A Herr Salat / Tangotreats Co-Production

Yasuo Higichi & The Beatles
SFX Symphony - Abbey Road

Synthesizer Programming by Yoshio Yoshikawa
Orchestration by Yasuo Higuchi



1. Come Together | 2. Something
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer | 4. Oh! Darling
5. Octopus's Garden | 6. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
7. Here Comes The Sun | 8. Because
9. MEDLEY: You Never Give Me Your Money / Sun King / Mean Mr. Mustard / Polythene Pam / She Came In Through The Bathroom Window / Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End / Her Majesty
10. BONUS TRACK: Come Together (different transfer technique - please see below for further details.)

https://mega.co.nz/#!FwB21ZCa!TtVEehM_50wh_ajqxMSyxUBANk4BXnWcO3JXbPe 4Xk8

My transfer from Herr Salat's vinyl. Full scans included. FLAC at Level 8. Please direct requests for LOGs and CUEs to my hairy posterior.

Now, this one is just crazy. Yasuo Higuchi orchestrates The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album. What could go wrong? Musically, absolutely nothing - the arrangement is glorious and truly original...

The clue is in the title - "SFX Symphony" - meaning that this is a deliciously-1980s electronic affair. If you like the synthesizer portions of Wendy Carlos' Tron, you'll be in your element here. Personally, I love it - it's quirky and very much of its time.

Higuchi seems to have approached the project as a straightforward orchestration with standard instrumentation in mind, leaving the electronic side up to synthesizer programmer Yoshio Yoshikawa. Indeed, his credit is simply for "Orchestration" - going at it from this angle, it ends up sounding far more convincing than most albums of this nature; think of it as a very unorthodox performance of a work that is, in spirit, completely orchestral.

TECHNICAL NOTE on the bonus track: This album was transferred in the somewhat traditional fashion - from vinyl through a Phono amplifier which applies the correct RIAA curve, and then to a DAC. I have contemplated changing this workflow for quite few years. The Phono amplifier, in addition to "colouring" the sound in its own particular way, introduces distortion and noise. It's an additional analogue stage in the transfer process which can be dispensed with.

Just for shits and giggles, I have included a bonus track - which is "Come Together" again, this time transferred completely bypassing the Phono amplifier, going directly from the cartridge output to the DAC (using the analogue pots for to amplify the comparatively weak signal) before applying the RIAA de-emphasis in the digital domain. (Transfer and processing all done at 192khz 24-bit before a final dither-down to 44.1khz 16-bit for distribution.)

The result definitely sounds different - I would say cleaner and punchier - and on the whole I would categorise it as "better" (to my ears) so I thought I'd include the experimental track for you to listen to. I'm contemplating fully moving to this technique for future transfers and would appreciate any feedback you would care to give.

Thank you, Herr Salat, once again, for your kindness and generosity... and, to all who may download this album, enjoy and have fun! :)

TT

Hahaha, wow what? This looks amazing.

Wow! Nice one!

Thanks TT and Herr Salat :)

Wow - sounds interestin'....Thanks!!

I have to download this! Thank you both!

Merci

Just listened to it and i have to say that i am amazed how good this vinyl transfer sounds!

Especially the bonus track sounds quite crisp and powerful. The dynamic range is huge and the reverb space sounds bigger and cleaner than on the first version. A bit like digital vs. analogue. It suits this music perfectly. I would definitely advis you to go on in this direction and would love to hear the songs as well. My own vynil rips just sound poor compared to this.

Again, thank you very much for your efforts.

thanks guys

Thank you, tango! =)

You are all very welcome - though I will repeat my usual mantra at times like these; Herr Salat is the man to thank. I am merely a messenger. :)


Just listened to it and i have to say that i am amazed how good this vinyl transfer sounds!

Especially the bonus track sounds quite crisp and powerful. The dynamic range is huge and the reverb space sounds bigger and cleaner than on the first version. A bit like digital vs. analogue. It suits this music perfectly. I would definitely advis you to go on in this direction and would love to hear the songs as well. My own vynil rips just sound poor compared to this.

Again, thank you very much for your efforts.

Thank you for your detailed comments and praise! I'm still perfecting the technique but I think I'll end up moving this way. I'm all in favour of removing that analogue stage from the workflow, and therefore getting a step closer to hearing what's actually on the record.

If you're into orchestral music at all, you may enjoy my other vinyl transfers to be found dotted around FFshrine. :)

Well this is certainly the strangest thing I've downloaded recently. I seriously wonder how you find these things, Salat.

odd question... i am dying to hear this, but mega only lets me have "99%" of the file and then chokes. the resulting file can't be opened on my end. am i the only one having this problem... and is there some obvious fix i'm missing?

.

many thanks!

Thank you for this unknown jewel!

Reup please?