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Okay this iconic audiophile favorite was recorded in a church in Canada using a Calrec Soundfield mic set to blumlein (which from my moniker you might guess I know something about). Margo Timmins sang vocals down a hall into another microphone played through a Klipsch Heresy in the church. Though often reported as recorded to RDat apparently it was recorded to a Nakamichi DMP100 which is 16/44 to video tape according to this article.
http://www.soundonsound.com/people/cowboy-junkies-sweet-jane
So there has been an SACD and vinyl version released recently after a remastering. Remastering said to involve reclocking, EQ and some noise cleanup touch up greatly improving sound.
Now the above linked article has this to say about mastering of the original CD:
When it came to mastering The Trinity Session, Moore says he used a very specific device. “I was using an FA. You know what that is? Fuck all! [Laughs] There was no mastering. I’d become the AMS rep for Canada and so I used an AMS Audiophile, the first digital audio editing thing that you could use to do a crossfade up to five seconds. I was set up in the warehouse at ADCOM with the KEF P60 speakers, and if you want to call it mastering, I was mastering the record in a warehouse. But all I was doing was editing. I couldn’t even do level adjustments.”
So the original CD is presumably the exact data unprocessed from the original recording straight off the CALREC microphone. Seems to me the limits of your fidelity are set right there. Anything else done after that is a step away from fidelity.
So I see reviews of the new version like this:
The Cowboy Junkies highly-regarded 11/27/1987 recording, The Trinity Session, has been recently remastered and released in 2016 as a stereo SACD. Some audiophiles have expressed doubts in advance of this release that the SACD format could yield noticeable improvement in sound quality for this particular album, due to the original 2-track RDAT digital recording, the acoustics of the church where it was recorded, and the use of just a single Calrec Ambisonic microphone. In a blinded comparison of the SACD against the CD, the SACD version demonstrated clearly-noticeable improvement in sound quality, versus the CD, for this listener. In particular, the clarity and detail were noticeably improved on the SACD release. For those who already are familiar with the CD, the countdown lead-in to Sweet Jane provides one of the more strikingly-obvious improvements in clarity and detail on the SACD vs. the CD. It should be noted that the significant noise on the CDs opening track is not significantly improved on the SACD, but that is to be expected, given the unique aspects of the original recording session. In the opinion of this listener, the SACD of The Trinity Session is now the definitive digital release of this acclaimed recording. - Marc, CA
I see phrases like "noticeable improvement in sound quality" and "now the definitive digital release".
In other places when discussing the vinyl you can read, "very analogue sounding hence it was given a vinyl cut only question is whether to get the 33 rpm or 45 rpm vinyl disc". To which someone replied, "45 rpm is so much better it is a must have". To which someone else replied "even the 33 rpm sound obviously superior to the original CD release". Then you have "vinyl or SACD the eternal question as to which to choose". I know I am odd, but I think the CD which is possibly a bit perfect copy of the originals might be the one to choose. Analogue Productions admits it was a digital original, but says in some case such as this an outstanding recording even in digital is due for a release in highest quality vinyl. Hmmm, and that is better than highest quality digital I suppose?
Then comments like this, "The main appeal of The Trinity Session, the Cowboy Junkies' second album, remains its lo-fi sound. The ambient buzz of Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, where the Junkies recorded the album around one microphone, colors every song, reinforcing the live setting and generating vinyl intimacy even on CD. It's as if the church itself was an instrument, one that Junkies could play pretty well. It allows Margo Timmins' voice to fill your field of vision, simultaneously soothing and unsettling, while her brother Michael's guitar rumbles through the songs, a little louder and sharper than anticipated." — Pitchfork
All of which is why this thread is in the Psychoacoustics subforum.
CD promised we could finally hear the actual master tapes. MQA promises the elusive chance to go right back to the original sound in the studio unsullied. In the original Trinity Sessions CD we have something fulfilling that promise. Simple two mike equivalent recorded into two track digital. No processing done whatsoever. The result stuck straight onto the CD. This literally is the original session recording.
Yet audiophiles crave to be sold an idea that they can get better sound than that. Sold on the idea of improvement. Once it is available they find it so much finer than the original recording directly available on the original CD as to be stunning and wonderful and definitive.
http://www.soundonsound.com/people/cowboy-junkies-sweet-jane
So there has been an SACD and vinyl version released recently after a remastering. Remastering said to involve reclocking, EQ and some noise cleanup touch up greatly improving sound.
Now the above linked article has this to say about mastering of the original CD:
When it came to mastering The Trinity Session, Moore says he used a very specific device. “I was using an FA. You know what that is? Fuck all! [Laughs] There was no mastering. I’d become the AMS rep for Canada and so I used an AMS Audiophile, the first digital audio editing thing that you could use to do a crossfade up to five seconds. I was set up in the warehouse at ADCOM with the KEF P60 speakers, and if you want to call it mastering, I was mastering the record in a warehouse. But all I was doing was editing. I couldn’t even do level adjustments.”
So the original CD is presumably the exact data unprocessed from the original recording straight off the CALREC microphone. Seems to me the limits of your fidelity are set right there. Anything else done after that is a step away from fidelity.
So I see reviews of the new version like this:
The Cowboy Junkies highly-regarded 11/27/1987 recording, The Trinity Session, has been recently remastered and released in 2016 as a stereo SACD. Some audiophiles have expressed doubts in advance of this release that the SACD format could yield noticeable improvement in sound quality for this particular album, due to the original 2-track RDAT digital recording, the acoustics of the church where it was recorded, and the use of just a single Calrec Ambisonic microphone. In a blinded comparison of the SACD against the CD, the SACD version demonstrated clearly-noticeable improvement in sound quality, versus the CD, for this listener. In particular, the clarity and detail were noticeably improved on the SACD release. For those who already are familiar with the CD, the countdown lead-in to Sweet Jane provides one of the more strikingly-obvious improvements in clarity and detail on the SACD vs. the CD. It should be noted that the significant noise on the CDs opening track is not significantly improved on the SACD, but that is to be expected, given the unique aspects of the original recording session. In the opinion of this listener, the SACD of The Trinity Session is now the definitive digital release of this acclaimed recording. - Marc, CA
I see phrases like "noticeable improvement in sound quality" and "now the definitive digital release".
In other places when discussing the vinyl you can read, "very analogue sounding hence it was given a vinyl cut only question is whether to get the 33 rpm or 45 rpm vinyl disc". To which someone replied, "45 rpm is so much better it is a must have". To which someone else replied "even the 33 rpm sound obviously superior to the original CD release". Then you have "vinyl or SACD the eternal question as to which to choose". I know I am odd, but I think the CD which is possibly a bit perfect copy of the originals might be the one to choose. Analogue Productions admits it was a digital original, but says in some case such as this an outstanding recording even in digital is due for a release in highest quality vinyl. Hmmm, and that is better than highest quality digital I suppose?
Then comments like this, "The main appeal of The Trinity Session, the Cowboy Junkies' second album, remains its lo-fi sound. The ambient buzz of Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, where the Junkies recorded the album around one microphone, colors every song, reinforcing the live setting and generating vinyl intimacy even on CD. It's as if the church itself was an instrument, one that Junkies could play pretty well. It allows Margo Timmins' voice to fill your field of vision, simultaneously soothing and unsettling, while her brother Michael's guitar rumbles through the songs, a little louder and sharper than anticipated." — Pitchfork
All of which is why this thread is in the Psychoacoustics subforum.
CD promised we could finally hear the actual master tapes. MQA promises the elusive chance to go right back to the original sound in the studio unsullied. In the original Trinity Sessions CD we have something fulfilling that promise. Simple two mike equivalent recorded into two track digital. No processing done whatsoever. The result stuck straight onto the CD. This literally is the original session recording.
Yet audiophiles crave to be sold an idea that they can get better sound than that. Sold on the idea of improvement. Once it is available they find it so much finer than the original recording directly available on the original CD as to be stunning and wonderful and definitive.
.
