Japanese Cardboard cd's 2004

Rien 23.02.2004 16:34	edited: I've uploaded one track of every Queen cardboard album as far as I have them right now (first 8 albums) I've uploaded 4 tracks from the Japanese cardboard cd's onto my site (see Download). It's told it are remastered versions and the sound should be great. Well, I must say the sleeves are stunning, even the included inner sleeves. Exact replicas from the original vinyl albums. They do sound great I think. I would like to have some honest feedback from you. Of course these are only 4 tracks and it are mp3-files (320Kbps). Well, what do you think?
YourValentine 23.02.2004 17:24	Are they copy protected, Rien?
MexQueenFM 23.02.2004 17:40	They sound really good!
Daburcor? 23.02.2004 17:43	Wow! These are great! Thank you Rien! I SOOOOOOOO have to buy these CD's now!:D
Rien 23.02.2004 17:52	I think they're not copy protected. e.g. the Japanese JEWELS cd is copy-protected. On that cd a player is installed so it can be played on a pc too.
Penis - Vagina 23.02.2004 17:55	I'm looking forward to getting these eventually. A little broke at the moment but I'm gonna try to get a couple a month starting next month, and beginning with the later albums. Since I have the 1998 card sleeves, I'll leave those first 8 until the end :) Anyone know the best price for U.S. buyers? CD Universe has a special page for these: link $36.79 to $39.19 They also don't have a specific listing for the alternate Made In Heaven cover which I'd like to get. Edit: Looks like they went the common path of 'louder must be better' for these 2001 remasters. link Not that there's anything wrong with it since they seem to sound good and everyone seems to be doing this lately. I just don't see why it's necessary. It also makes compilations a bitch, as you have to either make other tracks ridiculously loud to match, or clip the loud ones which kills dynamic range. Oh well.
inu-liger 23.02.2004 19:48	Queen Rocks is equally as loud and it's not necessarily the best quality either. I don't hear people complaining about that one :P
Penis - Vagina 23.02.2004 19:58	Very true. I noticed 'No-One But You' is clipped a little on Greatest Hits 3 as they chose not to make the disc as loud as Rocks and obviously took it from that master rather than properly remastering it at a lower level. It's always obvious by the fact that the wave is limited to a certain size rather than showing a good range of dynamics. It's funny to think of music visually :) I used to edit with a pause button on a cassette deck. So much more precise visually. Here's something to ponder. Music has been heard backwards and upside down.. what might it sound like sideways? ;)
inu-liger 23.02.2004 20:00	"Very true. I noticed 'No-One But You' is clipped a little on Greatest Hits 3 as they chose not to make the disc as loud as Rocks and obviously took it from that master rather than properly remastering it at a lower level" Hmm, never noticed that. Btw. they should be remastering all the tracks on GVH3 when it comes out later this Oct/Nov., right? If not, is there a Queen Rocks remaster CB disc coming out in Japan, or has it already come out?
Penis - Vagina 24.02.2004 00:52	Well, the DVDs come with fresh DTS mixes and I assume the PCM versions are remastered at the same time, so yes. I haven't heard anything about 'Rocks' being remastered. Would be nice if they'd fix that horrible glitch on FBG.
Adam Baboolal 24.02.2004 13:05	Deacon Fan please tell me you've used a Compressor/Limter before. Or at least know of one. This is in part, why the image differs greatly. It's probably true that they simply used the Mix-masters and mastered into 24-bit. And in using the EQ-ing, a final compressor was both necesary and very useful. It's not a simple case of making it louder. Part of the deal, but not the be-all-and-end-all. And remember what Joe Meek always used to say, "If it sounds right. It is!" Hehe However because of the approach taken, there are slight problems. You And I both suffer from this approach. The You and I vocal is a little too toppy and upfront because of it. Sometimes the guitars on Dragon Attack are also a little too toppy. The other two, DSMN and WNY, both sound nice. But overall, these 2001 remasters have really opened up the sound. The 24-bit sound was a much needed step. I'm just glad that someone finally realised. Peace, Adam. P.S. Thanks for posting these Rien. You didn't buy QueenII by any chance? :)
Penis - Vagina 24.02.2004 14:42	Is it not possible to utilize such techniques without increasing the average level so much? I realize that the Queen sound in many instances is the result of compression (thanks to reading some of Justin's notes) and I know there are vast differences between digital and analog levels. I just don't see why each remaster becomes so much louder than the previous. And even with compression, don't you lose some of the separation of elements and they become lost in a 'wall of sound'?
Adam Baboolal 24.02.2004 15:24	I can only guess for the reasons to make a cd hotter. But because of the way digital works and the new 24-bit masters being used - I would guess that they want to make use of as much of the headroom as possible. A very good thing. And may I add, not overdone. My second point is that when you're EQ-ing and using compression, the level will undoubtedly rise. Especially if trying to retain the original masters' sound. That's a given. Using EQ is like boosting the volume in a specific frequency range, e.g. 80Hz and 8kHz are common ones to find on a hi-fi. I'm sure you know that. But the point is that the level increases in those specific areas that the compression is needed. Hi-fi owners aren't given a lot of leyway, but if you turn something up too far, it distorts. A compressor/limiter avoids that. An especially important piece of kit when mixing in digital! But don't think that compression is part of the key to the Queen sound. It is and it isn't! The original analog recordings were pushed into the red on tape and that resulted in the compression JSS probably meant. And also the warm and mildly distorted sound. "Is it not possible to utilize such techniques without increasing the average level so much?" Nope. "And even with compression, don't you lose some of the separation of elements and they become lost in a 'wall of sound'?" Again, yes and no. As long as it's done right, it won't occur. And when you move around a speaker, the whole thing changes anyway. So don't let it concern you that much. Who sits like a rock in front of their speakers!?! Just don't go crazy with compression. And DSMN is hardly to the "wall". So it's cool. Now, Loser in the End is to the wall! Nope. Peace, Adam.
Rien 24.02.2004 16:56	Adam, before reading your post I had just uploaded Nevermore from Queen II. I've all the released 2004 cardboard cd's. Yesterday I ordered the next series (were released today I think) and also the two versions of Made In Heaven. So I will receive Flash Gordon/.../Innuendo in about 4 days.
MexQueenFM 24.02.2004 16:59	stupid question Rien, where did you order them from?
Rien 24.02.2004 17:14	I ordered them from link Not cheap! There's handling and postage to be paid and after arrival (after 4 days they're delivered from Japan to the Netherlands) I receive a letter from the Custom Office to pay another 50 Euros, just because of importing these cd's from outside Europe....
MexQueenFM 24.02.2004 17:18	wow! that's a lot of money, thanks for the link Rien :)
MexQueenFM 24.02.2004 17:18	double post
Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silveira 25.02.2004 01:01	"Who sits like a rock in front of their speakers!?!" Me when I'm driving my car? ;) Cheers, Ogre-
Richard Orchard 25.02.2004 03:07	hi, I got the first eight of these today, and they are absolutely beutiful. I got the Hollywood Crown Jewels release a while ago because i like the mini-lp concept. There is no comparison with these though. They totally outclass the hollywood release. Richard
Richard Orchard 25.02.2004 03:08	i got mine from link - they have english pages. they cost about $24 US each. currency converter : link Richard
inu-liger 25.02.2004 10:29	CDJapan is very expensive to order from. When I ordered two CDs and a DVD+CD set from them last year, I ended up paying around $60-$70 CDN for these discs altogether including shipping and duties and postage and stuff..... 'f course, that won't prevent me from ordering from them in the future - they're one of the best Japanese websites for ordering CDs DVDs and LaserDiscs. Did you guys know they still have some Queen LD's on that site for sale?
KevMull 25.02.2004 12:31	How 'identical' to the sleeve are they? i.e. Is NATO, Races etc gatefold? Do they include orig inner sleeves? Surely not lyrics too!
MexQueenFM 25.02.2004 12:35	"i got mine from link - they have english pages. they cost about $24 US each. currency converter : link Richard" Thanks Richard, I'll check that out
Rien 25.02.2004 15:11	The sleeves are identical to the vinyl versions. And as Brian May said, the GAME cover is stunning because it's really like the original one. The original gatefold ones are mini-gatefolds too. JAZZ has the mini bicycle poster attached as a fold out poster onto the album sleeve. They also have exact replicas of the inner sleeves in which the vinyl album was stored. QUEEN II, SHA, NOTW, and THE GAME have lyrics on the inner sleeves. QUEEN has no lyrics on the inner sleeve, gatefolds have lyrics as on the vinyl versions (inside of gatefold sleeve). Besides this ALL albums have a separate fold-out paper with the titles and lyrics in Japanese and English. The cd's itself have the print as the center label on the vinyl album. It are all replicas of the UK albums. I'd hoped that SHA would have a gatefold sleeve, but of course this is also the UK version - so no gatefold. I say this, because besides a UK vinyl album of SHA I also have a French version of this, which is a gatefold sleeve with the lyrics printed inside. When I bought that French vinyl album (somewhere in the 70's) it was a revelation to me, because that was the first time I'd seen SHA with the lyrics added. Remember, in those days we did not have internet to find lyrics and I got my first Queen songbook some years after I got that French album.
KevMull 26.02.2004 05:55	Thanks Rien Will you be putting some pics of some of 'em on ur web page?
Rien 26.02.2004 08:00	This has to wait I guess. The digital cam from my work has been stolen, so we'll have to get a new one. Think I'm gonna buy one myself soon. The mp3 files of these cd's have been deleted (only one is still on), due to heavy download in 24 hours. In December my site went down for 16 days and I want to avoid that for a second time!
Adam Baboolal 26.02.2004 10:44	You took em down? Aww... Maybe just two at a time? Like how Deacon Fan does it. EDIT: My PC crashed when I got your files and I lost them. I think you put up a second set of files. Any chance of PM-ing me with them? Peace, Adam.
Rien 26.02.2004 12:20	Well, I also don't want to give them all away. I've actually put them up there so one could get a glance of the quality of those cd's. I'll see what I can do.
Pim Derks 26.02.2004 13:06	"I've actually put them up there so one could get a glance of the quality of those cd's." 'low' quality mp3 doesn't match 20-bit CD masters anyway Rien :-) I'll probably going to get them soon.... I found a contact in Japan who can get them for me for about 23 euros each (incl. porto) :-)
Penis - Vagina 26.02.2004 14:16	That's a good point Pim. Nothing against you Rien.. I would personally never put someone down for sharing anything.. but I was a little surprised at the differences in responses between this and when I started my project. The only way you could really tell a difference in quality would be to listen to a 320 MP3 of a different master back to back with these, besides these are the 2001 remasters that have been around for nearly three years now. And they called _my_ project redundant ;)
Daburcor? 26.02.2004 14:16	I'm gonna get them! Thanks for sharing these with us Rien! That was kind of you! :D
Rien 26.02.2004 14:40	"low quality"? I've compressed the wav-files into 320Kbps mp3-files. As I said before, it was just to get someone's opinion about these cd's. And I stated that it were 'just' mp3-files. I've left two files on my site. A "new" one, Dead On Time. I always try to offer something new or odd, so the files will be deleted soon. "end-of-project".
Adam Baboolal 26.02.2004 18:16	I'm very surprised of your comments, DF. Of all people, I would've expected you to understand the most. 1. These aren't available to all fans. They're from Japan and not many will have the luxury to both find and pay for them. 2. Some fans need to hear these before making a decision on perhaps buying them. I have been searching for clips from these remasters since they were released. Rien is the first to give me an insight. Something I must thankyou for Rien! 3. Pim, even though they're MP3's, that doesn't mean I can't tell the difference between these and my 1993/4 remasters that are currently encoded in 256kbps. Why assume that no-one hear will hear the differences? There's enough information to hear what we need to base a decision on perhaps purchasing them. "I was a little surprised at the differences in responses between this and when I started my project" You offered karaoke tracks that you re-edited together with other readily available tracks. Rien let us hear these sought after discs. Sorry, but like others have said, the karaoke tracks are more easy to find. These remasters really aren't. "The only way you could really tell a difference in quality would be to listen to a 320 MP3 of a different master back to back with these" It's not right to assume. MP3's at full 320 bitrate are very acceptable. IMO even 192 is still acceptable. Of course there's a loss, but does that mean that it's so bad that we can't make our own minds up? -------- Rien, take no notice. I'm very interested to hear what's been done to the sound of the first 2 albums especially. And if you get the remasters from Works to MIH. Please, please offer a track from each. Like I said above, for 2 and a half years I have never even found one clip of these on the internet. You changed that sad fact... -------- Peace, Adam.
Rien 26.02.2004 19:02	Well thanks Adam. At least you got my point (and you are not the only one I must say). Thanks for your input. I wanted someone to judge these discs (if possible, with the one track per album I offered). And I wanted to encourage people to perhaps buy these cd's. I cannot show you how they look, right now, but the artwork alone is a reason to buy them. I fully agree with Brian May's statement about this collection, on his site. When the next series arrive (early next week) I'll do the same. One track per cd. I'll just call that a NEW project... :-))
Penis - Vagina 26.02.2004 19:12	I'm very surprised of your comments, DF. Of all people, I would've expected you to understand the most. >1. These aren't available to all fans. They're from Japan and not many will have the luxury to both find and pay for them. WRONG. Just like the karaoke disc, (also from Japan) they're available to anyone who wants to buy them online. In fact moreso now.. the karaokes aren't even listed at HMV anymore. >2. Some fans need to hear these before making a decision on perhaps buying them. That's a ridiculous argument. You cannot hear the full benefit of something being remastered when it's reduced to even the highest quality MP3. Perhaps your ear is a little jaded from getting a bunch of stuff free online rather than buying them. You stated that the hub is where you got the karaokes, for example. You should buy some real CDs sometime and hear the difference. >I have been searching for clips from these remasters since they were released. Perhaps you could have bought them for yourself by now. You certainly recommend the 2001 remasters rather highly whenever a newbie asks 'what should I get?' Without having checked them out yourself? Is the praise of people who own them enough to make you recommend them, yet in three years hasn't been enough to get you to buy them yourself? >You offered karaoke tracks that you re-edited together with other readily available tracks. Rien let us hear these sought after discs. Sorry, but like others have said, the karaoke tracks are >more easy to find. These remasters really aren't. Again, purely your own fantasy. You jumped on me, as you always do, because you enjoy dismissing anything I try to do around here. From now on when I share something, it's not for you, try to remember that and ignore it. I don't need your opinion because you're clearly of a mindset to shit on anything I do, so stay the fuck out of my way, thank you.
Rien 26.02.2004 19:32	To make one thing clear (if needed): I don't always follow who's with who or who's against who at Queenzone. And I don't like to sit in between Adam and DF. (well, not if an argument is the subject) :-) So... I know I like the Japanese versions and to me that's it. Happy arguing. (can be healthy at times) :)
Penis - Vagina 26.02.2004 20:01	Hi Rien, got your email btw :) I'm sorry if this sounded like I was discouraging you... that wasn't my intention. Only an idiot would discourage someone from sharing whatever they wanted to.. you never know what they might share in the future that you would be interested in. If I'm not interested in something, I simply don't download it/don't reply. What point is there to replying to someone to say you're not interested? :) But that's what happened at first in my instrumental sharing thread so in the case of yours, in which arguments could be made as to the worth (again this isn't my opinion). I thought it an interesting contrast. Perhaps I should have just kept quiet. I'm sorry for injecting this into your thread.
Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silveira 26.02.2004 20:40	"I don't like to sit in between Adam and DF. (well, not if an argument is the subject) :-)" LOL Rien! And, BTW, thanks for the files, as always! &:^) Cheers, Ogre-
Adam Baboolal 27.02.2004 08:51	DF why do you always think I'm against you? Do you not remember me praising your threads because they're some of the most interesting on this board? I really don't know where you get this thing about me not liking you. If you don't like any criticisms that I make, then maybe it's you who doesn't like me... Peace, Adam.
Adam Baboolal 27.02.2004 09:13	"they're available to anyone who wants to buy them online." Hands up who has a credit card here? Not me. Guess what, I can't buy them. I'd have to ask someone else to help. "You certainly recommend the 2001 remasters rather highly whenever a newbie asks 'what should I get?'" That's because these are considered the best versions of the current Queen albums. And now that I've heard them, I agree. Would you buy a cd remaster from 1993 or the newly remastered version from 2001? Especially since there haven't been any reports of mastering mistakes. "Is the praise of people who own them enough to make you recommend them, yet in three years hasn't been enough to get you to buy them yourself?" What can I say, I trust people like Lisa G when she posted about them. And now Rien has offered these to us all. "You cannot hear the full benefit of something being remastered when it's reduced to even the highest quality MP3." This sounds like you don't hear the difference, so why should anyone else? Well, not everyone hears things the same. I'm trained to hear things and can trust my ears. I definitely hear, without a doubt, a huge difference. Like I mentioned in my critique about Dragon Attack, it's too toppy in places. But something like Who Needs You is very nicely done. "Perhaps your ear is a little jaded from getting a bunch of stuff free online rather than buying them. You stated that the hub is where you got the karaokes, for example. You should buy some real CDs sometime and hear the difference." Now that's a dig! So I picked up some karaoke MP3 files for nothing. Ooooh... It's not like I downloaded my Queen albums. Of course MP3's don't sound as good as the cd. But there's enough there to hear, otherwise why would anyone still be using them 7 years later? Oh, and I use MP3's because then I don't have to dig out a cd everytime I want to listen. That doesn't stop me though! DF, I don't know what I've down to incur your wrath! But dude, I've said it before, I like your posts. Don't turn me away because I offered some criticism on what you and Pim were saying. PEACE, Adam.
Rien 27.02.2004 10:06	Just today a dutch Queen fan informed me about the possibility to order these 2004-cd's through link You can choose different sites (UK, Netherlands, Germany, Japan etc). On the UK-site I did not find a page for CD's, but on the Dutch site you can choose MUZIEK. There indeed are the Toshiba 2004 releases. It's stated there that the delivery will take 4-6 weeks. (euro 28 per cd). As you know I've ordered them from CDJAPAN and got them delivered after 4 days.
inu-liger 27.02.2004 12:16	My comments: >1. These aren't available to all fans. They're from Japan and not many will have the luxury to both find and pay for them. "WRONG. Just like the karaoke disc, (also from Japan) they're available to anyone who wants to buy them online. In fact moreso now.. the karaokes aren't even listed at HMV anymore." HA! I don't have a credit card, and so if I were to want to order them, which I can't atm., having no jobs to pay for such CDs, I'd have to send cash registered. SURE it sounds easy, right? WRONG. First I have to purchase either US or JPN cash, and I have to pay a fee if I want JPN cash. And then I have to pay $11 CDN just to register the envelope with the cash, and I have to wait longer. I'll tell you something, I ordered these three CD's and DVD below and it cost me $70 CDN approx. in total!!! (this happened last summer) Pocket Monsters - Poruka O Doruka Asuca Hayashi - Chiisaki Mono Asuca Hayashi - Chiisaki Mono (DVD Single + 1 track bonus CD) >2. Some fans need to hear these before making a decision on perhaps buying them. "That's a ridiculous argument. You cannot hear the full benefit of something being remastered when it's reduced to even the highest quality MP3. Perhaps your ear is a little jaded from getting a bunch of stuff free online rather than buying them. You stated that the hub is where you got the karaokes, for example. You should buy some real CDs sometime and hear the difference. " DF, technology to make MP3's has improved these last few years. When I open 320kbps MP3's on goldwave and use a karaoke effect on them, it is exactly the same as a CD file - no wet or muddy sounds at all!! These sound also exactly like CD files. It depends on which ENCODER you are using! >I have been searching for clips from these remasters since they were released. "Perhaps you could have bought them for yourself by now. You certainly recommend the 2001 remasters rather highly whenever a newbie asks 'what should I get?' Without having checked them out yourself? Is the praise of people who own them enough to make you recommend them, yet in three years hasn't been enough to get you to buy them yourself?" Hey, DF, you don't have to own ALL the tracks to recommend something. I've listened to one of Rien's MP3s and I would already be ready to recommend these remasters myself, despite the fact that I don't even have money for a long time to buy these import discs. I am amazed at the quality of these remasters myself.
inu-liger 27.02.2004 13:14	Btw. I looked on CDJapan, and they have a cardboard remaster CD of Made In Heaven that has the same LP cover (the sunset cover), just for anyone who may be interested link
Penis - Vagina 27.02.2004 13:23	My point was NOT that there is no reason to share these.. if someone wants to download them for whatever reason (I downloaded just one to see what the waveform looked like) then great. I feel very strongly that if someone buys something they can share it however they want. I was simply stating arguments which could be made, the same as with what I shared and even moreso in this case (my opinion) compared with my 'project'. It just struck me as funny. But as I said, perhaps I should have kept quiet. BTW, I don't have a credit card either. I use my handy debit card, which works the same way online.
inu-liger 27.02.2004 13:23	"I think they're not copy protected. e.g. the Japanese JEWELS cd is copy-protected. On that cd a player is installed so it can be played on a pc too." I dislike those players. The quality of those files on that player are horrible quality. Btw. I have the Australian CD of the Vanguard "Flash" single, and I am having a problem. My computer has a CD-R burner that was made before the copy protection aglorithms (csp?) were implemented, and so it can read CDs that may be copyprotected (I only have three CDs so far, this one and two from Japan, that are copy-protected). I have no problems ripping the audio from the Asuca Hayashi CD's from Japan, but when I try to rip the Flash CD, even at a synched slow speed, there is clipping at the same spots each time. Does anyone know how I can get across this problem?
Adam Baboolal 27.02.2004 14:26	Hey DF, what debit card have you got? Maybe I can try that too.
Penis - Vagina 27.02.2004 15:45	It's a Visa 'Check Card'. My bank doesn't even charge a fee, as long as I use it at least 5 times a month (never a problem). It comes out of my checking account instantly, so the money has to actually be there and there's no actual 'credit'. (Although many places offer the choice of whether to make it a debit (with your pin number) or credit and it works either way.) I've never had any trouble buying stuff online. The only thing you aren't supposed to be able to do is one of those split payment deals, like where it would charge a certain amount each month.. I think they must know by the numbers whether it's an actual credit card in cases like that. Visa. It's everywhere you want to be. Edit: I'd avoid MasterCard if possible. Fewer places seem to take it and even Wal Marts here recently stopped accepting them for credit (still can be used as debit) because they apparently charge the stores higher fees for processing.

QueenZone discussion #319820

Japanese Cardboard cd's 2004