Saregama Audio Quality

[TD150]

Hi Friends,

I was always wondering why Saregama audio (music of old hindi movies) on CD format sound so thin & shrill.

Never enjoyed these CD's. I am planning to buy a DAC and was interested in some music downloads. And I checked their site www.saregama.com, they do not mention what format file they are giving (Wav, Flac, MP3, etc).

They have options for Download/ Audio CD format/ Audio CD MP3; you can select the tracks and can either download it or get it shipped in physical formats.

Curious to know what they offer, I downloaded 3 audio tracks after paying Rs. 21/-. To my dismay they are Mp3 files.

Now my suspicion about Saregama providing low quality audio files in their Audio CD physical format has become more.

My question to fellow FM's is has anybody analysed these physical formats (supposed to be Wav files) to be genuine or are they just convers of Mp3 format (into Wav)?

Regards,

 

[arj]

i think there was a long thread on this subject. sometime in the late 90's/early 00's i believe they digitized all their music into MP3s..wont be surprised if it is 128kbps from the sound quality. all their Vinyls are apparently hermetically sealed somewhere..

they jsut seem to be writing those into their CDs and selling them.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

I bought few CDs of saregama earlier and stopped after that. They were the worst sounding CDs I have ever listened.

 

[ROBIN LANDANSON]

Yes, their Cassettes and CD's always waste, not enjoyable like T-Series

 

[arindamcc]

Yes, their LP's also worst sounding...

 

[koushik]

I have few CDs and cassettes of SaReGaMa, I always wonder if they are digitized from LPs and not from Master Copy as they contains clicks and pops.

 

[hildebrand]

The sources can also be from someone else. I know first hand that HMV in some cases have got old songs from record collectors which they didn't have and then used them in VCDs. If the collectors did a poor recording, these can be cleaned only so much. sometimes too much of cleaning also takes away from the songs.

 

[taranfx]

a friend of mine told me they use cheap hardware and ADCs

 

[Soundstage]

Yes, their Cassettes and CD's always waste, not enjoyable like T-Series

I agree.

The irony is that T Series started out as the cheapo cover version chaps when Saregama (HMV) ruled the roost as the premium brand. Today, even though Saregama try to hang on to their premium pricing, to my ears, T Series are the clear winners as far as SQ is concerned.

 

[HDDCS]

I finally got the answer to the question! The reason behind the poor audio quality on Saregama discs is the extra filtering process they apply.
I have an audio CD by EMI manufactured in the early 90's, I guess. The title is Lata Mangeshkar - the unforgettable, or something. It consists of songs from the late 40's to 50'. The quality is surprisingly good! I can't comment on the source (whether they are from vinyl records, or cassette tapes [2 songs out of the 15 have cassette like quality].) The presence of hissing confirms that not noise removal has been applied. Now, unless the noise/hissing removal has been done professionally, results cannot be good. CDs by Saregama now a days seem to have this noise removal carelessly done, and it makes the audio very squelchy and poor. Trust me! It sounds terrible.
Wonder why audio in the DVDs sounds better? It is because the noise removal is seldom applied.

Take this song for instance :-

DVD version (where I'm sure no unnecessary noise removal is present) : - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdtYWFMtFo

CD version (apparently the CD is sourced from a poor quality tape, and the noise removal is applied to get rid of the hissing : - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0f6NcZEhY0

Don't you realize the difference?

 

[haisaikat]

Guys, I have a 1942 LP from HMV, it did sound good to me

 

[prem]

Haisaikat, the 1942 lp sounds good. The discussion in this thread is about the cd quality. The 1942 UK made cd also sounds very good

 

[frend2001]

I've been thru this dilemma too.

Apparently there is no MASTER TAPES at saregama/HMV.

All they do is use their older recordings and releases to make new compilations.

And yes it's true, they apply very high noise removal and fiddle with loudness also, duh..

the result is tinny and shrill sounding songs.

I wish there was a law and regulatory body to punish those corporate crooks who serve us a meddled audio and charge an arm and a leg.

seriously, why can't they employ guys with sense of music to restore / re-release of their old stocks. It would be a monetary justified thing also.

But who's listening ?

 

[TD150]

Recently seen the CD of "The burning train/ Ali baba aur 40 chor" at Rhythm house. Now the recordings are with Saregama but the CD also mentioned Sony DADC. Had no guts to buy it considering it is a Saregama CD.

However the mention of Sony DADC on the CD is still a question unanswered.

Has there been any efforts taken by Saregama to improve the quality of audio?

Any one head/ compared this CD with their prevous CDs.

 

[Vinay2013]

Saregama/HMV's all the music rights are bought by Sony hence branding is Sony DADC. I did not find any change in the quality. They did not sound very good and shrill to me ears. Audio cassettes were much better as far as I could tell based on personal expereince.

 

[TD150]

Thanks Vinay2013 for the details.
We should not get fooled into buying the same product by their marketing stratagy, Sony should really consider to improve the quality of audio.

 

[bornfi]

Saregama/HMV's all the music rights are bought by Sony hence branding is Sony DADC. I did not find any change in the quality. They did not sound very good and shrill to me ears. Audio cassettes were much better as far as I could tell based on personal expereince.

I do not think it is about rights; Sony DADC is just about manufacturing CDs. And, I am sure that folks at HMV are not concerned about quality at all.

You all might laugh but I doubt that somebody might have taught them that if you compress music, it will save disk space and thus save money. They did that, gave junk to Sony and Sony produced the junk.

I have tons of CDs from HMV and all are junk in terms of quality.

Interestingly, I have a song that came in different CDs from HMV and all sound different.

 

[anilva]

A very close friend of mine who has a business relationship with Saregama told me that couple of years back, due to a fire in dum dum, they lost more than 80% of their originals. In fact my friend was trying to source and supply them. No wonder they are hanging on to some crappy mp3s.

Cheers

 

[firearm12]

It may not sound that good but the fact is that India was a poor country and all music was ultimately played on cheap radio speakers by masses. There were no hifi speakers and very few takers for same. Loudness and vocals overpowering instruments was the key. So, no one cared about good recording techniques and good mastering. Most of the beautiful songs that we love were recorded poorly. Its just sheer brilliance of musicians and singers that all those songs are still remembered. Due to all this, companies like saregama (monopoly with no competition) never bothered to think about music fidelity and unfortunately still they think the same. Old songs are released with lots of compression and noise reduction ("The Legends" series), and then labelded as "digitally remastered". They even release songs with newer instruments mixed with old songs ("Classic Revival"). I wonder who likes to listen to "fiddled" recordings. I am certainly not the one, no matter how noisy or unclear the original thing is.


Fortunately, situation is changing now. These days more music directors care about their music and recordings. Still a long way to go. Kai Po Che is one good album that makes me smile when I listen to it.

Its sad to hear that originals are lost due to fire, but I think our beloved All India Radio must be having all the recordings archive of that time. For Saregama, they can surely source them if they "want to". But they never cared and they will never care. Easy way is to convert mp3 to wav and put on cd and sell. Who's gonna ask.

 

[amitk777]

I downloaded 20 songs yesterday. I distinctly heard some crackling sounds and some modulation. They look like Vinyl rips.