Blackfield - Welcome To My DNA

I was expecting this album to sound great after hearing what Steven Wilson did with Porcupine Tree’s The Incident album (you can read about it here), but what we got this time exceeded even that.

The official DR value is 12 (more details here: http://dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=8349)!

The sound is beyond amazing. All instruments sound crystal clear, there’s no place for “mud” and even when there’s a lot of instruments playing at the same time, you can hear each one of them – something that’s not so obvious on many dynamically compressed records.

Steven Wilson is aware of the role dynamics have and uses it well. There are moments when the music becomes soft, with low volume, just to hit the listener the next second almost with heavy metal, making the experience much more engaging and emotional.

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Katie Melua - The House (DR7)

The three previous Katie Melua albums sounded great. Great dynamics and sound quality – just the way CDs should be produced. Naturally, when I heard about this new release “The House” I was overjoyed. My joy did not last long, however.

Here’s the DR rating stats: http://dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=4891

Average Value: DR7

I’m a big fan of the drums – I loved songs like Scary Films on Pictures because of the drums. Now, on this… God must be deaf (refering to one song called God On The Drums, Devil on The Bass)

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The Incident

The sound on this album is fantastic. It is so crisp and lively. The First and second disc are DR 10. The lowest track is DR 9 and the highest is DR13. It is simply a pleasure to listen to.

This continues Steven Wilson’s track record of producing Dynamic music. Fear of a Blank Planet clocked in at DR9 which also sounded great as well as did the reissue of Lightbulb Sun which is DR10. While DR12 or 13 would be even better, Porcupine Tree albums stand head and shoulders above most of their peers. In an age of ear oppressing barriers of noise, PT is bringing back much of what has been lost in the listening experience.

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Remixed & Remastered from the isolated audio stems – This community edition of the tracks was made with the intent of incorporating some pre-1990 sonic elements of rock/metal recordings where suitable, and to increase dynamic range – resulting in approx 13db Dynamic Range (DR Meter).

Of course, some may love it, some may not – it is just another edition to try at the end of the day – however hopefully people will be able to hear the music and compositions in a new way, and hopefully also in a more enjoyable way.

To hear this edition – please view the details in our forum – registration required.
Download Details

Format: FLAC (Lossless)

Note: Reduce volume on retail by approximately 5.3db during playback for equal loudness comparison

To enjoy to its fullest, please play on a standalone/dedicated audio system (non-portable – non-builtin) if possible – and turn it up a good bit. The impact, and the resultant attention it draws from the listener as a result of the increased dynamics and seperation of instrumentss helps make the song a lot more memorable & also interesting.

Song Downloads:

• 01 – Storm
• 05 – Fade
• 08 – Exile

Originally a DR7 heavily clipped album – now “re-mastered” to a DR11-level – General dynamics treatments and so on.

Note: Reduce volume on retail by approximately 5db during playback for equal loudness comparison

The harsh clipping artifacts and muddiness has been removed as ceany as possible, in addition to maintaining the agressive tone of the abum and increasing the natural dynamics -To enjoy to its fullest, please play on a standalone/dedicated audio system (non-portable – non-builtin) if possible – and turn it up a good bit. The impact, and the resultant attention it draws from the listener as a result of the increased dynamics and seperation of instrumentss helps make the song a lot more memorable & also interesting.

Disasterpiece - Retail (DR7)

Disasterpiece - JFA (DR11)

Song Downloads:

• 03 – Disasterpiece
• 08 – Left Behind

Originally a DR6 heavily clipped album – now “re-mastered” to a DR11-level

Note: Reduce volume on retail by approximately 5.5db during playback for equal loudness comparison

The level & dynamics in the DR11 version are now closer to that of previous albums such as Images & Words – So to enjoy to its fullest, please play on a standalone/dedicated audio system (non-portable – non-builtin) if possible – and turn it up a good bit. The impact, and the resultant attention it draws from the listener as a result of the increased dynamics and seperation of instrumentss should help make the song a lot more memorable & also interesting.

Audio Evaluations:

• 01 – In The Presence Of Enemies – Part I
• 02 – Forsaken
• 03 – Constant Motion
• 04 – The Dark Eternal Night
• 05 – Repentance
• 06 – Prophets of War
• 07 – The Ministry of Lost Souls
• 08 – In Presence Of Enemies – Part II

Retail CD - Before (DR6)

JFA Re-Master - After (DR11)

Audio Evaluations:

Something In Your Mouth

Retail - Before (DR4)

JFA Re-Master - After (DR11)

Song Download:

A Rite of Passage

Downloaded MP3 - Before (DR6)

JFA Re-Master - After (DR12)