Remastered CDs: Color me a sceptic - Page 3

Originally Posted by necropimp 

someone needs to figure out time travel so we can go back to get the master tapes while they are still new to make the digital transfers

while he's at it, it'd be nice to not allow Otis Redding to get on that damn plane

I agree that 98% of all remasters are worse than the originals.  However, some remasters are clearly head and shoulders above the originals.  Take, for example, so my favorite recordings:

Led Zep's Mothership is an awesome remaster--so much better than the box sets they put out in the 90s

I love the Warner remasters of many Dire Straits albums.  I think they are phenomenal remasters.

Pink Floyd is an even push.  The remasters took out a lot of master tape hiss and improved the linearity, but at the expense of a little dryness and bright highs.  They damped some of the reverb and feedback from Gilmour's guitar at the expense of a more clear Roger Waters vocal.  It's pick your poison, so to speak.
 

But, other remasters are garbage.  The Who remasters are terrible.  

Otis Redding's "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" is one song that I love to demo as one of my remasters. A lot of music out there has so much hi-fi potential when done remotely right. I don't know why companies find it so hard to do a proper release in modern times with such great technology out there. It's frustrating.

I am reminded of the phrase "A well edited tree is a telephone pole." 

That's most of what's going on here, IMO. Overzealous techs trying to take out every hiss, pop, singer's breath, background noise, etc until the music sounds sterile and dry. Then they crank up the volume and pass it through the filters to make it "fuller" (louder, plus kicking up the volume of anything that was background before so people think they are getting something different, and don't forget a little bass bump for good measure).

Mind you it's not always the tech's fault. Some know better, but are forced to do this because it's what the guys upstairs want.

I'll agree with that.  I think the digitization of music has done a disservice in general to tonal integrity.  I love my cds, but I need good cans and a tube amp to take out the digital shrills.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot 

The best balance is often the original LP. I've found that just about all music sounds best in the format of its original release.