DARYL HALL&JOHN OATES-"Your Imagination"

Is the version on the 2004 "Ultimate" compilation the
single version? I recall hearing a few different versions
of this song on the radio back when and wondered which was
the "official" single version of the song.

aaronk wrote: It's a shame the mastering isn't better on the 12 Inch Collection (Japan) and Extended Mixes (digital). All the songs on those releases are heavily brickwalled. On top of that, though, "Your Imagination" was run through noise reduction for no apparent reason. The high frequencies have a gated sound to them. Not good!

Yeah, I have the 2018 reissue of the 12" Collection, and definitely agree about the loudness.

But your post made me wonder - are the bonus tracks on the 2004 remasters the same? I have the 2011 Japanese reissues of the 2004 RCA discs, so I decided to measure the loudness of various tracks that appear on both, and figured I'd post my findings:

I Can't Go For That Extended Club Mix
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -13.7 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -10.0 db (-10.5 db on the digital comp, with 0.5 headroom)

One On One Club Mix
2001 The Ballads Collection - RMS -16.8 db
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -14.7 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -11.9 db

Family Man Extended Dance Mix
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -13.9 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -11.4 db

Your Imagination Disco Remix
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -13.1 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -10.6 db

Out Of Touch Extended Version
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -13.9 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -11.1 db

Method Of Modern Love Extended Version
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -14.3 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -11.7 db

Dance On Your Knees Extended Version
2004/2011 remaster series - RMS -15.1 db
2003/2018 12" Collection - RMS -11.6 db

As you can see, the 2004/2011 masters are still on the loud side, but not as bad as the 12" Collection. (I Can't Go For That at -10.0 db? Seriously?)

I also included the One On One 12" mix that appeared on the ballads collection, which is a more reasonable -16.8 db. Which begs the question - why not reissue these compilations without the heavy compression?

I had a chance to hear and look at the waveforms for a couple of these today, and I agree that they don't have as much hard limiting and compression applied as the 12 Inch Collection. This is a nice find!