Following on from Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxymorewoks album, Irène Drésel worked on the reworking of the track “ZEITGEIST BOTANICA”.

Irène Drésel is a French artist renowned for her melancholy and hypnotic electronic music. She has released two albums, Hyper Cristal in 2019 and Kinky Dogma in 2021, as well as several singles and EPs.
Irène Drésel’s techno is colourful, sensual and bold.
In 2023, she won the César for best original music for her work on the film “À plein temps”, directed by Éric Gravel. She is the first composer to win this award in the 48-year history of the Césars. She was also nominated at the Lumières and Paris film critics awards for the same score.
Pending the release of her third album, scheduled for 26 January 2024, this review will focus on the Kinky Dogma album in 2021, and it’s a first to test a techno music album.

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested: vinyl record (white) and Amazon UltraHD in 24 bits 44.1 kHz.

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.
The synthesis of the review and the samples are available here

The album is composed of 14 tracks:

1. Bienvenue
2. Devotee
3. Carl (Interlude)
4. Vestale
5. Omerta
6. Pinky
7. Loup solitaire
8. Kinky
9. Celake
10. Yage
11. Miroir
12. Club Saint Paul
13. Cortege
14. Stupre

First we will analyze each edition in detail (technical and qualitative analysis), then we will compare the successive editions with their dynamics and assign a final score, and you will be able to listen some samples.

The streaming versions may evolve over time, those presented here correspond to the version tested at the date of publication, or update of the review.

Review of the editions:

Part 1: Presentation of the editions

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamique comparaison

Parts 3 : Spectrum comparisons

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons>

Part 5 : Summary, scoring and Sample

Part 1: presentation of the editions

Ed 1: Vinyl record – 2023

Presentation

A beautiful reissued edition of 2 white vinyl records in 33.33 rpm ( ref :3701037701355).

Ed 2: Amazon UltraHD – 2021

Presentation

The Tidal Max Flac is presented in Flac 24 bits 44.1 kHz.

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamic comparaisons

Waveform

The waveform represents tracks of the album.

The waveform of the vinyl record show good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at least DR9 for vinyl record. Techno music isn’t necessarily very dynamic, but we can’t make any assumptions about the master that was used (with or without dynamic range limitation), as described in the article “Does analog media force a dynamic on music?”

The waveforms clearly show the use of a dynamic limiter, as confirmed by the Dynamic Range measurement with a DR6.

Dynamic

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

For our 2 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Vinyl record – 2023	Amazon UltraHD – 2021
Global	DR9	DR5
Min	DR6	DR2
Max	DR11	DR7
Bienvenue	DR11	DR7
Devotee	DR10	DR5
Carl (Interlude)	DR6	DR2
Vestale	DR10	DR5
Omerta	DR8	DR3
Pinky	DR10	DR5
Loup solitaire	DR10	DR4
Kinky	DR10	DR4
Celake	DR9	DR5
Yage	DR8	DR3
Miroir	DR10	DR5
Club Saint Paul	DR8	DR5
Cortege	DR9	DR5
Stupre	DR10	DR5

The streaming stereo version (Tidal MAX Flacc) has a reduced DR6 dynamic range. For the vinyl record, the measured dynamic range is greater, but the dynamic range of the master used to cut the lacquer cannot be determined (for further explanation, see article Does analog media force a dynamic on music?).

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Part 3 : spectrum comparisons

Spectrum

The Spectrum allows to check the tonal balance of the music (balance between treble, medium and bass sounds) and to detect process that may have been carried out during the recording, the mixing, mastering or manufacturing phases. It is also possible to detect frequency interference issues.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the vinyl record (white curve) with the spectrum of the Amazon Music streaming version (blue curve). The curves overlap perfectly up to 10 kHz, and above this frequency (yellow zone), there is a drop of a few dB for the digital version (up to -4 dB at 18 kHz). The yellow arrow indicates the noise of the vinyl compared with the digital version, which has no signal above 20 kHz. The green area shows a very slight difference in bass (with a miximum of 1 dB). The white arrow shows that the digital signal goes up to a maximum frequency of 20 kHz (the sampling frequency is 44.1 kHz), a limitation that may be due to the samplers used for techno music.

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons

Spectrogram

Spectrogram is another representation of frequency versus time of a track. For each channel (right and left), horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency. The amplitude is represented by the intensity (brightness) of the color of each point in the image.

The spectrogram of the vinyl record below shows that the frequencies of the audio signal rise above 20 kHz (yellow arrow). The signal above 20 kHz (white arrow) is due to distortion caused by the vinyl playback principle. There is no signal in the digital master for these frequencies (above 20 kHz).

The spectrogram of the stereo version Amazon Music shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow).No signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used.

Part 5 : Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Vinyl record – 2023

Listening to the vinyl record is different from that of the digital stereo version, with a less heavy sound and a slightly greater variation in sound levels. Bass is less insistent, but the balance is more pleasant to listen to.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●ooo (2)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : ”Vestale” 16 bits 88.2 kHz:

Ed 2: Amazon UltraHD – 2021

The digital stereo version is highly compressed in terms of dynamics, resulting in a very present sound with pronounced bass. This is somewhat characteristic of electro music. The music comes to the fore on a small system, but on a large listening system, with a high volume, the use of the limiter reduces the impact one could have in the bass.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2)

Sample : ”Vestale” 16 bits 44.1 kHz:

This album corresponds to the standards of current electronic music, as can also be seen on Jean Michel Jarre’s album Oxymoreworks. The album was released 2 years ago, so there’s no Dolby Atmos version, but, for the next album due out in early 2024, a Dolby Atmos version should also be available, which should extend the music in immersive mode.

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Detail of the ratings :

• Dynamic :
  1. Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
  2. Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
  3. Correct piece DR >=10
  4. No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
  5. No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
• Spectrum :
  1. Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
  2. Spectrum cut at 15 khz
  3. Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
  4. Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
  5. Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
• Surface noise (only for vinyl):
  1. Continuous audible noise
  2. Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
  3. Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
  4. Low surface noise, very good quality
  5. Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
• Spatialization :
  • Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
  • Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
  • For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
• Restitution :
  1. Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  2. Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  3. Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
  4. High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
  5. Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.

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