[fatcat28037]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here are my tips: 1. Stay away from remasters unless they are done by someone on # 2 or you personally know they sound great. 2. Look for certain mastering engineers in the credits (Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Vic Anesini, Barry Diament, Ron McMaster, Joe Tarrentino, Alan Yoshida and others) 3. Look for the following phrase and certain variations "This is an analog recording. Due to the high resolution of the CD format, certain anomalies like tape hiss may be present." 4. Labels like DCC, MFSL, Chesky, Stockfische, Analogue Productions, Classic, Reference Recordings and a few others will almost always have better mastering. 5. Do your research. Sometimes the closest thing to the master tape will be a 50 year old vinyl pressing. Read up and then go looking. 6. Target CD's (not the store, but a design) are almost always straight flat copies from the master tapes. 7. When in doubt, call a friend who can look up the catalog number/pressing information on the internet.

To #4 I'd add Audio Fidelity.

 

[the chemist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatcat28037 /img/forum/go_quote.gif To #4 I'd add Audio Fidelity.

Thank you! I just checked out there website and it looks promising. Seems thus far that Barry Diament and Alan Yoshida engineer more on the rock side which I do like but several of the others mentioned have some classics that i want to pick up. $$$$ LOL


EDIT: Is there a site that will allow me to search for music by Label or engineer master?

 

[krmathis]

* Do your homework before visiting the record store (pick artist, record labels, ...).
* Listen before buying.

 

[SirDrexl]

Not that it tells the whole story, but if you're interested in dynamic range:

DR Database

 

[watchluvr4ever]

When I was younger in the 1980's I had a lot of CD's that were first pressings and I remember they sounded fantastic! Through the years I lost or ruined most of them and I re-bought some of those same albums but in remastered form. The remastered albums I bought sounded nothing like the original albums and were absolutely horrible! I now realize this had a lot to do with compression. Let's just say they were promptly gifted.

 

[Moontan13]

Amazon and forums like this one beat retail browsing. Someone here suggested an album, and put up a link to Amazon. 5 mins later, I'd heard enough samples to know I wanted it, and had it ordered.


This is from someone who spent a significant part of my young life perusing the used bins at Rasputin in the 70's.

 

[the chemist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirDrexl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not that it tells the whole story, but if you're interested in dynamic range: DR Database

WOW! bookmarked,linked and thank you

Quote:

Originally Posted by watchluvr4ever /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I was younger in the 1980's I had a lot of CD's that were first pressings and I remember they sounded fantastic! Through the years I lost or ruined most of them and I re-bought some of those same albums but in remastered form. The remastered albums I bought sounded nothing like the original albums and were absolutely horrible! I now realize this had a lot to do with compression. Let's just say they were promptly gifted.

I've been to a few stories after this thread and it really is irritating that when it says remastered it doesen't always say by whom. you really have to research what you want! When in doubt get the original

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moontan13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Amazon and forums like this one beat retail browsing. Someone here suggested an album, and put up a link to Amazon. 5 mins later, I'd heard enough samples to know I wanted it, and had it ordered. This is from someone who spent a significant part of my young life perusing the used bins at Rasputin in the 70's.

Yea, I think I will be browsing the for sale and music section a bit more,thanks.

 

[SirDrexl]

Obviously you can't make sound quality judgments, but YouTube is another good place to check out songs. Sometimes they get taken down or muted, but there's a lot of stuff there. I like watching music videos I haven't seen in 20 years.