[bundee1]

Is there anyway to see if a cd was remastered in 24bit digital?

 

[Orpheus]

i think technically there is no such thing if you're talking about redbook cds. no matter the resolution you used during recording, you'd still how to downgrade to 16 bit. DVD-A is the only consumer format that offers 24-bit resolution.

now... let's say you have a DVD-A, and you want to find out if the original recording was 16-bit then resampled to 24-bit while being transferred to the DVD-A format.... well, i guess theoretically it might be possible. 16-bit resolution should have a smaller dynamic range compared to 24-bit... but there are other variables too......

anyway, why do you ask?

 

[bundee1]

Ive seen all these classic albums being remastered and wonder at what quality they were done. Some just say "remastered" on the cover and dont mention the methods or sound quality.

 

[Orpheus]

well... there are a couple reasons for remastering old stuff. our tastes these days are different from say 10 years ago.... CDs are much hotter these days. recordings also seem to have more high-end frequencies now. and technology is better.

most likely the older master recordings were made on analog tape.... so they might be sampled at a higher resolution... then put through better noise removal tools and run through better processing equipment.

overall, they just use better equipment these days. sample rate isn't necessarily indicitive of the quality of the final product.

and of course... the biggest reason to remaster something: to renew interest in a product so you start buying it again.

 

[phonatic]

All good points.

More CDs than used to, use noise-shaping in the mastering process. I would like to know, too, which ones these are, but I am only positive that the ones labelled "SBM" use any noise shaping whatsoever. Anyone know whether XRCD or other JVC K2-mastered discs incorporate similar processing?

Noise shaping is not really like dithering is for graphic images, but it accomplishes some similar ends as far as increasing the perceived resolution of an audio signal. It can also supposedly lower the noise floor. I have quite a few CDs that were SBM processed and they sound good. In cases where I have the same material in both SBM and non-SBM versions, the SBM versions have invariably sounded better.

There are other noise shaping systems, even some free ones. If you have digital sources in a higher bit depth, you can even burn your own CDs with noise shaping. There is some good stuff to read about DIY CD mastering at airwindows.com.

 

[bundee1]

Thanks for the info. I picked up an import version of Isaac Hayes' "Black Moses". It says "24 bit remaster" from original analog tapes. I havent heard it on my stereo yet, but on my crap portable and decent Sony studio monitors it sounds good. I do hear a bit of hiss though. Oh well, nothings perfect.

 

[Orpheus]

well, don't expect not to hear hiss..... you see, theoretically, the original master tapes hold the best recording.... you can't really "extract" more information than originally recorded. it's not logically possible. but of course, there is only one set of master tapes.... and most consumers do not own proper equipment to play them anyway, even if it were possible to make exact copies of them.

so.... as we "remaster" these old recordings, we should be trying to make them sound as good as possible on the playback medium. we can try to reduce this hiss, but by doing so, you inevitably "take away" some of the original sound. there's only so much you can take away before you start to hurt the sound of the record.

...there's a reason why everyone's going digital now. digital is superior to analog in many areas... and one area is a much lower noise floor, and thus larger dynamic range. ...remastering to digital makes such a discrepancy much more audible; you can now hear all the "problems" in the original master tape. ..........and if you think about it, remastering to an even higher-fidelity medium such as DVD-A results in even more audibility of "problems."

...well, anyway... that's what i think...