Here are the approximate times of the major ones:

Track 1- 1:18, 2:58, 3:24, 3:26
Track 2- very beginning of cue
Track 8- 0:42
Track 9- 0:14, 2:54
Track 10- repetitive clicking from 0:30 to 1:20
Track 11- 1:14
Track 12- 0:02, 1:58, 2:00
Track 13- 0:50
Track 14- 2:57, 3:11
Track 17- 0:59, 2:01
Track 20- 0:59
Track 22- 0:19

In addition to the major ones mentioned above, here are some minor ones which are more than likely from the original tapes:

Track 2- 0:23, 1:41
Track 3- 0:08
Track 9- 0:37, 0:56, 1:05, 2:39, 2:41
Track 11- 0:13, 0:44
Track 13- 0:40
Track 16- 0:53, 1:12
Track 18- 1:20, 1:40
Track 20- 0:02, 0:32
Track 22- 1:06

From what Stephen said it sounds like the audio engineer who did the mastering is to blame. To fix it they would have to basically re-mix the entire project using a new engineer and then repress the master CD. That would be expensive. Although I am a little surprised that no one at Percepto caught the problem before the master was pressed.

Now if the plant that actually pressed them messed up, then Percepto would have a cause to get them repressed at no charge to the customer or Percepto

I grew up in the age of records. LPs and 45s. We also had cassettes. What we also had was some occasional noise mixed in with the music we loved. Some clicks and pops on our records, lots of tape hiss on our cassettes, regardless of whether he had Dolby B or not. Most of us didn't even use Dolby B because it took the highs away. Instead, we'd take off the Dolby and just turn down the treble a bit. When we ejected that tape and put in a non-Dolby tape, we'd turn the treble back up a little. We didn't sit back on a couch and have 10 CDs loaded into our 5.1 system while we remote-controlled through 12 hours of music without moving a muscle.

When I read the postings about all the distracting and unacceptable noises emanating from Percepto's new release of THE NIGHT WALKER, I wondered how this label could have created such an egregious mistake? After all, their previous recordings and booklets have helped contribute to the raising of the bar for soundtrack label releases of original tracks. Percepto = High Quality

So when I got my copy of THE NIGHT WALKER, it was with great trepidation that I put it in my CD player. In fact, I didn't want to be jolted from my musical enjoyment by all the horrendous noises, so I immediately went to the moviemusic.com post so I could locate and hear those cacaphonous distractions ahead of time.

And I must say I heard most of them. But how did I hear them? By turning up the music loud and concentrating on the exact timings mentioned in the post and waiting for those clicks. And those clicks came. But what did they sound like?

Well, if you ever listened to soundtrack albums, and you had a mint copy of your favorite soundtrack, and it had a few random clicks in at, as all mint records do, the Percepto clicks sound like a teeny-weeny-tiny-minuscule-inconspicuous click that you'd hear on even the best album pressing ever made.

So what I want to know is: "How picky are soundtrack 'fans' these days that they are even raising this as an issue, and people who've no doubt not even heard the release are proclaiming that they'll never buy the release?"

If you add up the number of clicks and multiply them by the length of each click (I'd guess it's about 1/50th of a second per click), that means that the total amount of "click noise" on the CD is about .76 seconds out of a total playing time of 2,980 seconds! That means that the level of audio perfection on the CD in terms of clickless music is a mediocore 99.97449%! Percepto is making us put up with an unacceptable .0025503% of minimally-flawed music!

Folks... THE NIGHT WALKER is a FABULOUS album. A marvelous listening experience. On top of that, the booklet is exceptional, as are all of Percepto's. Buy the album and enjoy it over and over. Don't listen for barely audible clicks and pops. Listen to the MUSIC! That's why you're supposed to be in love with film music. That 99.97449% contains inventive orchestration and voicings, wonderful melodies, delightful twists and turns, and abounding creativity! Why on Earth would you even notice these clicks, much less let them become the focus of your listening experience? If this were a record album, it would be graded as MINT! That means you can't do any better. So make believe you have one of the best pressings of a record album ever made in the history of planet Earth and enjoy this marvelous audio presentation.

Don't be one of those people who buy a five-bedroom house and all they can notice is that one of the bricks on the chimney is offset a quarter of a inch from the other bricks. Or someone who buys a new car for $30,000, and it doesn't give them much pleasure because they are fixated on a tiny scratch a foot up on the radio antenna. The world is not a perfect place. Soundtracks are not perfect.

It shouldn't be about how awesome your 5.1 Surround Sound system is. It shouldn't be about how powerful your sub-woofers are. It should be about how good the music is that you're listening to. The quality of THE NIGHT WALKER's recording is so good and the score is so enjoyable, just buy it and listen to the MUSIC! And if you happen to hear one of these small clicks, I'll bet the next time you listen to the CD you won't even notice them. Unless you're one of those people who are fixated on the minutia of the Universe.
Just enjoy the experience of hearing a brilliant film score. And instead of demanding repressings from Percepto, just e-mail them and send your undying thanks for releasing a disc they'll be lucky to sell 500 copies of. Because Percepto spent a ton of money releasing the CD so you NIGHT WALKER fanatics could finally enjoy the music after all these years. I've never even seen THE NIGHT WALKER, and I'm already hooked on the music.

Now I'm going to take my ear away from the speaker, get those "click timings" off my browser, play the CD, and enjoy every second of it, including that 76/100th of a second of extraneous noise.

And if you don't trust my opinion (after all, I'm only a soundtrack producer), check out the review written by Intrada's Doug Fake: http://www.intrada.com/doug/doug0702.htm Doug has never released an album with clicks on it, so I'm sure you ultra-picky soundtrack fans will take HIS word for how great Percepto's THE NIGHT WALKER really is.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MMM:

I grew up in the age of records. LPs and 45s. We also had cassettes. What we also had was some occasional noise mixed in with the music we loved. Some clicks and pops on our records, lots of tape hiss on our cassettes, regardless of whether he had Dolby B or not. Most of us didn't even use Dolby B because it took the highs away. Instead, we'd take off the Dolby and just turn down the treble a bit. When we ejected that tape and put in a non-Dolby tape, we'd turn the treble back up a little. We didn't sit back on a couch and have 10 CDs loaded into our 5.1 system while we remote-controlled through 12 hours of music without moving a muscle.

---

So what!? I used to do that too, I'd even listen to something recorded off VHS in mono.
But now they have 24-bit Audio CDs, and theres no need to go back. Its 2002, get out of 1982!

quote:

---

When I read the postings about all the distracting and unacceptable noises emanating from Percepto's new release of THE NIGHT WALKER, I wondered how this label could have created such an egregious mistake? After all, their previous recordings and booklets have helped contribute to the raising of the bar for soundtrack label releases of original tracks. Percepto = High Quality

---

Thats no reason to sell a defective product.

quote:

---

And I must say I heard most of them. But how did I hear them? By turning up the music loud and concentrating on the exact timings mentioned in the post and waiting for those clicks. And those clicks came. But what did they sound like?

---

Agian So What?! I'm sure Majetyx heard them without knowing they were there before-hand, and he most likely wasn't concentrating to hear glitches. In other words, the glitches must be obvious.

quote:

---

Well, if you ever listened to soundtrack albums, and you had a mint copy of your favorite soundtrack, and it had a few random clicks in at, as all mint records do, the Percepto clicks sound like a teeny-weeny-tiny-minuscule-inconspicuous click that you'd hear on even the best album pressing ever made.

---

If it was that subtle, and prominent in soundtrack relases in general, like you claim, then I dought this topic would exist.

quote:

---

So what I want to know is: "How picky are soundtrack 'fans' these days that they are even raising this as an issue, and people who've no doubt not even heard the release are proclaiming that they'll never buy the release?"

---

Well if something has the potentional of being near-perfect, then why buy the broken one? Majetyx paid good money for it, I'm sure expecting good quality like all other CD releases.

I once bought a CD and it had one single "Zapping" sound in one of the tracks.
(a goof up at JVC). I told the label about it and they thanked me for doing so. They sent me a replacement disc free of charge.

Now explain to me why they just didn't email me a letter like your post?

quote:

---

If you add up the number of clicks and multiply them by the length of each click (I'd guess it's about 1/50th of a second per click), that means that the total amount of "click noise" on the CD is about .76 seconds out of a total playing time of 2,980 seconds! That means that the level of audio perfection on the CD in terms of clickless music is a mediocore 99.97449%! Percepto is making us put up with an unacceptable .0025503% of minimally-flawed music!

---

It doesn't matter, the glitch on the CD I mentioned had a flaw smaller than that!
The point is its not supposed to be there.
And in my case Varese Sarabande agreed.

quote:

---

Folks... THE NIGHT WALKER is a FABULOUS album. A marvelous listening experience. On top of that, the booklet is exceptional, as are all of Percepto's. Buy the album and enjoy it over and over. Don't listen for barely audible clicks and pops. Listen to the MUSIC! That's why you're supposed to be in love with film music. That 99.97449% contains inventive orchestration and voicings, wonderful melodies, delightful twists and turns, and abounding creativity! Why on Earth would you even notice these clicks, much less let them become the focus of your listening experience? If this were a record album, it would be graded as MINT! That means you can't do any better. So make believe you have one of the best pressings of a record album ever made in the history of planet Earth and enjoy this marvelous audio presentation.

---

It is possible, that Percepto might replace the disc, because I'm sure they want to satisfy customers. I mean we after all keep them in business. So bringing this to Percepto's attention is nessasary.

It doesn't make sense to listen to a great score with pops and clicks in the recording or CD mastering, if you might be able to get less flawed copy.

quote:

---

Don't be one of those people who buy a five-bedroom house and all they can notice is that one of the bricks on the chimney is offset a quarter of a inch from the other bricks. Or someone who buys a new car for $30,000, and it doesn't give them much pleasure because they are fixated on a tiny scratch a foot up on the radio antenna. The world is not a perfect place. Soundtracks are not perfect.

---

LOL , your examples are a little extreme there buddy.

quote:

---

It shouldn't be about how awesome your 5.1 Surround Sound system is. It shouldn't be about how powerful your sub-woofers are. It should be about how good the music is that you're listening to. The quality of THE NIGHT WALKER's recording is so good and the score is so enjoyable, just buy it and listen to the MUSIC! And if you happen to hear one of these small clicks, I'll bet the next time you listen to the CD you won't even notice them. Unless you're one of those people who are fixated on the minutia of the Universe.

---

So you basically your saying, if you had the opportunity to attend a live consert of your favorite composer and sit right next to the conductor or sit a home and listen to a AM Radio Broadcast in MONO. You'd pick the radio?

quote:

---

And if you don't trust my opinion (after all, I'm only a soundtrack producer), check out the review written by Intrada's Doug Fake: http://www.intrada.com/doug/doug0702.htm

---

You maybe a soundtrack producer, but you're still just a Minimember :P

> I mean we after all keep them in business. So bringing this to Percepto's attention is nessasary.

So, have YOU been supporting Percepto and helping to keep them in business? If you are a customer, why didn't you have anything nice to say about them? Or do you just enjoy criticizing things you know little about?

I would much rather be a soundtrack producer than a "goldmember." But I guess you feel that only somebody who posts endlessly on these forums deserves any respect.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MMM:
Why would you or anyone else comment on a disc that you haven't heard? Are you an expert on things you know nothing about? I don't mind people disagreeing with me, but sheesh -- you'd think they'd be very familiar with the topic of conversation they're going on about. Buy the CD and THEN your comments might be worth something more than just a few bytes in cyberspace.

---

I may not have heard this CD, but I have experience in this subject.
I made a post exactly like MajestyX for the defective CD I got from Varese.

If I hadn't said anything I probably would still be listening to a defective product, and so would many others.

I have zero problem listening to old scores that have degradations due to age and media but bad mastering is a different matter. If the flaws could have been avoided, they should have.

I am simply bemoaning a missed opportunity. I don't think there will ever be another release of this score and for better or worse this CD will probably be one for prosperity and it is certainly shame if these flaws exist because of bad mastering.

Perhaps somebody from Percepto would care to clear the air and state exactly what caused the problem.

If you are just now learning that soundtrack fans are hyper critical, you must not have been reading these boards for very long.

We are very passionate about our hobby and feel that things should be as close to perfect as they can be. We may disagree on what perfect is, but we certainly all want it.

We are also incredibly loyal to companies that produce the CD's we want. I personally try to get my hands on every collector release I can afford because I know they may not be around if I wait too long.

I also buy scores that aren't on my grail list if I think that it will help a company survive long enough to produce something that I really want. I bought Point Blank/The Outfit even though I was pretty sure it wouldn't get 20 bucks worth of spins in my CD Player.

Knowing how much time and money Percepto puts into its releases, I can safely assume that they went way overbudget on this CD, considering the niche market they're in. I'm sure Percepto could have removed some of the clicks, but they would have had to spend more time with a masterer, and it isn't cheap doing that. They probably know that even if they sell every copy they've pressed, they still won't break even, so I'm not sure it would have been good business sense to invest even more money in the release.

What bothers me the most about the complaining is that most of the people complaining haven't bought the CD. They're listening to one person and they're spreading the word based on his assessment. That's not good reporting. If you want to complain about clicks, wait until you've bought a CD with clicks in it, and then you have a right to complain about that particular release. The first person who posted did have that right, but almost none of the subsequent posters did. As for the person who said he was qualified to complain about the clicks on this CD (that he'd never heard) because he once bought another CD with some noise on it, I don't think I need to comment on that.

And I've got to admit -- some of the clicks the first poster noticed were not very easy to hear. Some I NEVER heard. He was obviously on a mission to point out ANY sound he thought was a flaw. My guess is he heard two clicks and then put on the headphones, cranked the volume, and took out his little pencil to mark down timings.

I DO know how picky soundtrack enthusiasts are. I've spent a fortune in mastering and editing costs because I'M picky. But I also know how unrealistic many collectors are. If they want perfection, then they shouldn't even buy CDs, since digital sound is merely an approximation of how a real analogue sound wave is. I prefer many LPs over CDs because they simply sound better. If CD fanatics compared analogue to digital, in many cases they'd realize that what they're listening to is inferior. Therefore, they are obviously able to accept imperfection, so they should be able to accept a few clicks here and there on an occasional release.

If the composer wanted the CD released the way it was, and he did, then I think we should just be grateful that we have such a lovely presentation of it.

Perhaps if the first poster had reviewed the disc favorably for 98% of his post, and maybe spent 2% of his post mentioning what he felt were flaws, I'd have responded a little differently. But he didn't do that. He wrote a really picky account of clicks and pops with absolutely no comments about whether he even liked the music, the liner book, or Mizzy as a composer. Had he even devoted six words to the quality of the 99.97449% of the music that DIDN'T have clicks, I might have given his comments more weight. He's pointing out what is an incredibly minor part of the release and magnifying it to epic proportions. Anyone not owning the release (and that includes just about every one of you) would think that this is a horrible listening experience. And it isn't. It's fantastic. He's making a clicky mountain out of a molehill.

I will move Night Walker to the top of my buy list and when I recieve I give it a listen without headphones ro track times and I will report back on how it is.

Like I said, I loved the main titles that were on the Themes and Suites so I'll know I'll love the music. I'm pretty middle of the road on sound quality, for many of the reasons you already stated. My first soundtracks were on LP and Cassette so I don't consider myself hypercritical.

However, the NIGHT WALKER noises are not vinyl flaws, something we could accept back in the day because that technology was not perfect. And they don't appear to be master tape flaws either - something else we might accept, because we all know how tapes can deteriorate.

No: these are engineering flaws. Do you have Percepto's Vic Mizzy compilation CD? As Majestyx says, the NIGHT WALKER Main Title on that CD is flawless. Click-free. And yet on this CD, clicks have mysteriously appeared on that track. Conclusion: the clicks have been added. By an engineering error. They sound like digital pops on a bad CDR. The CD, then, is defective. None of us like to hear about this kind of thing happening, because it doesn't have to be that way. What you're hearing on this thread is disappointment. We love music, and it's sad that a good score has now been preserved on CD with these extraneous noises thrown in. If someone had done their job properly, we would all now be enjoying this score as it should be heard.

quote:

---

I'm sure Percepto could have removed some of the clicks, but they would have had to spend more time with a masterer, and it isn't cheap doing that. They probably know that even if they sell every copy they've pressed, they still won't break even, so I'm not sure it would have been good business sense to invest even more money in the release.

---

That's what they told me in their e-mail. They are as disappointed as we are that it had to go out this way.

quote:

---

What bothers me the most about the complaining is that most of the people complaining haven't bought the CD. They're listening to one person and they're spreading the word based on his assessment.

---

Actually, they're listening to two people. See the second post - that's me

quote:

---

If you want to complain about clicks, wait until you've bought a CD with clicks in it, and then you have a right to complain about that particular release.

---

So these people should just go ahead and buy THE NIGHT WALKER and hear the flaws for themselves, huh? C'mon, these people aren't just being pernickety - they're responding to our warning. If someone said to you, "There's a hole in the sidewalk up ahead," would you ignore them and just walk into it? I hope you wouldn't.

quote:

---

And I've got to admit -- some of the clicks the first poster noticed were not very easy to hear. Some I NEVER heard. He was obviously on a mission to point out ANY sound he thought was a flaw. My guess is he heard two clicks and then put on the headphones, cranked the volume, and took out his little pencil to mark down timings.

---

I don't know what Majestyx did, but I bet you he didn't have to listen over headphones. I have quite a bit of Hi-Fi equipment, and I first listened to this CD on the shittiest piece I have - a small boombox in my office. Even on those tiny speakers, and at modest volume levels, the majority of these clicks are obvious. Are my ears oversensitive? Maybe

quote:

---

Perhaps if the first poster had reviewed the disc favorably for 98% of his post, and maybe spent 2% of his post mentioning what he felt were flaws, I'd have responded a little differently. But he didn't do that. He wrote a really picky account of clicks and pops with absolutely no comments about whether he even liked the music, the liner book, or Mizzy as a composer. Had he even devoted six words to the quality of the 99.97449% of the music that DIDN'T have clicks, I might have given his comments more weight. He's pointing out what is an incredibly minor part of the release and magnifying it to epic proportions.

---

Are we reading the same post? He just pointed out some flaws and wondered if anybody else had noticed them. If anyone is magnifying this discussion to epic proportions, it's ... well, you. (Not complaining, this is a good discussion).

quote:

---

I DO know how picky soundtrack enthusiasts are. I've spent a fortune in mastering and editing costs because I'M picky. But I also know how unrealistic many collectors are. If they want perfection, then they shouldn't even buy CDs, since digital sound is merely an approximation of how a real analogue sound wave is. I prefer many LPs over CDs because they simply sound better. If CD fanatics compared analogue to digital, in many cases they'd realize that what they're listening to is inferior. Therefore, they are obviously able to accept imperfection, so they should be able to accept a few clicks here and there on an occasional release.

---

So I should just shut up and let incompetent engineers add as many clicks and pops to my future CDs as they want Okay, kidding aside, I also find some LPs preferable to CDs, but the bottom line in this discussion is that an engineering error seems to have been made, and that's frustrating. It's laudable that you want to see the positive side to all this (good score gets release it deserves) but the bottom line is, many of us feel that it hasn't got the release it deserves.

[Message edited by Stephen Lister on 08-24-2002]

When I do pay $20+ for a CD of an antique score, I expect it to be mastered by a capable person and free of noise and artifacts that were not contained on the original tapes. There are plenty of CDs I have in my collection which don't always sound that great, like North by Northwest and Beneath the 12-mile Reef. I'm well aware that the master tapes were in bad shape (or literally going through the machine on their last play) and that the producers of the CDs made every effort possible to strain the best sound out of what was available to provide a CD that I'd spend top dollar for.

The problem with this disc is that the noise seems to be added in the digital domain due to an inempt engineer at the controls. A "bad CD-R" as many have called it. Something that, had I made on it my own computer, I'd throw out and would have burned another one. I certainly would have listened to it very closely before I pressed hundreds or thousands of copies of it.

Even if you've bought OTHER CDs with audio problems, that doesn't give you any expertise in talking about a particular disc you have not personally heard for yourself. If you were a restaurant reviewer and you gave Chinese restaurant "A" one-and-a-half stars, you can't tell your editor, "I'm going to give Chinese restaurant 'B' one-and-a-half stars too, even though I've never eaten there." If you don't want to try another Chinese restaurant based on your experiences with restaurant "A," then that's fine. But it's not fair to restaurant "B" to criticize it just because of your experience with "A" or because somebody told you they didn't like "B." Think about what you're doing. Would you actually have any respect for a film music reviewer or movie reviewer or restaurant reviewer if he said, "I haven't heard this album or seen this film or eaten at this restaurant, but I'm going to tell everyone how dissatisfied I am with their product?" It's ludicrous.

Your opinion is simply not valid when you criticize a company for a product you've never owned or seen or heard. I've heard it, and I love the release. May others who own it offer their own opinions, and may those who have no right offering an opinion just keep their unfounded opinions to themselves.

And now, I'm going to leave this thread, because I have to work on some soundtrack productions, some of which may or may not have some clicks or other noises in them. But the overall listening experience will be great, as it is in Percepto's release.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TimT:
I may not have heard this CD, but I have experience in this subject.
I made a post exactly like MajestyX for the defective CD I got from Varese.

If I hadn't said anything I probably would still be listening to a defective product, and so would many others.

---

Let me guess, It was Arabian Nights!

In that case, I'd have to thank you. It made my getting a replacement much easier...

As for having to listen to the CD to be able to criticize such flaws, that's complete nonsense. I appreciate everything MMM has done for film music as well as what other producers have done too. But, if it is a mistake on the labels part and is something that can be fixed, they are required to take such action. Otherwise, they are selling defective goods.

This really has nothing to about pleasing their customers and is all about selling something that lives up to a certain degree of acceptable quality.

Really, I think we all take having some CDs with extraneous noise and other anomalies with a grain of salt. However, in this case to criticize people who say they will not buy it until it is fixed is just deluding oneself into believing this is justified on the labels part. Perhaps it is, but then again, so are those who decide not to get a copy because of this all! Whatever!

So just for the record, I was only stating facts. Since the manufacturer has yet to respond in some way, I felt the need to check if others have the same problems with their CD that I and at least one other person do. The times are listed to make sure that they are in the same place on all discs, not because they are so faint they are hard to miss. Amazing how words can be twisted to fit someone's agenda.

In this day and age, there isn't an excuse to release a knowlingly flawed CD without at least letting the purchaser know in advance. If it was known, as Stephen Lister has claimed he was told, then I could complain all I want but not really have any recourse. That is not what we have here. If I wanted to listen to this as if I was listening to an LP, then they should have pressed it as an LP or not even bothered to restore the sound at all. But these glitches don't really even sound like LP pops. These sound more like digital pops introduced by possibly a bad CD-R, a dying laser, or what is referred to as "jitter." Since the CD itself is not a CD-R, I am in a quandary as to why these glitches are on the CD.

So since I haven't shed any praise upon the CD, I will grant you that the book, like every other Percepto release, is first rate. More info, pics, and inside info that I could have ever possibly dreamed about. But everything I've said in this paragraph is my subjective opinion. What that has to do with a defective CD, I don't know, but it seems to make a difference to someone.

The bottom line is still the music. These glitches are NOT acceptable for a $20 CD, what's less, ANY commercial release, without some sort of disclaimer. I don't think that's an unrealstic expectation. If a bad master was to blame, then it was up to the label to get that master re-made. They would be legally entitled to it at no further expense since they were given a defective master to begin with, if that is indeed the real story. I'm not talking about "tweaking" here - this was not mastered properly, at least, according to the initial response that was posted in regard to my query. At that point, I just let go at that. So at the very least, they would be entitled to a refund of the money spent to have the master made. This is all conjecture of course, since the real story behind "wha' 'appened?' is still unknown and probably won't be.

Now back to booklets and at the risk of sounding like some unappreciative "fan" who's being pissy again...does anyone else have pages missing from their (excellent, awesome, super, collossal) 2CD Fly collection, also by Percepto? Maybe I've just got bad luck, but mine is missing pages 21-36 from the center of the booklet. This has again been met with silence. Go ahead, use my own words against me that "the bottom line is the music." How dare I complain about an incomplete book?! But then I guess I'm just being a prima donna again, expecting the book to have the right amount of pages...

And since MMM took the time to single me out, let me just state to you (and anyone else who will listen) that I have found Percepto Records to be a heaven sent film score label. I can't believe some of the stuff that has been released on this label for which I am eternally grateful. This is a horror film score lover's dream come true. The problem I have is that it seems that some quality control issues have been overlooked on two of this label's recent releases. I seem to have inadvertently caused a backlash against the label which certainly was not my intention. I was seeking more information to see if others have these same glitches on their CDs or if I and another person may have just received a defective disc. I was only asking what other's have experienced. I'm not here as a producer of soundtracks who has to tell everyone that I am such and pat other producers on the back, as MMM has made it ever so clear to everyone.

It would seem that those who haven't bought it have no right to comment, yet those who have shouldn't make comments about flaws. I find them annoying from a listening standpoint and even moreso from a consumer standpoint, especially if what has been stated about a bad master is true.

Always on the outside looking in and yours truly,

In the case of CDs, it is not difficult for a company to produce a brief trial run, select one or two pressings at random, listen to them, and ensure all is well. If all is well, then proceed with pressing the additional thousand, hundred thousand, ten million, whatever.

Clearly not all companies do this, assuming any do. There have been a couple of cases in recent years of flaws in Varese Sarabande pressings that should have been detected and corrected had anybody at Varese Sarabande actually bothered to listen to the finished product first.

I was floored recently when I bought a store bought, sealed CD (not a soundtrack), which were remastered historical recordings from 78 rpm records. While not expecting perfection, toward the end of one track, the 78 rpm record being recorded stuck. From that point onward, for the rest of the CD (some 20+ minutes worth), all you got was the that bit of that 78 record that was stuck in one groove – over and over and over and over and over and over again. That the company didn’t pick up on that glaring error prior to distributing the finished product is appalling. Even more appalling would have been if they knew they were sending out a flawed product and didn’t care. Needless to say I returned the CD to the store, but there was no point in getting a replacement as it wasn’t the physical CD that was faulty, but the overall production.

Another case where on the CD booklet the CD was listed as containing “over 70 minutes of music”. It barely clocked in at 55 minutes in length! No excuse is acceptable!

quote:

---

Originally posted by John Prytz:
From that point onward, for the rest of the CD (some 20+ minutes worth), all you got was the that bit of that 78 record that was stuck in one groove – over and over and over and over and over and over again.

---

LOL -- and we thought this CD had problems!

If that sounds good, you have a pressing made, and usually there's a minimum of a thousand copies. You can't have a few finished CD's pressed and check them out. If you look at any CD replicator's site, you'll see this is true. It was different back in the days of records.

I really have to wonder if you even read my posts fully or just stopped when you felt like retorting, ignoring the crystal clear issue that started this thread in the first place. So I'll say it again - if the master was known to be defective, the producer was entitled to a replacement at no additional cost, or a refund. If this was deemed too difficult to pursue, then it should have been made known to the buyer of the final product ahead of time.

Since everyone arguing against me has to make extreme examples, let me give you one that is about as extreme as the rest of them:

I purchase a car whose brakes work 99.9% of the time. That means for every 1000 times I hit the brakes, one time the brakes won't work. This was known by the manufacturer before the brakes were put on the vehicle but it was decided to go ahead with production anyway and not mention this fact to the buying public. Am I not entitled to have the brakes replaced at no additional charge when this is discovered by me and others who have bought the vehicle? Is it unrealistic to expect the brakes to work everytime I step on the brake pedal? Wouldn't there be a nationwide recall of this vehicle? Would someone call me a safety fanatic because I was complaining? Wouldn't there be an outcry of negligence against this company? As I've said, this is an extreme example, but if we're going to bandy about hypothetical situations, this is just as good as any other example.

And while you will attempt to spin what I originally posted into something it's not, you are right about one thing - I did go thru the entire disc (after noticing a number of pops on the first casual listen) and found the rest of the ones listed in order to do a thorough quality inspection of the entire disc, something that either wasn't done by the label or that was done but that the company chose to ignore. There is no point in only mentioning a few of the flaws. Again, so that others could check their copy, I listed every one I could find. Had I only mentioned a few of them, someone would have inevitably jumped in with an argument of "well if it's just a few pops here and there, there's no need to complain," much the way MMM did, playing with statistics and percentages to make it sound like I have no right to raise an issue. Back to the brake issue, I could say "hey, the brakes work 99.9% of the time -that's not bad, right?" Putting it that way and without thinking too hard about it, it almost makes it sound like a great feature.

So, I will just point out, for now, that Vic Mizzy himself signed off on this release. He put up the money to get it out there, and determined that the mastering error, while unfortunate, was not enough of an issue for him to pay even MORE money to get it fixed. Good enough for him, good enough for you. (Well, obviously NOT, but that's not his problem.)

I listened to the album, and didn't even NOTICE these errors until I saw this post. But then, I wasn't listening to them with a stethoscope; I was just listening to it casually while doing other things.

I won't bother repeating anything else I've stated at least twice previously since no one seems to be reading what I've written anyway, based upon the (non)responses I've seen. THE point is being avoided in favor of non-sequiturs.

quote:

---

I was just listening to it casually while doing other things.

---

I'm sorry, Dan, but your 2nd inning contribution comes in the bottom of the 9th. We're past that. We're waiting for an answer, a fast ball down the middle if you will, not a side-out pitch as what's being thrown by people who happen to know Taylor.

Sometimes mistakes are made by the very best of companies. We'd like to know the truth about it, and whether or not anything is going to be done about it. So far, no official word. And that's all we're waiting for.

Is this really a mistake? To some, yes. But if the official word is "no," then so be it. The consumer knows what to do. Until the official word arrives, the silence is deafening and would appear to be an admission of something.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen Lister:
So was I. And the clicks were as plain as day. Darn, my ears must be WAY oversensitive.

---

Alright, let me repeat myself. I didn't NOTICE them. Doesn't mean I can't hear them. If you listen to an old LP, do you get all hung up on the static? Or do you just enjoy the music itself?

I do respect the fact that for many people - your good self included - these glitches appear to be barely noticeable. I envy you, I really do (no sarcasm implied) because I wish I could mentally filter out these sounds.

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their valuable input, both positive and negative. This has been a fascinating discussion and hopefully I can shed some light on the situation.

First and foremost, THE NIGHT WALKER was produced as a promotional CD for Vic Mizzy to be given out to his co-workers, friends and family. When the master arrived, both Vic and I agreed it wasn't up to the quality of our previous SUITES & THEMES release, nor did it meet the usual Percepto standards of THE BOY WHO COULD FLY, THE FLY TRILOGY and others. However, for promotional purposes, the master was more than sufficient.

We also had to look at this project in those dreaded financial terms knowing full well that this title, like SUITES & THEMES and our latest release of THE CAPER OF THE GOLDEN BULLS and THE PERILS OF PAULINE, will never (I repeat, NEVER!) come close to recouping its cost. Is this an excuse for releasing a less-than-perfect product? Not at all. But in the end, I felt very strongly that Mizzy fans would rather have a CD with a few very slight pops than no CD at all.

In all honesty, I'm a little confounded by the near-microscopic dissection of this CD since to date, we've received unanimous raves, most notably in Doug Fake's weekly review column at www.intrada.com which very politely points out the minor 'pops' but still puts the CD in perspective by offering a resounding thumbs-up all around.

So here's the remedy: This weekend I will post high-quality MP3's of the offending tracks listed at the top of this thread on our website at www.percepto.com. That way anyone who may want to buy the CD can hear what they're getting into and nobody will feel bamboozled.

Secondly, I offer my sincerest apologies to anyone who wasn't 100% satisfied with this release and will gladly issue a full refund, including return postage for the CD. This goes for any Percepto release, both past and future.

Now let's look to the future! I'm currently wrapping up production on Mizzy's THE BUSY BODY, THE SPIRIT IS WILLING and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, hopefully for Halloween, and I assure you, there won't be a single 'pop' in sight!

Thanks again to everyone for their support!

Warmest Regards,

Taylor White
Percepto Records

Of course, near perfect is better than nothing at all, so I will definitely keep the CD! I am glad to hear that you will at least keep the playing field level by letting people know about the issues in advance, as I'm am sure you know how anal-retentive score fans can be. You're looking at the prime example.

Regarding the errors themselves, I have to say that I am still pretty middle of the raod about them.

They ARE clearly noticeable without headphones. True, I might not have noticed right away, but I would have noticed eventually.

That said, it didn’t really spoil the listening experience for me, but depending on your tastes, you might have a problem with it.

If you have high end audio equipment and every flaw sticks out like a dagger in the back or you believe that every CD should sound like a direct to digital recording then perhaps you should pass it up. If minor flaws don’t spoil it for you, then you should consider this disc for the sake of the music alone.

Bottom line: Should you get it? It totally depends on your perfection level. If you are looking for a release of the original tracks to this film and want the music, by all means get it. If you are an audiophile and even the slightest misplaced sound makes you grimace, then give it a pass and spare yourself the frustration of this near miss.