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Norah Jones sibilance distortion on Blue Note reissue of "Come away with me"

PiotrekN

PiotrekN

Member
I've been going crazy over distortion issues with Norah Jones' Blue Note LP, the 2015 reissue of her debut album m "Come away with me" (https://www.discogs.com/Norah-Jones-Come-Away-With-Me/release/8844547).

I am getting a lot of sibilance and distortion -- while all my other albums are sibilance free -- especially on the track "Feelin' the same way", which is in the middle of Side 1, and in the inner grooves. Now, I don't have IGD issues on any other LP, for instance Eva Cassidy's "Songbird" is distortion and sibilance free on my setup, although her last track on side B, "Over the rainbow", is quite demanding.

I've spent hours by now triple checking and tweaking all adjustments, alignment, and nothing helps, while all my other albums continue to sound good. I know this particular Norah Jones' album has distortion issues baked into the recording, but could be this pronounced on vinyl? Is the pressing/reissue really bad? Is it my TT?
The Norah Jones album sounds a bit loud too, could this be the problem?
The TT is a Sansui SR-636 with Nagaoka MP-110, aligned very carefully using Baerwald protractor. VTF 1.75g.

I would really appreciate some help...
 
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I have the QRP reissue and at the time I had an Ariston Rd-40 with a Sumiko MMT Arm and an Lp gear a3sm cart and I noticed the same thing and it drove me crazy because I had triple checked all my settings, come to find out I had a loose bearing in my tonearm and when it was fixed the distortion was gone. I have an AR XA now that’s completely modified by our own @marcmorin and I have run various cartridges on it and still no distortion with that album anymore .

So like mentioned above it could be a hot cut copy or could possibly be something else , in my experience it was a loose bearing .

Audiofreak71
 
I would increase the tracking force to 1.9 or 2 grams. It will track better at those forces, within the recommend tracking force range. Most of the time I track at the upper range of tracking force.
 
Oh no I had many others that had distortion with that table and arm before the fix , Eric Clapton unplugged and Diana Krall Live in Paris are two others that come to mind , after the bearing was tightened there was no more distortion with those albums as well . I have the 2016 reissue of Peter Gabriel’s So and it still shows it was cut hot so you are 100% about the album , the reissue does sound good though except on a couple tracks , (In your eyes ) is one of the songs . It’s unfortunate because I really like the album .

Audiofreak71
 
@PiotrekN already said he didn’t. I don’t get any bad behavior on that album other than what’s in the recording. There are some challenging areas where peaks really push it. You can download the derivative digital of that remaster from Acoustic Sounds to see what’s in the recording.
 
needlestein said:
Good info! Thanks. I guess OP will have to see whether or not he's got sibilance on other albums and if so, then investigate the arm bearings or something else. If the 2015 reissue plays without sibilance on your system, then it ought to play without sibilance on someone else's.
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That’s exactly what I’m thinking as well . I’m using my Grace f9e right now and I have heard no distortion out of that album , only albums that are known to be cut hot have that sound of distortion. I’m not saying the op has issues with his bearings but it wouldn’t hurt to have that checked if he/she already hasn’t , you know as well as I that a proper maintenanced and well balanced table makes for the best performance.


Audiofreak71
 
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PiotrekN said:
I know this particular Norah Jones' album has distortion issues baked into the recording,
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I have the 2004 reissue and it is distortion-free. The album is one of my favorites and none of the selections have tracking issues. It must be the particular pressing of that reissue.
 
This Norah Jones album is the only LP I have such issues with, all other play without sibilance or IGD, or at least not to this point. If it was a loose bearing or a similar issue I should hear it on other records as well, right?

The sibilance I on "Feelin' the ssssssame way" is actually to the point of pretty serious distortion, and it does seem that this album is louder than others, this is always the impression I have when I put it one after other records (usually some classic jazz). Perhaps I should start looking for another pressing and compare.
 
PiotrekN said:
This Norah Jones album is the only LP I have such issues with, all other play without sibilance or IGD, or at least not to this point. If it was a loose bearing or a similar issue I should hear it on other records as well, right?

The sibilance I on "Feelin' the ssssssame way" is actually to the point of pretty serious distortion, and it does seem that this album is louder than others, this is always the impression I have when I put it one after other records (usually some classic jazz). Perhaps I should start looking for another pressing and compare.
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Do you have an adjustable phono stage?
 
PiotrekN said:
Nope. But how would it help with this issue?
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It would have adjustable gain and resistance loading. I’ll get a record every once in awhile that’s mastered a bit hot and changing the loading will clear it up. Your stage, cart and record are just not playing well with each other.
 
You've all apparently discovered that Come Away With Me is the ultimate test album. That one drove me to distraction, with both Norah and the piano from hell ringing and distorting and driving me to distraction. A few rounds of room treatments, digital eq, several sets of driver tubes for the amps, and a good bit of cursing finally brought all that under control. From there, most everything else is easy ...
 
gusten said:
Can You upload a small file of how it sounds?
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Sure, I'll try to do my best, give me half an hour or so. I don't have a a-to-d converter, so it will have to be my phone in front of the speaker.

But actually, I just did a small experiment, which I have not thought of before: I hooked up Tidal from my Mac to the aux input and ran the LP and the Tidal copy (their Master=MQA quality) in parallel, and I could switch between them with a push of a button. Now the Tidal copy does not have the sibilance and distortion, but it also sounds definitely muddier, boomier and compressed. Sounds like it was ran through some filters/dessers to reduce the highs. So perhaps this is the trade-off? I definitely preferred the vinyl copy with the sibilance and distortion to the Tidal one...
 
gusten said:
Can You upload a small file of how it sounds?
Click to expand...

Ok, so here are two m4a files:
https://volafile.org/r/nka8h9cr

"Nearness of you" is the last track on side A and "Feeling the same way" is in the middle of side A but is probably the worst offender in terms of sibilance on the whole record.
I could only record with my phone if front of one speaker (the other one is 2.5 meters away).
 
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I have the Classic Records 45 RPM box set of that album and consider it to be one of my "Reference Records".
I played it last week to check out a recently acquired Audio Research Line Stage LS7 preamp and noted no sibilance.
I have enjoyed each disc from my box set and nothing abnormal stands out so I don't think it's in the recording. In fact, I consider it a "warm and cozy" sounding album.

Admittedly, I wasn't LOOKING for sibilance, but that sort of thing usually bothers me (and I think my system leans to the "Bright Side").

Perhaps if I was to LOOKING for sibilance, I might have a different opinion, but I can't say anything about that recording is inherently sibilant or abnormal.

The problem might just be with your particular remastered version.

Hope this helps.
 
Just listened to your recordings. That sibilance definetaly is not in my copy of that pressing.
 
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