Albums that have been "remastered"

[doug hazelrigg]

You see this a lot lately... older records that have been "remastered." Why am I suspicious of such efforts? For example, I am an iTunes junkie and today I wanted to hear the Stones "I'm Just Waiting on a Friend" off of Tatoo You. When I called up the playlist of the album, it said it had been "remastered." I wondered why anybody thought this album needed "remastering." Anyway, I downloaded the song and sure enough, it didn't sound at all like the classic track I remembered -- this was loud and dense and seemed to have soem distortion on it. I realize a lot of this "remastering" is basically marketing hype, but it also seems that it's also just more battles in the Loudness Wars

Can anybody cite an album that's been remastered that actually sounds better than the original?

[wado1942]

Tommy by The Who. It's like they lifted a veil of distortion off it.

I like it when they make claims that they used "the original master tapes"...great, what do you mean by master tapes? The mix tape? Probably not. The premaster? Nope. A copy of the premaster used by the plant for duplication is the most likely source since that's generally the official "master". So it's the original master, plus a second mastering job on top of that. It's really in cases like King Crimson and Tommy where the original artists spent months or even years are trying to locate the earliest generations possible. In the case of the above examples, the original raw mix tapes were used for the latest remasters and that's the main reason they sound better.

[doug hazelrigg]

It seems you're actually saying that they REMIXED the Tommy album. I can imagine how that might end up sounding better. For example, it seems the modern ear likes more bass than mixers back in the 60's would call up, and so a remix of such material might sound "better" to our modern sensibility

Another album that comes to mid is the remastering they did of Aja back in the 90's... although I can't say that the remaster sounded "better" but it did sound pretty good (pre Loudness Wars, apparently)

[wado1942]

There's a 5.1 remix of Tommy but I'm referring to the master that was made off of the MIX tapes. Original mix, new master.

Strangely the 5.1 remix actually has LESS bass, which I find really odd.

[doorknocker]

I bought the 'The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings' last week, remastered on CD.

Compared to the old CD I had of the first Bennett/Evans album, this is about 1'000'000 times better sounding.

So I won't say that it sounds better than the original which was on vinyl of course but rather that it is successfully translated to the digital medium now. And because it has both Bennett/Evans albums on one CD and alternate take son the second CD, it really makes it worthwhile.

The Complete Tony BennettBill Evans Recordings : Tony Bennett & Bill Evans : Concord Music Group

[doug hazelrigg]

Originally Posted by doorknocker

Compared to the old CD I had of the first Bennett/Evans album, this is about 1'000'000 times better sounding.

I wonder what they did? Those are great recordings BTW

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by doug hazelrigg

I wonder what they did? Those are great recordings BTW

Well, the old CD I had was on Fantasy and basically every CD issue I had from that label sucked really badly - there was no care taken and this was represented in the packaging as well. The same was true for the classic Riverside and Prestige recordings, they even commited the heinous crime of changing the sequences of some of the originals and so the issued take was followed straight by two unreleased 'bonus takes' in some cases. Incredible! No idea what idiots were behind that 'concept'!

Seems that the situation was redeemed lately and the newer issues are much better. But this is the way it should have been to begin with when all those classic albums were first issued on CD.

The old Bennet/Evans CD I had was an especially bad example, NO dynamics and very strange sounding reverb and a piano that sounded like it was mangled by a cheap compressor set on 'stun'. Anyway, the new remaster is beautiful and REALLY dynamic.

Now I understand why everybody was always raving about those sessions!

[doug hazelrigg]

I don't have that record per se but I do have the Tony Bennett boxed set (40 Years of Artistry) that contains several of the Bennett-Evans tunes on it and they actually sound great, very warm and intimate (unlike some of Bennett's more bombastic Pop work)

[SPatrick]

Any of the recently remastered (by Eddie Rayner and Adrian Stuckey) Split Enz CDs sound absolutely amazing.

I have about 700 CDs/DVD Audio and the sound of these albums top everything.

The stereo imaging has to be heard to be believed, it's just envelopes you...high, wide and deep...almost 3 dimensional.

Check out the "Time And Tide" or "True Colours" albums for their fat sounding late seventies/early eighties mixes (different studios, producers and engineers) and hear what mastering can really do.