Going over some newly obtained game soundtracks, I noticed that two songs had some odd sounds in them, so I was wondering if that's how they were originally recorded or if it's something else.

Langrisser V OST  - "Kalxath": Both the mp3 and wav file I have give off this weird distortion sound (Bzzt, static-y sound) at the very beginning of the track.

Ys Perfect Collection - "Holders of Power": Towards the end of the song, there are these popping sounds. It might be part of that rev-ing up noise that appears on the track, but it just sounds so out of place.

Thanks for any help.

You're not talking about the Original CDs are you...

If you're not spinning the Retail Pressed disc, all bets are obviously off.  (no guarantees of sounding like anything).

What Carl said is pretty much true, there is no guarantee if you're buying a bootleg.

The only actual retail printed VGM or Anime CD I've found that has problems with sound quality, is Mystic Ark OST, which has a distinct hissing sound in the left channel through the entire 2cd set.

I've noticed the Holders of Power thing and I own Ys Perfect Collection (both the original print and the Yonemitsu Collection), so I can indeed verify that. I think it gives the track some added character, as chaotic as it is, so I believe it was intentional.

Edit: And the poster said they were from soundtracks they had just bought, so I can assume we're not talking bootlegs.

I'm afraid I don't see that in the post. "Obtained" could mean any number of things.

Of course, this isn't a particularly productive path of discussion. I just felt the need to point that out.

Okay, you're right...I always associate "obtaining" something with physical objects and I made the wild assumption the poster didn't knowingly buy bootlegs. But I found Carl and jb's responses odd that they immediately assumed that the poster wasn't referring to original albums, just the same.

And of course, I didn't read the original post close enough. *shrug* Nevermind. But the Holders of Power track does have the pops in them.

At STC, I do indeed normally assume Originals right off the bat, but a few things about this post tipped me off otherwise...

1. saying "Obtained", rather than Bought or Purchased.
2. both are old albums which he would have had to put effort into buying from YJA or ebay, and most people don't just pick up old albums on a whim, without having tried to find dl'ed encoded files to listen to first.
3. saying "Both the mp3 and wav file I have" rather than saying "when I play the CD I hear such and such sound" like he would if he was listening to the actual disc.
4. A loud burst of bzzzt/statis at the beginning of a track describes how older ripping software used to mess up the starting point of the track, and that points to listening to dl'ed mp3s which were ripped by someone else many years ago when those albums first appeared.

So yeah, the wording is what lead me to believe he downloaded them rather than bought them...  My apologies are extended if he did purchase them.