Title: Green Mist (Remaster)
Artist: Jack Hertz
Release Date: 2014 June 30
Genre: Ambient
License: CC BY-NC-ND
Label: Aural Films
Introduction
Jack Hertz in ambient Green Mist is a remastered version of the Earth Mantra label’s release from 2012. ‘Moss’ was originally recorded on Jack’s show on StillStreams in 2011, while ‘Lichen’ and ‘Algae’ were studio recordings, and ‘Succulents’ is a new track added for this release. (The original Earth Mantra releases are available on the Internet Archive.) This version uses current technology to update the sound of this release.
Jack Hertz: Green Mist
Originally released in 2012 on Earth Mantra records, Jack Hertz felt that the technology and recording of the originally fell short in terms of sound quality he tries to achieve. This release is remastered with full 24bit sound, which improves the depth of field, imaging and other aspects of the sound over the 16bit masters.Perhaps the one track that immediately jumps out as being improved from remastering is the opening of ‘Moss’. The separation of the instruments is greatly improved, and some artifacts introduced into the original recording have been eliminated.
The one odd thing about this release is that the first track ‘Lichen’ is two minutes shorter than the original. I don’t know if this was due to some damage to the original master recording, or that some parts of the track were not re-masterable. But, no matter what the cause, Jack is definitely a master at handling this – I couldn’t tell you where the edits occur in the track without literally A/B switching between them, and even then I suspect I might not be able to pinpoint the changes.
For this remastered edition of Jacks ode to the microflora of the Pacific Northwest a new track has been added: ‘Succulents’. This short drone piece seems slightly out-of-place with the rest of the release. While it has a similar quiet style as the other pieces, the tonal and color palette seem quite different to the other pieces. While it is still a nice piece, I found it to be a surprising addition to the overall work.
Conclusion
The original release of Green Mist suffered from some of the limitations of the technology at the time, mostly from the addition of artifacts into the recording that weren’t correctable. This new 24bit remaster fixes many of those issues. Unfortunately, the first track ends up being a couple of minutes shorter on this release versus the original. And, while ‘Succulents’ is a very nice track, it doesn’t quite seem to fit with the other pieces on this release.
So, I have to give this a somewhat mixed review, unfortunately. I love the sound of the remaster, which has been expertly done. But the loss of a couple of minutes of one track, and the addition of another track that doesn’t seem to quite fit the release are downsides for me. (Although, it can be argued that since I can’t figure out where the two minutes went I shouldn’t hold that against this version.) This is still an overall excellent release, and I’m really glad to hear it with the cleaned up sound.
| CORRECTION: In several places I originally stated this release was recorded during Jack’s show on StillStreams Radio. This was based on the description from the original release notes from Earth Mantra. Jack has informed me that, in reality, only ‘Moss’ was recorded during his StillStreams show. The remaining tracks were studio recordings. This article has been edited to correct this error. |
| Note: I spoke with Jack about the two minutes he shaved off ‘Lichen’. It was a matter of him feeling that the fade in and fade out on the track were too long, so he made the decision to shorten them a bit. |
Jack Hertz: Green Mist (Remaster)
$2.00 USD (or more)
7.5
