Frank Sinatra: Sings For Only The Lonely (Japan MFSL Limited Edition 200 Gram Pressing - 24/96)

I've never been much of a Sinatra fan (I'm being sacrilegious, I know), but your ongoing posts of this superior box have persuaded me to revaluate him and take it all.

For IF I'm ever going to fully appreciate the old man, it will most likely be thanks to your set.

Couldn't think of a better compliment...thanks VanPelten

First, the tide.... These are simply outstanding VanP.

Many many thank you's.

WOW, my first time here and I find the Ultimate Sinatra Vinyl Collection in High Def! I can't wait to listen to them, and TIA for posting the entire set!

xoxoxo ;)))

@VanPelten
btw - looks to me there's a slight error in your comments above: you wrote in bold disc 13, "Sinatra's Swinging Session" was posted, but you haven't posted that one yet.

You DID post disc 12, "Nice 'n Easy" - which you didn't put in bold.
Just mentioning it because I hope you won't get confused and do double work somewhere in the process.

This is quite a bold undertaking, uploading all 16 of these LPs. Thank you! I hope I can grab them all.

@d'Avignon: Good catch, thank you! I highlighted the wrong title in the intro in this instance and didn't proof-read it. I'll try and change it later when the "traffic" dies down as it sometimes takes over an hour to get a post re-released when you take it offline.

BTW, re: your comment about not being a Sinatra fan, my girlfriend/fiancée thinks I have the "oldest fart tastes" in music for someone under 30. My own sacrilege (donning fireproof jacket before entering the Confessional) is not being a Dylan fan...I find him tedious and pretentious. Springsteen an even bigger and pompous bore. So we all have our musical gaps; confession is good for the soul *chuckle*.

Ha...Springsteen is among my musical crimes too. And U2, I can't listen to them. Metallica? Bah.
I'll never have an album of these three, although I respect Springsteen and Bono as persons. They do a lot of good work.

You may be more surprised to hear I don't count Mozart among my favourites (whereas I'm a classical man mainly)...there's something about his music I don't like, can't explain what exactly. Yet, I have lots of albums of his - for future revaluation, I guess.

Yay! I've so been looking forward to hearing your vinyl rip of Sings for Only the Lonely. This is my favorite Sinatra album. Many thanks, VanPelten! You are too kind to share this wonderful MFSL vinyl collection with us all. :D

@VanPelten - Thanks for another superb Sinatra posting. The sound is fabulous and now to have the wonderful stereo mix in HQ audio is a blessing. Last year the new MFSL re-released this title but chose to use the mono mix. I prefer stereo, when available, to mono. I even prefer the early Beatles lefty-righty mixes to the mono versions. I too was late to appreciating the talents of Sinatra and not until well into the CD age. I passed at getting this box set back in early 80's audiophile vinyl era. Again much thanks to sharing your MINT Sinatra collection.

@VanPelten I'm really bewitched by these jap. 200gr reference pressings and, of course, by the incredible sound of the zyx R-1000 Airey 3!
I must hear this cartridge on my gear.
Thanks a lot for sharing

Thank you. I'm looking forward to hearing Sinatra's catalog in such wonderful quality.
This one intrigues me,as I don't believe I have heard it before. And based on so many comments,like GatsbyGirl's & all the many more new folks jumping in...

Think I'm ready to be sung to. What the hay? ::salut!::

@d'Avignon: Similarly, Mozart isn't one of my favorites either. I find Haydn more consistently interesting...though Mozart's "Haydn" quartets, his quintets and late symphonies wear very well with me. The irascible genius, Glenn Gould, made the now-famous (infamous?) remark that "Mozart was a bad composer who died too late rather than too early" -- and Maria Callas once opined that "Most of Mozart's music is dull." Late this past April here in New York they debuted Gould's controversial 40-minute film "How Mozart Became a Bad Composer" -- that I unfortunately missed. I think the problem with Mozart is that he's been overexposed and way too much of his juvenilia is as popular as his better works.

@Gnulp312: It's an amazing cartridge that sounds even better when I tape a quarter to the head of the tonearm :)

@GatsbyGirl: Anything for Daisy...:)

Thanks for all the fine Frank, VanPelton. Great stuff, and I appreciate your efforts.

This is probably the Crown Jewel of his Capitol years.
Why do I like Sinatra? The magic voice, great taste and incredible perfectionism.
Thanks again and kudos VanPelten!

@d'Avignon: I just add about Mozart that his piano music is too easy for beginners but very hard to play for professional pianists as Artur Schnabel ones said. I just wanted to point it out that there are Mozart and Mozart players .... sometimes it sounds really dull (Gould&Mozart) but other times it opens wider spaces as maybe listening to ABM in piano concerto n. 20 or Furtwaengeler as he conductes the brass section of the WPO in a serenade ...
I love Haydn quartets too, I suggest the traditional monaural recordidings of the Pro Arte Quartett (Testament).
@VanPelten:There is even a $$$ silver quarter for the zyx R-1000, the weight is incredible light and even in a test that I read the author added a lead quarter.
Do you use a step up for the low impedance of your cartridge?

@Gnulp312: Until recently, it was fashionable (and downright righteous) to dismiss Gould's Mozart...as well as his Beethoven and even Bach, in some circles, as eccentric aberrations. As an artist who saw the pianist as co-composer, there are interpretive nuances and controversial turns he took that shocked accepted conventions of the post-Schnabel generation critics. Of course it's all purely subjective, but I find his early Mozart sonatas, K. 279 to, say, K. 332, a joyous revelation that shows their humor and underlying lyricism. It's pianists like Uchida and her fellow robots that turn Mozart into a snore fest. BTW, I also see the critical mavens beginning a 180 on GG...the reevaluations are well under way.

Re audio gear: As the stock PCA 2 doesn't have a phono stage, I'm using a PS Audio GCPH phono preamp that has enough "step up" to drive an amp. As for that silver quarter, I went broke buying the rest of the gear and waiting until I get enough $$$$ for one. And of course once I tape it to the tonearm, there's all that "break-in" time...:) *sigh*

You've put together an AMAZING collection of impeccible posts, thanks for all your effort. You may not be the most prolific poster on this board, but certainly the one with the most sophisticated tastes. The Sinatra MFSL is a wonderful example and I look forward to each volume. Greetings from Down Under!

Thanks again for all your efforts. The level is very hot and clipped at places, but not as bad as your Bill Evans rip. I'm not familiar with Adobe Audition - are you able to see the waveform after recording? Maybe you're not, or it's not showing the proper peaks? Just guessing what it might be. Also, it's brickwalled at 22khz (so was the Evans...) which seems to indicate a setting somewhere (maybe on the M-Audio interface?) of 44.1khz and not 96khz. This is obvious if you look at the waveform with a sonogram or spectral analyzer.
I offer these technical observations because I would appreciate it someone would do the same for me and my transfers (I know I'm not perfect). I've got about 10 or so up on demonoid (wasn't smart enough to post here at avax). I'd be glad to help anyway I can, you have great taste in music, and great equipment to boot.

Just one word : WONDERFUL !!! ^_^
Thank u.

@SuperFuzz: Thank you for your technical observations and expertise. I'm really very low-tech...not at all adept at reading waveforms, let alone knowing what sonograms or spectral analyzers are. As I mentioned previously, I trust my ears by listening through Stax Omega headphones during the ripping process, putting the program in the "record" mode when the needle drops then adjusting each channel's level on the M-Audio to suit. I'll definitely look into the settings you mentioned and keep them in mind when working on the next vinyl rip...and will consult you via PM if I need expert assistance; a good technical engineer with sonograms and spectrum analyzers is worth more than a pair of 28 yr. old ears :)

Best,
VP

When can we expect another superb FAS MFSL rip Mr. VanP?

This is what he means by Clipped.

Since there is a maximum loudness level available to recording (as opposed to playback, in which the loudness is limited by the playback speakers and amplifiers), boosting the overall loudness of a song or track eventually creates a piece that is maximally and uniformly loud from beginning to end. This creates music with a small dynamic range (i.e., little difference between loud and quiet sections), rendering it fatiguing and robbing it of emotional power, according to Robert Levine of Rolling Stone.
The other possible effect is distortion. In the digital realm, this is usually referred to as clipping.

I did a screen shot of my Adobe Audtion in the WaveForm Display with track one of side A, I've circled some of the Hot spots:

refer to image link:
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4600/78755044.jpg

Once it's clipped it's gone for good, unless you start over and recored at a lower level, then you can get back what was lost.

Hope this helps,

CrewZ :)

P.S. Here is a great video that shows the loudness wars and why its getting lost and clipped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ&feature=related

Stop the LOUDNESS WARS!!!

Wowzers. I've heard this in several versions but this the finest, most beautiful sounding version by far.
Thank you.

In my opinion, of all Sinatra albums, this one is the best - it's a departure from the rest in terms of mood and rendition.

VanP:
Sorry I didn't follow up, it's hard to track any threads on this forum (if this is a forum?). When there is slight clipping, it can be hard to hear. With my setup, I don't have any gain controls to adjust, (no gain controls on my phono preamp, or ADC) so usually my digital levels are a little low (peaks around -6 usually) so I sometimes have to boost once in the digital domain. Anyway I think you are very close to nailing it, just set your gain controls a little lower than what they were here - better to have them too low than too high. If you see the screenshot Crewz posted, it shows the really hot spots - you want the waveform to be much lower than zero (zero being the top of the waveform window). Hope that helps.

Thank you very much!!!

No offense to the original poster, but I have had the Mobile Fidelity set by Sinatra since it came out in 1983, and mine is still in mint condition, and it sounds NOTHING like this post, which sounds vastly worse (processed and poorly EQ'd). Having read over some of the comments in the MFSL threads started by VanP, I think perhaps he is still setting something incorrectly on his software or hardware. Hopefully the problems will be resolved, as I think we all appreciate VanP's efforts.

Thank you so much.

ok! This is nutz! what an asstounding effort. VanP you and everyone posting 24/96/192 Vinyls in this forum are bloody awful geniuses. And I am glad to listen and learn from you all. Please more vinyl please......

Saddly the links are gone can somebody reup the links?