Display More“I think that Steve Hoffman thinks that he is the only person who knows how to remaster CDS the best sounding way. At his web site any one who doesn't agree with his way of doing things are instantly banned.
He also promoted the one sided misinformation about a so called " loudness war ".
Where some albums too loud? Yes , but the vast majority were not.”
I’m sorry but this is absolutely not true! I’ve been a member over at SHF for many years and people are NOT banned from disagreeing with Steve (or anyone else). We do get into some complex and occasionally heated discussions and members have been banned due to offensive and aggressive language, but the same can be said of any forum. Including this one. And quite rightly.
As for the ‘loudness wars’, this is a term with a much wider usage than just the SHF. It refers to a current mastering trend that serves everything at the same basic level with no (or very little) dynamic range. And it utterly kills the quality of recorded sound….
Posts by moomaloo
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Hello all. I’ve just joined this forum so hello and thanks to all! I was at the Glasgow gig and this is the review (of sorts) that I posted elsewhere:
I was also at the Glasgow gig last night. - After a fun day’s record shopping (first time I’ve done that in many a moon…). I enjoyed the gig immensely but my thoughts are still a little jumbled… Things I thought include:
It was great to be at a gig again after so long.
It was great to see so many like-minded people and so many from the EU.
Even though I was quite prepared, I was shocked by just how frail Phil is.
That said, although his voice has a somewhat different tone now his vocals were many, many times better than I though they would be and any initial shortcomings were quickly forgotten.
But - he really needed an autocue. There were some lyrical collisions; rather too many really… I don’t think Duchess was right. That’s All was a bit of a train wreck. He missed the denouement to Home By The Sea completely.
Strangely, he was much better at remembering the PG-era lyrics…. (Though he had a senior moment in DWTMK).
None of the above really mattered. - In fact it kind of added to the intimate, celebratory nature of the evening.
Yes ‘intimate’. - Whilst this is a big production in a huge arena the fact that the ‘front man’ is seated centre stage with a simple side table and a bottle of water gave it a sort of small theatre vibe. It made his spoken and sung parts somehow more direct, more personal. And that impression was from towards the back of the hall.
The opening Duke instrumental suffered from a few odd timing issues. I don’t know who was responsible but Nic seemed a bit thrown off his stride at times. That worried me but they regained their momentum soon after and were possibly tighter than the last couple of times I’ve seen them.
Nic. Phenomenal. Simple as that. - I had worried in advance that the lack of two drummers would leave a big hole. And it perhaps didn’t quite work in one or two places where one is so used to the previous live versions where Phil and Chester were allowed to give it full throttle. But (and this is important!) I thought that the older instrumental stuff was the most ‘authentic’ I have ever heard it in a live setting (not having seen the Gabriel lineup). At those times, having just one (brilliant) drummer just like it used to be worked much better for me…
I’m still processing it all really. But the overall impression was of a wonderful and, at times, emotional evening. The fact that I even found myself enjoying Invisible Touch says it all really…!
Yes Phil does look like a sleepy tortoise or a baby owl. But that’s not his fault and that man can absolutely still sing. A brave and, in the final analysis, triumphant performance and a top night out!
