when compared to two channel conventional PCM stereo. This has to do with higher sampling rates and resolution which goes beyond the scope of this post.
The same holds true for DVD Concerts. Somewhat regardless of how the original source was recorded, if there is an effort made by the Producers to go back to the original masters, remix it, and record it in a less compressed, and over-equalized format, the end result will be an improvde audio track for all us Marillion heads. Upon initial review and write up's on the new Marillion DVD's, it seems like Racket Records and/or Marillion, did not spend the time and money to do this. Instead, they are promoting to the fans (us) that they have created DVD's, which is fine, but where is the sound quality?
The produces might argue that the recording was done in 1999, and therefore there will be little to no benefit in a less compressed format. This is where I would beg to differ. To anyone that believes original Master Tapes cannot be redone well, you need to go out and buy the Last Waltz by The Band. The original recording was done in 1976, or so, but because of the effort put into remixing it, it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. That's because the respectful Producers went back to the original Masters and remixed it for the DVD sound track. The net result is that the Band?s Last Waltz is by far, one of the best sounding DVD Concerts to come from that era. I will place $$ on the fact that the brand new Marillion DVD will not come close to the sound quality of this this 1976 recording and remix.
As much as I love Marillion, I continue to feel sad that Racket Records is not thinking outside the box. Racket Records, please don't offer me the same inferior sound quality on a DVD and think that the box alone will make me buy it. Marillion and their fans deserve better than that.
Marillion's homepage</font>
