Your patience and knowledge has been invaluable as so many Neil Young fans anxiously await the release of The Archives and contemplate significant investments in the packages and associated hardware.
For most of us, this is literally diving into the deep end without a life vest. So to know that knowledgeable technical support is available is especially helpful.
Also, a big thanks to all of the readers with great questions. It is our understanding that over the past year or so many of the thoughts and suggestions posted here have been incorporated into either this Volume or future volumes.
And thanks for everyone who posted system suggestions today! WE'll continue these threads until the official NYA FAQ is up.
In the meantime, here's a rundown of recent Q&A's:
And -- as usual -- over in the right sidebar, a permanent link in the NYA section for Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About The Neil Young Archives But Were Afraid To Ask.
Hey Thrasher,
ReplyDeleteCan you have a section where people share locations of hidden tracks etc. on the archives.
Syscrusher
Yes, big thanks to Archives Guy. Remember he is only the messenger trying to provide the best info he can regarding the archives release. Mick (Aus)
ReplyDeleteDitto on the Big Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhere else have you seen such access one step away from the Artist himself?
Archives Guy has made all of this, and that includes LincVolt, extremely enjoyable while we await Neil's many Projects.
Next news.....Toast???
That would be sweet to hear about.
Thanks AG and Thrasher
LIVE RUST
A Beauty Day here in Abbotsford BC Canada!!
El Archives Guy
ReplyDeleteEl Archives Guy
Yano pueda caminar
Porque no tiene
Porque la falta
Mucho Garfong que fumar!
Una cosa mey derissa
Pegi Young sin camissa! Ah-Ha!
Jorque vienen los viestas!
El Archives Guy
El Archives Guy
Muchas gracias mi amigo!
The WHOLE enchilada, senor?
Si!
GO GARFONGS!
They're comin' down the hill
Between the stars!
(nothing nasty here Thrash) :>)
Sung to the tune of "La Cucharacha".....
ReplyDeleteI don't understand Spanish, but I like the vibe and it fits well with Stanley Cup hockey, the BBQ and the tequila currently flowing at casa de archives hombre.
ReplyDeleteviva la Penguins!! ??
ReplyDeleteEL Archives Guy!-
ReplyDeleteTakillya and BBQ? If I was'nt
700 miles north I'd invite myself
over! Instead I'm in my work truck
poundin' on this LT!
It's a good vibe for sure man!
Hey, I got to hang out with Paul
Gaustad of the Sabres last week.
I work with his "EX" girlfriend who
hated Buffalo weather. They're still buds.
So what's the juice of the day?
Cazadores? Don Julio? Herradurra?
I lived in SM county from '60 to '75 and know the vibe of the BG road!
Have a good one and looking forward
to NYA!
And yeah,man.
Viva la Penquins!
Gotta work now...
Thanks AG from all us Neil fans . The Searcher
ReplyDeleteFan since i was 15 in 1967
Portage & Main-
ReplyDeletePatron, of course.
Malkin gets the hattie with a wicked backhander....
oui! merci beaucoup a l'homme des archives! viva l'homme des archives! et merci a thrasher! viva thrasher's wheat! viva les archives! et bien sur, une mille merci's a ny, for all the content in the first place : ) (that last part pushed the limits of my written foreign language skills) x karen
ReplyDeleteKaren-
ReplyDeleteLincvolt est une belle femme et l'auto.
zoom zoom en silence.
bonsoir
Ah thanks cobber,Me and me sheila, well we juz wanna thanks yous all for ya help, your a bonza mate..
ReplyDeleteAwh and put another shrimp on the blu-ray willya! cheers dink..
dinky dip from down under!'Chivy Boy
Dya understand 'stralian!
Hey dr dip
ReplyDeleteYou just crack me up everytime I read one of your posts. Just love your dry sense of humour, keep up the blogs, no day would be complete without your input.
"Archives like hockey game.
ReplyDeleteMust take many slaps
To reach goal."
- Charlie Chan
Merci à Guy L'Archiviste and thanks to Trasher for relaying the precious info about the Archives.
ReplyDeleteThose who speak French can faire un tour mon blog où je reprends pas mal d'info de TW en français.
Merci à tous!
Jacques-Eric Legarde, Xroads (France)
Astrololee! Please, Please don't encourage him! He's going to be the death of me!!
ReplyDeletet
Yeah, thanks Archives Guy!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks Thrasher!
Not long now!
:-)
Davie from Scotland
P.S. if Neil reads this at all, or if AG can get a message to him, THANK-YOU NEIL! And PLEASE play "Comes A Time" in Aberdeen, Scotland on the 24th of June! haha :-D
OUi, grand merci à sire Archives Guy.
ReplyDeleteI am Davide form Italy, I cannot join the "Thank you Archives Guy" choir, at least not until I will receive an answer on my 2 posts on the previous thread. I bought my Panasonic BD 35 player in december, after Archives Guy said that it was among the players tested with ok results for bd live functions, and now I am dealing with a player in which the sound jumps and click for 2 seconds every time I press the enter button on my remote control for looking at the memorabilia while simultaneosuly listening to the music on NYA Preview disc.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I think I am exposing a seriuos issue that deserves an answer form Archives Guy. I am not trying to annoy one with this issue, I just want to be sure that my important and serious complain goes out to the right people
Yup, he's done a great job! Thanks once again!
ReplyDeletethanks from zejt up in T.O.
ReplyDeleteVielen Dank an Archives Guyund das Archiv-Team, Thrasher und der großen Neil!
ReplyDelete-Chicago
(as long as we go multilingual)
Davide-
ReplyDeleteA firmware update to your player should fix the problem you mention. I understand the issue that you are bringing up.
-Archives Guy
Hi,
ReplyDeleteTheres a big 2 page review of Archives in the issue of Mojo (5 stars). However, it says that downloadable content on the Blu-Rays needs to be paid for!! Surely this isn't right.
Davide-
ReplyDeleteWe are looking into the behavior with your player.
This just in from our technical staff:
"We definitely didn't experience this issue during testing as the BD35 was our primary QC player.
I did see similar issues on newer Panasonic players when testing with Panasonic in March at the round robin test, so it could be that newer firmware made things worse. We'll test here and contact Panasonic. "
-Archives Guy
Spenner-
ReplyDeleteMojo got that wrong.
-Archives Guy
Archives guy....Thanks a lot for all the info bro. Once again NO ONE comes close to Neil (or his team) these days. We're all part of History here. Can't wait for the archives here in Wallingford CT!
ReplyDeleteQuestion; Say a new format comes out in Five years that totally trumps Blu ray in sound and picture,is it possible that future archives be available in that format? Also I'm 29 years old now. How old will I be when all the archives are released? Are we talking every 1,2,5, or 10 years....just asking for a guess or rough estimate. Thanks a lot!
ROCK ON NEIL!
AG-
ReplyDeleteWith you we now have a bonified prophet to the holy grail of musicdom. Please accept our homage:
Arch(ives Guy)of the Covenent
Well, my dear Shitty,
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 things in life that are inevitable....
DEATH
TAXES
..AND NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES FOLLOW UPS
But the last inevitibility?....
I'm not so sure!!!
Seeya at the nursing home with the complete set of volumes!!!..he he
"The Archives Song"
ReplyDelete(to the tune .."she'll be comin' round the mountain")
Neil'l be comin round sugarmountain
When they come!
Neil'l be comin round sugarmoutain
When they come!
Neil'l be comin round sugarmountain
On Crazyhorse he's mountin'!
He'll be comin round sugarmountain
When they come!
Bringya Blu-ray players
When they come!
Bringya blu-ray players
When they come!
Brinya blu-ray players
Plus trolls and all naysayers
Just bringya Archives payers
When they come......BLOO RAY!!!!!
great...thanks for the earworm.
ReplyDeletenow I have freakin' "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain" stuck in my head.
I got the revolutin blues
ReplyDeleteThanks Archives Guy (and Thrasher) for a fun 6 months of Q&A. Taking time to do this between LincVolt work, demos and other projects has been very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMy BD set is on order and I'm in the process of determining my player strategy. I hope that your pushing of the BD specs doesn't come back to bite you guys.
One sound question. In the earlier days of CDs, folks would spend inordinate amounts of bucks on their players/amplifiers/speakers to get "audiophile sound". Will a $300 BD player, with a $300 Sony AV receiver, playing 24/192 sound, really sound better than a $5000 CD Player, with a $5000 amplifier? Assume all else is equivalent.
Get what I am asking? We all are in a whirl about 24/192, but as an engineer, I need to ask what is the limiting factor. Really. What do you think?
That aside, what role does recording engineering play in determining sound quality, only considering state of the art studios, for example.
Thanks again. Doonerak / LRR
Everything is allright now with my Panasonic BD 35. Changed some settings thanks to the help of John from Australia on another thread. I had to change all audio settings to PCM (PCM rules!). Now I can happily join the "Thank you Archives guy" choir for the fundamental help us he gave to people like me who decided to jump on the fabulous ride that NYA on Blu Ray proves to be.
ReplyDeleteDavide from Italy
Davide-
ReplyDeleteSo glad that worked out for you. Yes, PCM is the setting that you want.
In general, folks should take the time to go thru the SET UP pages on the Archives discs. Apart from color bars and tones, we have some details about how optimize your system.
Selecting PCM is one of the details noted as is avoiding digital outs that may automatically down sample the audio.
-Archives Guy
Doonerak-
ReplyDeleteI'm not part of the Lincvolt project too much nor do I do demos, but thanks for the kind words.
I have experienced the difference between consumer and audiophile setups and can hear the how much better the expensive set up is. The soundfield is more open with spatial depth and frequency clarity.
However, I think that the average person needn't go to the audiophile extreme for a satisfying experience.
Something that you excluded from your list was speakers, which are the most important part of the chain. I always tell people to invest first in good speakers.
The other thing about going full audiophile is that one really needs to pay attention to the listening space and room acoustics at that level. The average person doesn't have an optimal room or even listening position.
I'd have to say that 8 of every 10 homes I visit that have a "home theater" system are arranged completely wrong.
My current archives test system has PS3 going analog into a mixing console->power amp->Tannoy speakers. It's pretty rocking.
-Archives Guy
Doonerak-
ReplyDeleteContinuing on your good questions...
What I find the real limiting factors(if we are now discussing at an engineer level) are speaker quality, a signal chain with quality cable and D->A converters.
As you might know we are big fans of the Pacific Microsonics HDCD converters, which are AMAZING.
However they are hard to find and cost $10,000 or something..if you find one.
I don't want to get into a DAC conversation here because it only gets depressing. :-)
The recording engineer plays a huge role in determining sound quality because he(she) is first in line to originally capture the performance to tape or drive.
Microphone choice and placement, signal path, mic pres, A->D converters (if going digital) are all super important and choices the engineer makes.
A quality digital clock makes Pro Tools type recordings sound better. Working at high bit and sample rates is a good choice.
A well maintained and aligned tape deck beats the heck out of something that is neglected.
These are just a few details that a engineer can focus on to make better recordings..then a recording needs a good mix and mastering session before it is ready to hit your ears at home.
-Archives Guy
AG-
ReplyDeleteThanks. I really appreciate that. And I do recognize speakers are the most important factor. In the comparison I was trying to draw, I got lazy and lumped those into the "all else being equal" qualifier.
I understand why you don't want me to get you started on DACs. From your note, I am inferring the following: The $20 48/192 DAC in the PS3 probably leads to an inferior sound experience compared with 20/44.1 Pacific Microsonics DAC for $oodles as the conversion is more in the limiting path than the digital sample rate. Agreed? Also, your test bench. I am guessing you have a SWEET preamp in your mixer. What kind?
Thanks for your insights.
Hi Archives Guy,
ReplyDeleteI have read here earlier that the Blue Ray edition is "all zone" however when ordering on Amazon you are warned that the discs are zone 1 only. Is this still correct?
Warner Australia are not releasing a local issue in Blue Ray,Play Station will not allow you to change zones. I don't want to get stuck with an imported version I cannot play.
Graham in Melbourne,Australia
AG- For the purposes of helping my to plan my purchase. Can you pls estimate how much storage I would need to accomodate the slug of PLANNED BD-Live downloads?
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to weasel out any info on the downloads...I just don't want to overbuy or underbuy on my memory stick. I can always upgrade for much cheaper next year as flash prices come down pretty fast.
Thx. LRR/Doonerak.
Graham-
ReplyDeleteThe Archives are region free. Some of these ordering sites for some reason have been getting it wrong.
LRR- For sure a $10k DAC is going to sound better than a $20 one, but for the average consumer setup in an imperfect listening room, an affordable system is just fine. I don't want to turn this into an audiophile discussion because it just leaves the majority of readers behind, confused and disappointed.
In terms of download storage space we have no idea. You can always add additonal storage later.
I wouldn't get too hung up about it.
enjoy the weekend.
-Archives Guy
Archives Guy:
ReplyDeleteI noted that the HDCD emblem is not on the Fork in the Road release, but it is on Sugar Mountain: Canterbury House.
Will the CD package of the Archives Vol 1 have HDCD processing?
Thanks
Kimball-
ReplyDeleteYes on the HDCD for Archives CDs.
Correct, FITR is not HDCD.
Thanks again Archives Guy.
ReplyDeleteWhen will the first BD live downloads be available for us Blu Ray purchasers?