Tribute to Masami Okui ~Buddy~

Created/Updated 2008-06-27

• Catalog Number : EVCA-1001
• Manufacturer : Evolution
• Series : Misc-Compilation
• Printing Date : 2008-06-25
• Price : Y3,150
• Play Time : 48:29
• Number of Discs : 1

I actually hesitated a little about buying this because it's Evolution label. But I gave in because it's just too rare of a compilation, both in terms of the artists involved, and the songs chosen. I think the selection is great, and the arrangements for each bring out everyone's uniqueness well. In that sense, it's a great buy.

Too bad the sound quality sucks. Then again, it's not any worse than most everything else out there these days. Thank goodness Suara's new album is going to have an SACD layer again, not that it being an SACD has much technical merit. For some stupid reason, though, they treat the mastering differently when they put the stuff on an SACD. That same data turned into a CD would sound pretty much as good, too.

• Track 01:
  • Trust
  • Vocal:Kuribayashi Minami
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • Peaks are normalized, instantaneous dynamic energy is spread out, so more total energy, but nothing crisp. A bit bass heavy frequency response.
• Track 02:
  • drum beats compre
  • Vocal:Chihara Minori
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • Dispersed energy like the previous track. No bass beat. Less peak normalizing than the previous track, though.
• Track 03:
  • jounetsu
  • Vocal:Misato Aki
  • Audio Quality Rating: 3
  • Incessant peaking. Relatively untouched bass (i.e. energy is not spread, but better focused). Relatively lower dynamic compression.
• Track 04:
  • Introduction
  • Vocal:Endou Masaaki
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • Insane dynamic range compression. Peaks like mad. Beats are not as bad as the first two tracks.
• Track 05:
  • Olive
  • Vocal:Ishida Youko
  • Audio Quality Rating: 3
  • Nothing great, but nothing terrible, either. Fairly high dynamic range compression. Not very interesting, but not as annoying, either.
• Track 06:
  • iiwake
  • Vocal:Suara
  • Audio Quality Rating: 3
  • Some peaking and some kind of a scaled dynamic range compression. I guess they're all like that. It's hard to tell when the whole song is just loud. This song has large quiet sections, so it's more obvious.
• Track 07:
  • otomegokoro mugen
  • Vocal:Oomi Tomoe
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • In between tracks 3 and 4. Insane dynamic range compression and peaking. Not as much energy spreading, though.
• Track 08:
  • koi shimasho nebari masho
  • Vocal:Momoi Haruko
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • Excessive energy dispersion. Obvious distortion (big minus point). Unsure of the cause (bad recording level? bad compression? bad software settings?). Whatever it is, it shouldn't be there.
• Track 09:
  • wasuregusa
  • Vocal:Kageyama Hironobu
  • Audio Quality Rating: 3
  • Average, but even with only 3-stars, it might be the best track on this CD.
• Track 10:
  • Happy Place
  • Vocal:Yonekura Chihiro
  • Audio Quality Rating: 2
  • Again, obviously scaled dynamic range compression, and it gets very bad in places. It can get incredibly annoying. Now that I think about it, so can track 6.

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