First Flower King Remasters Out Today

[Soc Prof]

Good news for fans of The Flower Kings: The first two of the remasters are out today. Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis are available in CD and LP.

https://www.roinestolt.com


The bad news for hi res fans: The digital releases for download and streaming are only available in CD quality (16/44.1) even though the digital masters are 24/96. Not only is this a disservice to fans, but it doesn't even make financial sense given that they can charge more money for hi res downloads.

I sent a message to Inside Out Music asking them if they would please consider making the 24/96 masters available. Anyone who feels the same way can contact them here:
https://www.insideoutmusic.com/contact/

PS
Distribution is handled by Century Media, so perhaps those are the folks who need to be contacted. I did both:
centurymedia@musictoday.com

[yesstiles]

Streaming? The point of these is to get them for the first time on glorious gatefold multi-vinyl!

[JKL2000]

The first one sounds pretty good on Spotify!

[Rufus]

Streaming? The point of these is to get them for the first time on glorious gatefold multi-vinyl!

Correct ! No interest in streaming these.albums. the physical products are essential!

[chalkpie]

Are they doing Space Revolver and Unfold?

[LASERCD]

Good news for fans of The Flower Kings: The first two of the remasters are out today. Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis are available in CD and LP.

https://www.roinestolt.com


The bad news for hi res fans: The digital releases for download and streaming are only available in CD quality (16/44.1) even though the digital masters are 24/96. Not only is this a disservice to fans, but it doesn't even make financial sense given that they can charge more money for hi res downloads.

I sent a message to Inside Out Music asking them if they would please consider making the 24/96 masters available. Anyone who feels the same way can contact them here:
https://www.insideoutmusic.com/contact/

PS
Distribution is handled by Century Media, so perhaps those are the folks who need to be contacted. I did both:
centurymedia@musictoday.com

More than likely the albums were recorded 16/44.1 or 16/48. There would be no audible benefit to upconvert to 24/96.

[Soc Prof]

More than likely the albums were recorded 16/44.1 or 16/48. There would be no audible benefit to upconvert to 24/96.

That may indeed be the case. On the other hand, I think I recall that some of the Flower Kings albums were recorded to analog tape, which fits with Roine's retro vibe.

[jkelman]

I don't have time to read through this whole thread but can someone answer this please? I understands the vinyl comes with a download card/link. Is the download MP3 or is it the actual 24/96 high resolution version of the album?

I was hoping, since these ate being remastered in 24/96, that they'd make those available as standalone purchasable digital downloads. So I don't do vinyl, the cost of buying the vinyl to get the downloads seems excessive.

Anyway, first thing first: is the download high res files or (ugh) MP3?
Thanks, in advance.
EDIT: Never mind. Last time I looked at my usual shops they weren't available in high res but are now, and if you subscribe to their newsletter you can get 20% off the $20.99 cost per high res album (and yes, at 24/96j.

[Trane]

More than likely the albums were recorded 16/44.1 or 16/48. There would be no audible benefit to upconvert to 24/96.

A clear waste of vinyl, then??


Never been a TFK fan, though if I had to name one album, I'd say Adventures would be it.

[progmatist]

More than likely the albums were recorded 16/44.1 or 16/48. There would be no audible benefit to upconvert to 24/96.

Mixing and mastering 16 bit multitracks to Hi-Res and/or vinyl can still be beneficial. The Hi-Res/vinyl would provide a larger canvas for all those 16 bit elements to come together. Think of it as the same collage on 2 different sizes of cardboard. On the smaller cardboard, the cutouts are more crowded and have more tendency to overlap. On the larger cardboard, they're more spread out.

[LASERCD]

Mixing and mastering 16 bit multitracks to Hi-Res and/or vinyl can still be beneficial. The Hi-Res/vinyl would provide a larger canvas for all those 16 bit elements to come together. Think of it as the same collage on 2 different sizes of cardboard. On the smaller cardboard, the cutouts are more crowded and have more tendency to overlap. On the larger cardboard, they're more spread out.

You are speaking gibberish. There is no information beyond bit 16 on the multi-track. Upconverting to 24 bit is not going to create any. Upsampling either.

[progmatist]

You are speaking gibberish. There is no information beyond bit 16 on the multi-track. Upconverting to 24 bit is not going to create any. Upsampling either.

I'm speaking of taking the individual lead guitar track, individual hammond organ track, individual lead vocal track, et cetera, et cetera and mixing them all to a larger canvas. Like a dozen tributaries merging into a larger rather than smaller river. More water is going to flow through the larger river. At that final stage, more information is being preserved, which would otherwise be lost to digital truncation. As the audio waveform becomes more complex due to the mixing process, there's far more information to be lost to truncation. It's not a matter of creating information not already there. The vast majority of 80s digital recordings were made to 16/44.1 multi-track digital recorders. There were 20bit 96KHz machines, but they were out of reach for most. The vinyl versions of most of those recordings sounded much better than the CD versions. Because the CD versions were mixed and mastered to 16/44.1, a smaller canvas than the vinyl and cassette versions.

[LASERCD]

I'm speaking of taking the individual lead guitar track, individual hammond organ track, individual lead vocal track, et cetera, et cetera and mixing them all to a larger canvas. Like a dozen tributaries merging into a larger rather than smaller river. More water is going to flow through the larger river. At that final stage, more information is being preserved, which would otherwise be lost to digital truncation. It's not a matter of creating information not already there. The vast majority of 80s digital recordings were made to 16/44.1 multi-track digital recorders. There were 20bit 96KHz machines, but they were out of reach for most. The vinyl versions of most of those recordings sounded much better than the CD versions. Because the CD versions were mixed and mastered to 16/44.1, a smaller canvas than the vinyl and cassette versions.

You have, IMHO, a bizarre interpretation of the recording, mixing and mastering process. You can use whatever descriptive euphemisms you like but it has nothing to do with taking a session with each individual track recorded at 16/44.1 and trying to create more musical information in said track by upconverting it to 24/96. The baby has already been thrown out with the bath water.

[Splicer]

Just listened to Back in the World on Apple Music. Sounds really good.

[LeFrog]

Are they doing Space Revolver and Unfold?

I seem to remember they reissued Unfold on vinyl a few years back with improved sound and a partial remix. So in a way it was the first of the series and they might not reissue it again.

[SRS]

Well I've listened to BitWoA and 5 of the 10 songs on here are remixes! And I'm very sorry to say but my first impressions are not good. I think these remixes will prove to be as controversial and disliked as the 2017 UtF remixes (Devil's Playground being the worst of them)

It's still early though and I don't want to disparage them too much - maybe it is just my problem. Can someone else check me on these? Do an A/B comparison between original and remix for these two things:

"Train to Nowhere" - at about 0:44 "You still think a miracle will happen when you face the gun" and the organ that comes in right after this line. Compare that moment between the original and remix. Which gives you goosebumps?

"Theme for a Hero" - 2:00 to 4:00 compare those two. Notice what is missing in the remix at about 3:15, which version sounds more joyous to you, which do you prefer?

These are just two examples.

[Splicer]

"Train to Nowhere" a little too much spittle sound in the "F" and "Th" sounds early in the song. I can fix dry voiceovers so I could've probably done those too.

[Czyszy]

Rhythm of the Sea is a remix as well. I dunno. I sorta like it. I think different takes of some of the synth parts were used and also the lead vocals are quieter sometimes. BUT, what surprised me is Hasse Fröberg's backing vocals. They were so low in the mix in the original version, I had no idea they were there in the first place.

[Digital_Man]

Good to know but I'm happy with the ones I have.

[chalkpie]

I streamed World of Adventures. I still dislike the snare tone (can't really "fix" that), but the clarity is great and the lower stuff (bass, kick drum, pedals) seems heftier. Ill see what the verdict is on Stardust and Flour Pour on vinyl...certainly pricey.

[Plasmatopia]

I streamed World of Adventures. I still dislike the snare tone (can't really "fix" that), but the clarity is great and the lower stuff (bass, kick drum, pedals) seems heftier. Ill see what the verdict is on Stardust and Flour Pour on vinyl...certainly pricey.

If Roine has access to individually mic'ed drum tracks then replacing the snare with a different sound is actually pretty easy as there is software available that will do that. But he probably would disagree about it needing to be changed. Didn't he have a specific snare drum that he insisted Jaime use on the first few albums?

[LeFrog]

Well I've listened to BitWoA and 5 of the 10 songs on here are remixes! And I'm very sorry to say but my first impressions are not good. I think these remixes will prove to be as controversial and disliked as the 2017 UtF remixes (Devil's Playground being the worst of them)

Would you mind elaborating on what was so controversial about those remixes as I haven't heard them?

[JKL2000]

Would you mind elaborating on what was so controversial about those remixes as I haven't heard them?

If you mean the UtF remixes, I'd like to know as well. I didn't know that remix was controversial.

[miamiscot]

If you mean the UtF remixes, I'd like to know as well. I didn't know that remix was controversial.

Roine took one of the greatest songs ever recorded (The Truth Will Set You Free) and destroyed it with the "new" mix. I actually didn't mind what he did to Devil's Playground though...

[moecurlythanu]

Would you mind elaborating on what was so controversial about those remixes as I haven't heard them?

Large crowds protesting the remixes in many American cities. Failure to bend and redo them by Roine. It was ugly. Should be able to find coverage in the archives of the major American news networks.