Hey MS folk,

I'm genuinely wondering what you guys think about remasters of old/classic records, what are the feelings towards them; when do you feel it has purpose or makes sense to do it. Go into as much detail as you wish.

The question came up for me recently as I started doing some remasters of older records for my own pleasure and people whose ears I trust confirmed to me that I'm not alone with thinking they are objectively better than what came out back in the day. I did Dark Angel's Time Does Not Heal and Demented Ted's Promise Impure (the engineering on that album was f*cked, holy crap. They should've went with Morrisound ). I know DA's record has a remaster but I wasn't satisfied with what they've done with it. I'm not looking for profit off of this, and I'm kind of hesitant to put them on YouTube for the obvious reasons, but I kinda feel fans deserve to hear the full potential of these bands and if anyone has better idea how to present them in a fair and sustainable way, I'd be all up for it.

Never was much into remaster releases.

If I didn't like the orginal then there is no point in listening to the remaster
On the other hand, if I enjoyed the original then it means there is little reason to do a remaster, heh?

I always felt like those are some sort of cash grab the bigger bands do

Written by Karlabos on 04.11.2021 at 20:53

Never was much into remaster releases.

If I didn't like the orginal then there is no point in listening to the remaster
On the other hand, if I enjoyed the original then it means there is little reason to do a remaster, heh?

I always felt like those are some sort of cash grab the bigger bands do

I gotta agree in most cases it feels like a very redundant thing; up until a few years ago I didn't see much use for them either, and since then when all is done to level master them to digital audio standards (so they are fit for Spotify, Apple Music etc.), we don't really get much of a difference still. The more "invasive" remasters where people enhance the dynamic and frequency range are more interesting, but less frequent. I'm talking ones like Forgotten Silence did with their old records like Senyaan and Thots (https://forgottensilence.bandcamp.com/album/senyaan-remaster2020) - when you look up how the old master sounded, there is a clear improvement in sound.

I tried to upload 1 song privately on SC but it got flagged immediately so no show

It depends on how the original sounded. Most classic albums are classic for a reason and already sounded great, which is why I am sick of Spotify who rarely feature an album's original master, but instead opt for the awful 2000-something remaster (check out the most listened to song by The Moody Blues, the dynamics are absolutely crushed and the song is rendered almost unlistenable. It's also in mono... yuck).
So, most of the times when I see the word "remastered" coupled with a year that starts with a 2 I cower in fear. That said, some albums would benefit and have benefitted from a remaster, I just can't think of any examples at the moment, but I'll get back to you
Out of curiosity, how are you doing those remasters? Did you manage to get stem tracks or isolated tracks?

Written by Zap on 05.11.2021 at 10:51

It depends on how the original sounded. Most classic albums are classic for a reason and already sounded great, which is why I am sick of Spotify who rarely feature an album's original master, but instead opt for the awful 2000-something remaster (check out the most listened to song by The Moody Blues, the dynamics are absolutely crushed and the song is rendered almost unlistenable. It's also in mono... yuck).
So, most of the times when I see the word "remastered" coupled with a year that starts with a 2 I cower in fear. That said, some albums would benefit and have benefitted from a remaster, I just can't think of any examples at the moment, but I'll get back to you
Out of curiosity, how are you doing those remasters? Did you manage to get stem tracks or isolated tracks?

Yeah I heard some of those too when they annihilate the stereo field, just meant for radio play, those suck bad.
I don't have access to stems on stuff I touched so far so I'm actually just grabbing the highest quality available master I can and listen how I can enhance it. For example on the Demented Ted record they pushed the preamps to death and there is lot of crackling in the bass especially, I tried to softly declick as much as I can and then hit it with different EQs so try to bring out what's missing - for example part of the mid range was buried hard on both albums, but the bass was especially buried on the DA album, so I managed to bring it up to be clearly audible, and some M/S to make more space for the vocals. I did end up using some compression on both but what the meters tell me is that the dynamic range is wider than before while they sound more punchy, so I consider that a success.

If you have recommendations, old stuff that may be not really cared for by the original band, let me know, I am thinking of maybe uploading such to a YT channel.

Edit: just working on Art of Life by X Japan, proves to be quite challenging but at least this record was very well engineered

Written by qlacs on 06.11.2021 at 22:15

Yeah I heard some of those too when they annihilate the stereo field, just meant for radio play, those suck bad.
I don't have access to stems on stuff I touched so far so I'm actually just grabbing the highest quality available master I can and listen how I can enhance it. For example on the Demented Ted record they pushed the preamps to death and there is lot of crackling in the bass especially, I tried to softly declick as much as I can and then hit it with different EQs so try to bring out what's missing - for example part of the mid range was buried hard on both albums, but the bass was especially buried on the DA album, so I managed to bring it up to be clearly audible, and some M/S to make more space for the vocals. I did end up using some compression on both but what the meters tell me is that the dynamic range is wider than before while they sound more punchy, so I consider that a success.

If you have recommendations, old stuff that may be not really cared for by the original band, let me know, I am thinking of maybe uploading such to a YT channel.

Edit: just working on Art of Life by X Japan, proves to be quite challenging but at least this record was very well engineered

Interesting, let me know if that YT channel happens (I imagine you would run into copyright issues though). I'd be curious to hear how you change the original songs using only the mastered stereo track. I can't imagine I'd do a very good job of that myself

Depends ,
Yes: Good way to get new CD if old is damage (even If I have original, I try download new artworks), but same time, I dont need demo bonus songs, some live bonus , only some prev unreleased, new cover and so on.
But like Is aid it depends. Long gone album yes, but if its just, in that case i stick whit original. Money is bijatch

I've never yet heard a remastered version of an album which sounds better than the original pressing.

People pay a lot of money for the original pressings for good reason.

I agree with gavdann above.

I would like to listen to what you did with Time Does Not Heal as it is one of my favourite thrash metal albums of all time. The only thing I would do is lower the voice a little, otherwise it is perfect to me in every way.

Quote:

Written by nikarg on 16.11.2021 at 10:27

I would like to listen to what you did with Time Does Not Heal as it is one of my favourite thrash metal albums of all time. The only thing I would do is lower the voice a little, otherwise it is perfect to me in every way.

Written by Zap on 10.11.2021 at 11:58

Edit: just working on Art of Life by X Japan, proves to be quite challenging but at least this record was very well engineered

Interesting, let me know if that YT channel happens (I imagine you would run into copyright issues though). I'd be curious to hear how you change the original songs using only the mastered stereo track. I can't imagine I'd do a very good job of that myself

Well here it goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiIdraHDwdg - I held it back cause I wasn't sure how this copyright thing will work out, and I didn't want it to be taken down just days after I put it out. But it remained for weeks so I guess I might be in the green. Enjoy! Let me know if you like it.

Couldn't upload the X Japan song yet, YT restricts me to below 10 mins... I'm thinking of doing more obscure metal stuff and maybe some 70's prog rock. I just did Harmonium's Vert and I'm really happy how it turned out.


Sorry for the 10 million edits on the response, I fudged up a lot Also not gonna lie, going back and forth between video edits and the raw audio, I notice some degradation. I might have to do some research into how to put audio and video together without much of a loss; might hold back the rest until I find the best compromise.