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Well why would they bother to remaster these recordings if the sound quality is so great? |
Every time an analog tape is transfererd to digital for release on CD, it's being "remastered". Albums may get remastered for a variety of reasons:
1. To make them "LOUDER" to "compete" with modern CDs by current artists. Can't be the quietest song on the kids' iPods, because the sad fact is, the average dude in the street equates "louder" with better. They will skip over songs with too much dynamic range, when compared to all the other tracks that are compressed to hell. I'd like to re-acquaint them with their volume knobs. So, instead we get a new product that's just "louder" not "improved".
2. To take advantage of modern digital equipment which is vastly superior to what they were using in the 80s. Sadly, they often use this technology to make them LOUDER, destroying the potential for improved audio quality.
3. The artist's catalog moves to a new label, now they have to be re-issued so the new owners can cash in.
4. The old stock of the original CD issues is out of print, so its time for a new batch, may as well add a couple tracks and encourage fans to buy them all over again, with a "digitally remastered" sticker on them to make them believe sound has actually been improved, when it's really just LOUDER.
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I understand you feeling about the sterile recordings now. It's more like the final output is computer generated and the music was never massaged through a human touch, if you get my drift. I've always had a picture in my head of the engineer on some massive board fine tuning each input to create the disc. Now that vision is replaced with a guy bringing up a software program with a few options to select the music style (rock, rap, hip-hop, etc.). Regardless of the selection, the same effects are applied to the music. I'm pretty sure I'm way off base on my vision, but it's probably only a matter of time before it's a reality. |
It's called Pro Tools and it's been around for years. But really, the enemy is compression, which makes every CD sound exactly the same, because they are essentially the same, a wall of sound blaring at maximum volume in digital clip.
And don't knock tape hiss. You don't want mastering engineers to digitally strip it out. You can't just remove hiss, you also remove musical information as well. No-noised recordings sound AWFUL, all teh air is sucked out, the highs are muted, and it sounds like a wet blanket has been thrown over your speakers.
VIVA tape hiss!!!