Remasters

[spzretent]

While the Beatles have admittedly set the bar really high regarding remastered cds Neil Young has been overlooked big time. While all the attention was on the box set I opted for the 4 regular remastered cds. The extra tracks on the box set were for the serious fan. Mono mixes of singles and such. But the care in these first 4 remasters is incredible. Sonically superb compared to the previous cds. And sold for $10 each around here.
The Stones.... really dropped the ball. Sticky Fingers does sound righteous. But for the suckers like me, I am buying these for a third time.

[olan]

The quality of most/many of the remasters I've bought recently has been piss-poor. Either the sound or the artwork has been botched (or both in the case of the New Order reissues).

Having said this, I'm hanging out for the Kraftwerk remasters. The promos from 2005/2006 sounded great, largely free of the usual compression and brickwalling that spoils 99% of remasters. The issue with the german promos I got was the anti piracy crap on the CDs which caused dropouts about 10 seconds into each track. Hopefully, the final release will miss out on the anti-piracy rubbish, which is redundant to any user of EAC anyway.

An excellent example of remastering, and due care and attention to artwork is the Durutti Column's Fo(u)r Factory Records boxset. Highly recommended.....

[scratch]

The quality of most/many of the remasters I've bought recently has been piss-poor.

..the usual compression and brickwalling that spoils 99% of remasters.

Dunno about 99% but it´s true of at least 90% of those I own.
Usually the two first listens are interesting because of slightly more clarity and new things that pop up in the mix, but then you start realising that the dynamic range has become more narrow.. may not be as bad with 3 min pop or rocknroll songs but with progressive or more symphonic music this often makes the remaster more flat than the original..

[simonkeeping]

What are the Beatles Remasters like? Are they alot differerent to the originals? Im always a little worried that they are going to what they did to the Dennis Wilson Remaster which was basically suck the life out of it.

[jadams501]

Perhaps I'll get tired of the Beatles remasters, but I'm really impressed. The clarity is so much more impressive, but without losing the atmosthere or 'fuzziness' of the time. I've always appreciated the Beatles compositionally and vocally, but these remasters have given me an an enhancerd appreciation of the sheer musicianship of Paul and Ringo, particularly. They are far superior to the originals imho. With some artists - like Bob Dylan - the intention is so far from being high-fi for the latest system that the idea of remastering seems a little out of place, and most remasters are done poorly, but the Beatles' one is well done.

[angelsighs]

An excellent example of remastering, and due care and attention to artwork is the Durutti Column's Fo(u)r Factory Records boxset. Highly recommended.....

Factory always do great packaging. The Joy Divison remasters are also packaged and remastered brilliantly. Shame New Order didn't get similar treatment...
I'm very tempted by this DC boxset, even though I've got all these albums apart from Without Mercy (which I just can't find anywhere). what about the bonus discs- any good?

Brickwalling annoys me too, but I reckon the trend has peaked now and we will see a return to warmer remastering.

[bruce_brobertson]

I would like to see some of the Oasis albums get a "re-mastering".I think that however great The Beatles are, it seems they have been turned into a massive money making band. I dont see much point in re-masters to be honest....its all part of the "what would it sound like if"...its like some top artist going to the Mona Lisa and giving it a new lick of paint. Would anyone be having that?!

[JPB]

Some of the early cd's sound rough. They just took the vinyl master and dumped it onto cd. A good example is the Talking Heads cd's. They sounded terrible. The remastered cd's sound so much better.

But then you get the record companies trying to cash in. The New Order cd's are just horrific. The ripped stuff off vinyl and did such a shoddy job it makes you question the motives.

[olan]

The quality of most/many of the remasters I've bought recently has been piss-poor.

..the usual compression and brickwalling that spoils 99% of remasters.

Dunno about 99% but it´s true of at least 90% of those I own.

Fair enough call on the 90% vs 99%, but then 67.89% of all statistics are made up on the spot anyway.

I'm very tempted by this DC boxset, even though I've got all these albums apart from Without Mercy (which I just can't find anywhere). what about the bonus discs- any good?

The bonus disks are excellent. IMHO the set is worth buying whether or not you own 'Return of...', 'LC', 'Another Setting' or 'Without Mercy'. First, 'Another Setting' was very poorly pressed on the original vinyl, and really poorly mastered for CD, whether on Factory, or the Factory Once Reissues. The remaster of 'AS' is a vast improvement. Second, you don't have 'Without Mercy', so that is an easy one. Third, the two bonus disks are excellent. I had nearly all the material on these disks, but the quality of the officially sanctioned material is far better than my own recordings.

Disclaimer: I am a complete Durutti Column saddo. I got a thank you in the sleeve notes to the "Sunlight turns to blue..." album last year, so you might want to consider this before buying the boxed set. I believe Phil at Kookydisks (philcleaver@btinternet.com) may have one or two copies left. It should be much cheaper to get it from him than Amazon or Ebastard.

[johnnyboy]

Remasters are a funny old game. I always get lured into buying them after reading excellent reviews in magazines like Uncut or Mojo. There's usually a big fanfare, full page colour adverts with quotes claiming them to be amazing and sounding like never before. Are the reviewers paid to say they're great when they're not?? I only ask that as the New Order remasters had very good reviews didn't they, but then the quotes on here say they're horrific. I haven't heard them so can't offer an opinion.

I'm racking my brain for what remasters I have in my cd colection and can come up with.....

The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, Younger Than Yesterday, 5th Dimension and Nororious Byrd Bros. All of which sound great to me but I've never owned the vinyl so can't compare.

Happy Mondays - Bummed. I got this because it was 2 discs, contained all the b sides and remixes and was a great package. Prev owned on tape, vinyl and cd. Marvellous album but the remaster just didn't have the same swirling madness. Too clean, too harsh on the ears in a way (is that what brickwalling is???). It just didn't have the same feel. Very annoying as I gave away my original cd after I got it. Would be interested to hear someone elses opinion of this one.

Then there's ones like The Cult - Love, Love - Forever Changes, Elevators boxset, Beatles newies.....the list goes on and on. I'll prob keep buying new remasters as I'm a sucker for new packaging, sleevenotes, extra tracks and the prospect of a better sound. But when they do ruin a fav album it's a killer. Why oh why you scream at the cd case.....like it would talk back and say "I don't know John, I'm just a cd case, lay off the mescaline dude".

Hmmmmm

[angelsighs]

The bonus disks are excellent. IMHO the set is worth buying whether or not you own 'Return of...', 'LC', 'Another Setting' or 'Without Mercy'. First, 'Another Setting' was very poorly pressed on the original vinyl, and really poorly mastered for CD, whether on Factory, or the Factory Once Reissues. The remaster of 'AS' is a vast improvement. Second, you don't have 'Without Mercy', so that is an easy one. Third, the two bonus disks are excellent. I had nearly all the material on these disks, but the quality of the officially sanctioned material is far better than my own recordings.

Ah nothing wrong with being a DC mentalist! the only thing that stops me is the sheer volume of the back catalogue- there's so much music there it can be daunting to know where to go next. I have just ordered the 2001-2009 box which i'm looking forward to.

I am more tempted by this Factory boxset after your hard sell! I've got the Factory Once issues and thought they sound just fine, apart from Another Setting and LC which are a bit flat. Thing is, they have bonus tracks which the boxset doesn't, and vice versa- another annoying thing about reissues. One comes out claiming to be definitive, then a few years later they manage to unearth more 'lost music'.

I've not had many bad experiences with remasters really. The Ride ones are quite compressed but that was always part of their sound. Some people moan about the Joy Divison ones but I think they sound great. The main problem for me is new albums that come out that are just brickwalled to fuck- a lot of heavy rock/metal bands are guilty of this, as are Oasis. wonder if there will soon be a trend of remasters that actually reduce the compression?..

Top record in need of a remaster- The Perfect Prescription. Would have also said REMs Murmur and The Stone Roses but they have both been remastered recently.

[mh]

I generally don't mind remastering when the sound quality of the original had been compromised in some way (bad tapes, vinyl master used, etc), but I'm completely failing to see the point of re-remastering stuff that had been originally a digital source and a zero-gen master. Surely all we're talking about there is re-EQing and changing of volume levels? I could do that myself with a wave editor and save my money.

Agreed on TPP by the way, why oh why hasn't that happened ages ago?

[johnnyboy]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/se ... ude-rogers

From todays Guardian - "The trouble with remasters"

I'd agree with pretty much everything she's saying here. Not about Kraftwerk, as I don't own enough of their stuff to form an opinion on them (one album in fact), but the way memory plays a huge part in how you listen to a record and then a remaster of it.

I'm actually playing my vinyl copy of Abbey Road more than the remaster in recent days. I know the remaster is perfectly clear and wonderful but I'm preferring how I know and remembering it sounding. Weird in a way but there you go. Plus the Beatles remasters aren't coming up trumps when played through my ipod. Abbey Road just sounds too harsh for some reason.

The best remasters I've got where I've had the original cd's as well, and these just popped in my head, are the CAN reissues from a couple of years back. No harshness at all, perfect in fact, whether through a stereo or ipod.

(a note for the Duritti Column fans - if you go over to FACT Magazine online there's an Andrew Weatherall mix that features a track of theirs. The mix itself is brilliant, featuring the Monks, Mogwai, Dennis Wilson........just go download it and enjoy. He is the master afterall)

[angelsighs]

The best remasters I've got where I've had the original cd's as well, and these just popped in my head, are the CAN reissues from a couple of years back. No harshness at all, perfect in fact, whether through a stereo or ipod.

(a note for the Duritti Column fans - if you go over to FACT Magazine online there's an Andrew Weatherall mix that features a track of theirs. The mix itself is brilliant, featuring the Monks, Mogwai, Dennis Wilson........just go download it and enjoy. He is the master afterall)

forgot about the Can ones, I've got the SACD versions and they sound full and big, but also great dynamics.

Another contender I forgot about is the Scott Walker reissues of Scotts 1-4. They sound gorgeous.

and I'll def check that Weatherall mix out!

[johnnyboy]

Yep, the SACD versions of the CAN cd's, that's the ones I have too. Marvellous work.

I'll pop a link up to the Weatherall Mix plus tracklist on another thread as it should interest a few peeps on here.

[Multi]

.

[scratch]

Some of the early cd's sound rough. They just took the vinyl master and dumped it onto cd. A good example is the Talking Heads cd's. They sounded terrible. The remastered cd's sound so much better.

I have the 1980 remain in light LP, a german CD I think is from 1990 and the remastered CD and yes the remaster belong to the good ones.. the bubbling synthetic pad toms or whatever are at least sharper and clearer
I listened to that german cd for 15+ years but never thought it sounded terrible.. until the remaster.. that record has so much detail and should be played at a volume that makes talking impossible.
hmm I should go back to best album ever thread - remain in light is fucking perfect!

Fear of music I only have the LP and the US 1984 CD release which surely must belong to the "terrible releases" you speak of..
I imagine the differences to the remaster are smaller on that one?
- more minimalist and not as much happening at the same time.. oh well I´m going to have to buy it either way.

anyway.. remain in light is one of the best remasters I own. (and one of the best records of course!)

[angelsighs]

forgot about the Can ones, I've got the SACD versions and they sound full and big, but also great dynamics.

Same goes for the Rolling Stones SACD remasters.

oh yeah i agree- some of my stones albums are in that format, some aren't. difference is very clear.


on a spiritualized-durutti column related trivia note, at a recent gig Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty got up to play some sax with DC. mmm great.

[olan]

forgot about the Can ones, I've got the SACD versions and they sound full and big, but also great dynamics.

Same goes for the Rolling Stones SACD remasters.

oh yeah i agree- some of my stones albums are in that format, some aren't. difference is very clear.


on a spiritualized-durutti column related trivia note, at a recent gig Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty got up to play some sax with DC. mmm great.

I believe that was at the Rock City in Nottingham. I've got a recording of that somewhere if anybody is interested. For what it is worth Mark Refoy remastered some material for the Durutti Column around then, and also ran the merchandise stall at several gigs. Seems like a really nice bloke....

[davedecay]

Eno/Byrne "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts" remaster sounds A LOT better to my ears.

[scratch]

bush of ghosts is not only remastered but also partly remixed with new effects and also has small hits, bits and samples both added and removed.. so they stepped over the line a bit for what I think is considered simply remastering?
not very bothered by it on mlitbog but it does sound different..

[cantona]

Eno also dropped the track Qur'an from the original after complaints from some Muslim organisation.

[markrefoy]

The gig that Ray Dickaty played with Durutti Column was at Liverpool University about 4 or 5 years ago. Ray lives in Liverpool and I was visiting him to do some recording. I told Phil Cleaver (Kooky Records guy) that maybe Ray should play with D.C. seing as he lives there and can blow a mean horn. I didn't expect anything to come of it but Phil called back and said that Vini wanted Ray to turn up, which he did. He played on one song, can't remember which one but it was fantastic. Before they went on living legend Bruce Mitchell changed into a suit and said to Ray, "Where's yer jazz suit lad?".
As for the re-mastering it was a very primitive affair, copying old cd demos onto a cd recorder and boosting the levels. Did the trick though.

[angelsighs]

wow thanks Mark. So there was no rehearsal- Ray just got up there- and played?!

Bruce Mitchell is indeed a legend! His drumming is amazing.