Sunday, March 29, 2015

Tanda of the Week 13/2015 - Juan D'Arienzo instrumentals 1935-1937


1. Juan D'Arienzo - "Nueve de julio" 1935 - TangoTunes
2. Juan D'Arienzo - "Comme il faut" 1936 - TangoTunes
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "Jueves" 1937 - TangoTunes
4. Juan D'Arienzo - "Gallo ciego" 1937 - TangoTunes

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/0cKZeMpxSS7Tv92RKa1gIM
The folks at TangoTunes.com have made yet another release of the music of Juan D'Arienzo! These songs were released already earlier but after renewing their whole digitization and mastering process we can enjoy the music in even better quality.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1192475891In order to listen to the song samples of the TangoTunes releases, please click on the TangoTunes links next to the songs on the above list. The Spotify and Deezer playlists have the songs from other commercial releases since the TangoTunes releases are available only on their online store.


While the songs sound great and due to the release I received a few songs in clearly better quality than what I had before... some of the songs do have more shellac record noise than many other releases out there and I'll leave it to you to decide what you think of it.

The reason for this is explained by TangoTunes: "After the transfer gentle declicking and removal of pops is applied. Since mid 2014 we do not use any automatic algorithms anymore, as they distort the whole sound spectrum too heavily. Instead, we chose to accept the inevitable surface noise when transferring a shellac."

I have personally carefully edited or filtered some of these tracks for my own use with slightly lesser record noise. Using the basic EQ of a mixer will not do the job but for example the iTunes or WinAmp softwares have something like a 10-band equalizer and cutting out the 8K and 16K bands might be a good solution although not an optimal one. With Traktor Pro I use a special filter that I've adjusted to my needs and that works quite well if I haven't pre-edited the song.

Here's what was said in the TangoTunes newsletter:

"We happily announce the first three compilations of the new Golden Ear edition: "Todo de Juan" 1–3, crisp and clear Tango sound with ever-rhythmic, dynamic Juan D'Arienzo. "Todo de Juan 1–6" will comprise all tunes from Juan D'Arienzo 1935–1939 in chronological order.
With the Golden Ear edition we establish new important facts:
  • Only full discographies in right chronological order on the albums.
  • Renewed and better digitization and mastering process. Read more about the digitization chain.
  • New file format AIFF: 16bit/44,1 kHz, mono. It's come to replace the previous M4A (all previous releases will still be offered in M4A). AIFF is as user-friendly and playable in practically all music players. FLAC stays as usual in 24bit/96 kHz, mono.
  • New bundles and base prices: 1,49 € AIFF, 1,79 € FLAC. FLAC and AIFF are shipped separately (no more double files like former FLAC+M4A). The reduced bit rate/sample rate leads to the reduced price of the AIFF.
If we say, we changed everything in the digitization chain, this may sound dramatic, but it's true: Everything. We hired the best sound engineer we can possibly dream of, established a shiny new audio station in Vienna and finally come up with new file formats and simply good Tango sound!
Whether you already bought one or the other tune or a whole compilation of D'Arienzo – when you buy an album from the Golden Ear edition, you will be compensated with store credit for the substituted tunes. Please visit our website for more detailed information about our compensation offer.

I made this tanda based on the songs from the first three compilations and with a time span of 1935-1937. Almost all of the D'Arienzo instrumental tangos from that time period are very playful so I tried to look for the ones that would at least start with slightly stronger tones even if they would end up partly cheerful. One thing to notice is that the second song "Comme il faut" is shorter than the others and the arrangement doesn't have the bandoneon solo/variacion in the end.

All the songs are very classic and were recorded by many other orchestras as well so I would recommend comparing these songs to versions from different orchestras and also other time periods. For example... compare this D'Arienzo version of "Gallo ciego" to Pugliese's version from 1959. When I started dancing tango it took me quite a while to even realize that they are actually the same composition!

Enjoy!

8 kommenttia:

  1. Great selection!

    TangoTunes wrote: "Since mid 2014 we do not use any automatic algorithms anymore, as they distort the whole sound spectrum too heavily."

    What a shame these people didn't use their ears a bit more, before taking so much money for those so-called high-quality versions. Though it is nice to hear they're now offering compensation to buyers.

    Antti wrote: "These songs were released already earlier but after renewing their whole digitization and mastering process we can enjoy the music in even better quality."

    Better than TangoTunes' first attempt, perhaps. But I don't hear better quality than the long-standing commercial releases that have been played by DJ for many years. For example, that Jueves has artificial reverb. I find that much inferior to the very popular reverb-free Harlequin release on King of Rhythm 1937-1944 [00008637207120] .

    And I am surprised to read they have shellac noise. Because I can't imagine how artificial reverb got on to a true shellac transfer.

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    Replies
    1. Regarding the reverb... are you talking about the TangoTunes release or the song on the Spotify playlist (which has a lot of reverb)?

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  2. D´Arienzos Gallo Ciego is a totally BLIND bird! Just give it to the cat...

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  3. Ouch, can you provide some more details on the "compensation". I bought a lot of M4As already. And why did they drop M4As?

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    Replies
    1. I do not have more information about it. I'd suggest following the link...

      "Please visit our website for more detailed information about our compensation offer."

      http://tangotunes.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bad27f50fb585fc8cfbb347aa&id=228435d1df&e=6470944251

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  4. Lovely. Great choices! Agreed about the sound on Jueves. Interesting cortina... :)

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  5. Dear Antti Suniala,
    would you please share your experience of how you use Traktor Pro filters to manage noise at the 8khz to 16khz band? I am facing the problem of dealing occasionally with pretty noisy files, but without a proper hardware EQ on location and the Traktor EQ is just unsuitable for fine tuning.
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete