Does someone own a copy of this Machina promo?

[Cool As Ice Cream]

This is the promo we’re talking about: http://www.spfreaks.com/default.aspx?pa … &item=1094
(Band name in huge letters on the back insert, no mention of the album title, I of the Morning instead of I of the Mourning.)

The Sacred and Profane and Age of Innocence.
– And we are wondering if this cd contains unmastered audio.

Does anyone own a copy of this promo?
Can you check these two points and let us know?

If you don’t know how to check this, could you please provide the following from your copy:
– an mp3 (or flac, or wave) of The Sacred and Profane and/or Age of Innocence
– a flac (or wave) of any song (The Everlasting Gaze would be good, for example)

Thank you very much!

[Arthur]

I know at least 2 owners. 1 of them is not so far away from where I live, so let me ask. I’ll be back.

[amnesia]

Yeah, any info on this particular promo would be appreciated.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

– a flac (or wave) of any song (The Everlasting Gaze would be good, for example)[/quote:1wn3zqdm]
I think an mp3 of The Everlasting Gaze would also be enough for us to see if it’s a pre-master or not. Flac is better, but mp3 should work too (in case flac would be a problem).

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Thanks Arthur for the audio files. I checked them and can conclude that:
– this cd does not contain an alternate mix for The Sacred and Profane
– this cd does not contain any pre-mastered audio

It’s a nice promo cd, but the audio is identical to the commercial release.

On the other hand, mayonaise has sent me audio from another Machina promo, and the results are very interesting. I believe we found the pre-master, at last!
Let me just say this: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

[amnesia]

So you are sure my Machina promo is the Pre-Master copy ?
Not bad, if it is.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Yes, I’m certain that it is.

[Arthur]

Is the one from mayonaise different from this one?

http://www.spfreaks.com/default.aspx?pa … S&item=184

and/or this one?

http://www.spfreaks.com/default.aspx?pa … S&item=183

[Cool As Ice Cream]

yes, it is.
(your 15-track wasn’t unmastered. only stand inside your love and half of glass and the ghost children was better (less compressed) than the commercial release.)

this is the one mayo has: http://www.spfreaks.com/default.aspx?pa … &item=2602

[Cool As Ice Cream]

i believe EAZYE121 also owns a copy of it.

it would be very awesome to get a proper flac rip of it (preferably made with EAC, with correct offset settings, etc.)

[amnesia]

yes, it is.
(your 15-track wasn’t unmastered. only stand inside your love and half of glass and the ghost children was better (less compressed) than the commercial release.)

this is the one mayo has: http://www.spfreaks.com/default.aspx?pa … &item=2602[/quote:i5oou7oq]

Its not entirely true, what i mean.Yes thats the one i have, and yet its not.The promo i have has the same cover, but its in a plastic sleeve insted of cd insert, yet my cd doesnt have that Virgin logo on it, its a cd-r, nothing is writting on it.Does this mean mine is a different type then the one we have pictures of?
Seems maybe this is some sort of a orginal pre-master disc or somehing else, i really dont know, then the cds with the Virgin logo are copies from the original pre-master disc.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

ummm… sounds like a different version indeed. the only thing they seem to have in common is the paper insert. (is that even identical, or does it just look very similar?)
what about the text you can see on that scan? is that also present on your copy?

anyway, right now i wouldn’t conclude that the one i linked to is a premaster. just because both come with the same insert, doesn’t necessarily mean they contain the same audio. it’s not impossible though. we will have to ask eazye121 to rip a track from his green virgin logo cd. then we can check.

eazye121? can you rip and share the everlasting gaze from your machina promo cd?

[amnesia]

I took some pictures of my Machina promo.

[amnesia]

Ooopps.Double post

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Paper insert looks identical. Cd is clearly a completely different cd. But could contain the same audio (where your cd might have been used as the original cd, and the green Virgin logo cds are copies of your cd). Who knows…

[amnesia]

Paper insert looks identical. Cd is clearly a completely different cd. But could contain the same audio (where your cd might have been used as the original cd, and the green Virgin logo cds are copies of your cd). Who knows…[/quote:1oog3auc]

Yes.Thats what i believe as well, mine is the orginal pre-master, and the cds with the Virgin logos are copies from the original pre-master cd.But again, as you say, Bram, who knows.

Edit: Wonder how many there are of those original pre-master cds?, also if its rare ??

[EAZYE121]

Here you go Coolio

[url:3vi4lqno]http://www.sendspace.com/file/zg6dxo[/url:3vi4lqno]

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Here you go Coolio

[url:1feb4ee8]http://www.sendspace.com/file/zg6dxo[/url:1feb4ee8][/quote:1feb4ee8]
Thanks a lot. Like you already expected, this is not the same audio as on mayonaise’s cd. It’s not identical to the commercial release either, but it doesn’t look like what we’re looking for.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

look, i made this:

<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=eydwoifzifg&thumb=5:2jzp2y7h][/url:2jzp2y7h”>

i compared the first 90 seconds of the everlasting gaze. (click image to see bigger versions.)

it looks like they started with mayonaise’s copy, then cut off the highest peaks (eazye121’s copy), and then made everything louder (commercial release).

[manillascissor]

look, i made this:

<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=eydwoifzifg&thumb=5:2p8sfmly][/url:2p8sfmly”>

i compared the first 90 seconds of the everlasting gaze. (click image to see bigger versions.)

it looks like they started with mayonaise’s copy, then cut off the highest peaks (eazye121’s copy), and then made everything louder (commercial release).[/quote:2p8sfmly]

very cool.

so the highest peaks thing. are we talking audible sound here or sound we can’t hear anyway?

[Cool As Ice Cream]

gee, i don’t really know too much about this, to be honest.
here’s a wiki page about clipping: [url:sci45tp7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(audio)[/url:sci45tp7]

you can hear those highest peaks. but they get rid of them so they can increase the overall volume of the cd. chopped off peaks result in an unpleasant sound. and you lose some of the information.

they, in music in general, have been doing this systematically for a while now, and it gets worse. i think it’s about being the loudest. louder songs get more attention of the listener.
edit: wiki page about this issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

i think it’s a real shame the pumpkins also do this. (this happens on every billy corgan release since machina. not sure about adore.)
they go through all the effort of recording all of zeitgeist in analog, but then they release it on cd, massacred like this. i wonder what the point of recording in analog is then.

[DREVPILE]

good question

[mickyshambles]

i think recording to tape and then converting to digital will still keep a lot of the analogue feel that you wouldn’t have if you recorded straight to digital.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

even with all the compression?

[mickyshambles]

yeah, when you transfer any tape to a wave file, you won’t remove the sound of the tape/hiss. it’s the same with the multitrack tape they use, except you don’t notice hiss very much coz the tape is so much wider. you can’t remove a generation.
that’s my crude way of explaining it.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

looks like mayonaise’s copy isn’t a premaster after all.

i now believe her cd contains the same audio as eazye’s cd, but the files she first sent me were encoded in WMA. apparently this changes the wave form a lot, and makes it look like there’s no clipping going on.
i have always been convinced that encoding audio to mp3 or wma didn’t change this, but i was wrong.

[Author]

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