Friday 13 April 2018

Ali Akbar Khan 1966 'Morning and Evening Ragas'

[Re-post and Re-transfer with WAVs]

Today is a special treat! This LP was released in the USA in 1966. It is one of my favourites and a beautiful recording. It was digitised in 2011 by 'Sinetone AMR', however I have heard this MP3 version on the American iTunes store and was disappointed with the quality. This led me to buy a copy of the original LP from the US.

Connoisseur Society released many Ali Akbar Khan LPs throughout the 60s and 70s and all of them are wonderful. Furthermore, the quality of these particular LPs by Connoiseur Society is really great. Fortunately several of Connoisseur Society's recordings were remastered on the AMMP label in the 90s and re-released on CD. This LP album was not however part of these 'Signature Series' volumes.

Make sure you read the notes on the back cover, pretty detailed!

Label: Connoisseur Society - CM 1766

Tracks:
A - Goojjari Todi (Morning Raga) - Dhammar Tala (14 beats) and Jhaptal (10 beats)
B - Misra Mand (Evening Raga) - Kaharwa Tala (8 beats) and fast Tintal (16 beats)



Digitised with: Project Essential II Turntable, Ortofon Red Stylus, recorded as WAV 16/48 in Audacity and saved unaltered (apart from track separation/info tags) as WAV 16/48, and then separately edited with: Clickrepair (low settings) then slight reduction on surface noise + normalised to -1.5db in Audacity and exported as WAV 16/48 and MP3 320kbps.

13 comments:

  1. You are doing a great job!

    I have a request. Could you pl. upgrade your ripping quality to 24 bits? 16 bits do not have that many details.

    Thanks

    Prasad

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  2. Fantastic, thanks a million Kirrin for sharing all your incredible collection.

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  3. Nice rip, and thanks for sharing. Ignore the above guy, he seems to be a troll and is spamming other blogs too repeatedly with the same ask

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    1. Hi Roger,

      Thanks for the comment. However, if someone really understands the importance of high quality rips such as 24-bits or 32-bits, this comment may not have had appeared. Probably, the lovers of cheap and lossy 320 KBPS quality of mp3s and those who listen to the music through their $1 mobile phone headphones (unlike the Bose headphones) surely may not have any appreciation for the QUALITY. It's not expected even.

      Well! Getting this precious music is like once in a life-time kind of a situation. What's wrong in humbly requesting a high quality rip? Pl. think!

      Dr. Burange

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    2. Hi Prasad,

      I think I've discussed this previously, but I don't believe 24 bits will add any value. 16 bits is still a high quality (probably much more than the dynamic range of these old vinyls anyway) - and it's easier for me to record in 16 bits through USB and prevent unwanted noise at the same time from the RCA cables and amp which I would need to record in 24 bits through separate equipment. Therefore I'll be only posting 16 bits for the time being.

      Kirrin

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    3. Thanks a lot, Kirrin! I got your point. No issues, please! You are doing a pretty decent job of ripping the LPs and sharing those among the music lovers! I appreciate your great contribution.

      Thank you again,

      Regards,

      Prasad

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  4. Wow beautiful quality transfer, what a great recording and performance. Mahapurush Misra is superb in his tabla accompaniment, two masters at work.
    Many thanks again Kirrin.

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  5. I think "pretty decent" is quite an understatement. These transfers are superb!

    I am one who appreciates 24 bit audio and one who downloads 24 bit when people like Richard at FB&C offer those files. However, audible differences are subtle.

    Kirrin has already explained he feels he has a better (quieter) signal path with his 16/48 set up vs the signal path it would require to get to 24 bit.

    I have full faith in his ability to weigh the trade-offs. I'm impressed (no amazed!) at the quality of his transfers. For me they are a treasure.

    I appreciate the work put into re-transferring these latest batch of recording that were first offered as MP3s.

    I don't personally listen to MP3s due to the degraded sound quality and I listen to my archived recordings using either a pair of reference Genelec 1030A speakers or quality Audio Technics M50 headphones. On either, these transfers are superb.

    Kirrin has my deepest respect for the quality of the informative posts, the music selections themselves , and the quality of the audio.

    Many thanks!

    Bill











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    Replies
    1. Thanks again Bill,

      I have the mid-model Audio Technica ATH-M40X headphones - best thing I ever bought!! I don't care about the size and I wear them outside and the two length cables are really handy. They are also comfortable. I will definitely upgrade to the 50x next time. Do you have any personal comparison with the 40x? I imagine the bass would be a bit better and some added highs? I read that 40x is a bit more neutral (good for editing) and 50 better for enjoyment and everyday application.

      Kirrin

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  6. Kirrin, I do not have direct experience with M40X's. I'm been thinking about getting a pair for my son (age 13).

    He and my wife were "borrowing" my M50s so much that this last Christmas I got her a 50X pair of her own (mine are the pre-X version). The boy ended up getting headphones with a mic that he could use with X Box chat with his cronies.

    I find the M50s to be pretty neutral, actually. While they have a nice crisp bass response, but I would not desire headphones with an unnatural bass bump (as I use them for audio monitoring and mixing purposes for film/video work).

    I've heard nothing but good things about those M40X's. I love our M50 and M50X's.

    While large, I have started taking them to the pool where my son plays water polo in the evenings, and it has been a little surreal to have Hindustani classical music while hanging out on the desk of this lovely outdoor pool while watching my kid playing water polo in the beautiful weather we've been having.

    It's an unusual combo, but it works.

    Bill





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    Replies
    1. It's really great that some companies can produce such a good quality without charging mountains. I know what you mean, I listen to this music when I go running. Most people like to get pumped up with some beats, but I just fall into a trance and exercise feels a lot more enjoyable.

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  7. Thanks Kirrin and Bill for sharing the great information! I respect the music lovers and off course, the music rippers. Vinyls are gaining momentum in India. There is a class among youths who likes old music from bollywood and some like ancient Indian Classical. I often visit New Delhi. They have a few shops (particularly in Old Delhi area) solely dedicated to the vinyls. Online shopping is also on the rise. If anybody is interested in Bollywood Vinyls, pl. let me know. I have quite a few rips.

    Initially, I avoided vinyls for its background clicks. Eventually, I started loving it. Yes! Richard is working very hard to make available 24 bit music. Well! It is NOT very hard to get the CDs of the same LPs over here especially in bigger cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, etc. But the engineers subdue the classic vinyl touch in the CDs. Charm of vinyl is important.

    By the way, by any chance, do you or anybody have M.S. Subbulaxmi's collection in Vinyl?

    Thank you all again,

    Regards,

    Prasad

    ReplyDelete