[johnbryanpeters]

One of the seminal bands that eventually led me to much of the music that I enjoy today is the Rolling Stones.

It occurred to me recently that I had zero, nada of their work in my music library, so I went out and found a copy of Beggar's Banquet. I have now decided that I want Between the Buttons, and in poking around on eBay I found some copies on CD that are labeled remastered.

I'm not sure what to think of that. When, in the early sixties, I was a - gasp - longhair listening to scratchy vinyl and absolutely oblivious to things like much of this "new" music being recycled blues by artists I wouldn't recognize for another decade or two, what I was listening to was awesome,. It did not require improvement.

So, to the question - does "remastered" just mean better audio quality or is it going to mean that some audio engineering "artiste" has mucked the sound up enough to miss what the original recording was doing?

And yeah, I'm deaf enough that I probably can't tell the difference, and yeah, it's unscrewing the inscrutable, but senile minds want to know.

narlus?

 

[jimmydean]

Remaster = pirate copy?

 

[sstalder5]

Well, I'm probably not from the generation you wanted an answer from, but I may still be helpful. I've found that some of the older Grateful Dead tracks that I have in my collection sound great coming through my parents older analog stereo, but when played through my newer systems the sound engineering is all effed up (too much/not enough bass, bad voice quality, etc). I think the remastering is meant to clean this up. So my guess is that the non-remastered CDs are going to be direct digital captures from the original analog tapes (or whatever the hell they used before computers.. ) and the remastered editions have been cleaned up to sound better in a digital format. Whether or not it is "mucked up" is probably subjective to whoever is listening. Personally I like the remastered versions better. If I wanted vinyl quality, I'd listen to vinyl.

 

[stevew]

narlus might know something about this...

 

[jdcamb]

All CDs created from analog sources are technically digitally remastered. When you take a original recording from say the 60's recorded to tape you can overcome some of the limitations of the equipment used to record it at the time. Say like azimuth shift of the tape over the recording head produced noise and without noise reduction you can hear that noise in the master recordings. Because a CD or other digital media typically has a higher resolution then a vinyl analog copy those noises become more prominent. Most master tapes were made to press vinyl from and tend to be recorded without concern to fidelity. To me remastering from the original recording or a press copy, I can make almost a sonically pure recording. To a lot of folks when they hear the newer digital recording they can tell it sounds different then what they are used to hearing, but cannot pinpoint why. I usually have to point it out to them. Things like fret noise and background noises are much more prominent in the digital recording. Bass, Drums and Vocals always come alive in a digital recording. When folks tell me that Vinyl sounds better then a digital copy in whatever format I have to laugh at them. Because it cannot in anyway sound better.

 

[sstalder5]

I like jd's explanation. I was just speculating. Honestly, the only tangible media I've bought in the past 5 years has been vinyl. CDs are dying. The only CD player I own is my laptop. My car doesn't even have one anymore.

 

[CBJ]

What is a CD?

 

[ICEBALL585]

Try to find those albums on eight-track, I'm sure that will be the best sound quality

 

[Pesqueeb]

Try to find those albums on eight-track, I'm sure that will be the best sound quality

Reel-to-reel.

 

[Serial Midget]

For me recorded music is a product of its time and technology and is art that shouldn't be messed with.

 

[Westy]

My favorite means of listening these days is via MP3 on my desktop connected to my home-made tube amp and some giant 25 year old Technics speakers.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

 

[bean]

So, to the question - does "remastered" just mean better audio quality or is it going to mean that some audio engineering "artiste" has mucked the sound up enough to miss what the original recording was doing?

Could be either. Some stuff gets better when it's remastered, other gets worse. I've usually been able to find some information about whether it's better for a particular disc when I've looked around a bit. The audiophile forums go nutty over this stuff, of course.

 

[JohnE]

Did you put the CD on a turntable, ala Austin Powers?

 

[DaveW]

Meh I'd take a CD over an MP3 anyday, you lose some much when you compress an audio file into the MP3 format.

 

[Pesqueeb]

home-made tube amp

Ooohhh, I've wanted to do this for a long time. Did you just buy a kit or did you pick up everything separately? Pics?

 

[Westy]

Ooohhh, I've wanted to do this for a long time. Did you just buy a kit or did you pick up everything separately? Pics?

Kit, from tube depot. I really love the sound from the thing. It really warms up and smooths out the noise and loss of fidelity from an MP3. I tried it with a CD player and some really nice Klipsch speakers but complete lack of tone control made the horn tweeters on the Klipsch sound way too harsh. Next project is to build a nice enclosure and add tone control so I can divorce it from the PC.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Kit, from tube depot. I really love the sound from the thing. It really warms up and smooths out the noise and loss of fidelity from an MP3. I tried it with a CD player and some really nice Klipsch speakers but complete lack of tone control made the horn tweeters on the Klipsch sound way too harsh. Next project is to build a nice enclosure and add tone control so I can divorce it from the PC.

Must spread.....

 

[CBJ]

Westy that is super cool!

If I listened to a lot of old music I would get a nice turntable again its totally worth it. My old turntable broke and my mother threw out all my records without asking me so I am all Mp3 now but it would be easy to put together a cool collection of some of the great albums out there.

 

[oldfart]

I have the vinyl version of Between the Buttons. And turntable too. Been listening to old stuff a lot recently. CCR, Joplin, Stones, Bowie, Beatles. I have a turntable that you can connect to the computer too to download to MP3 format. You have to actually play the album though so it takes time.

 

[narlus]

maybe someone like H8R could chime in, as I've never been around the recording/mixing/mastering process.

generally, remastering is a way to clean up the tracks and do some re-eq'ing, noise reduction, etc. one can also change the relative dynamics of the recording (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war)

sometimes the newer versions sound better, sometimes they don't. sometimes it just seems like a way to get people to buy yet another version of the same record.

 

[JohnE]

I like the convenience of my MP3 player...you cant carry 6000 songs around with you easily.

 

[jimmydean]

Kit, from tube depot. I really love the sound from the thing. It really warms up and smooths out the noise and loss of fidelity from an MP3. I tried it with a CD player and some really nice Klipsch speakers but complete lack of tone control made the horn tweeters on the Klipsch sound way too harsh. Next project is to build a nice enclosure and add tone control so I can divorce it from the PC.

That's bad ass!

I had a pair of tube Planet Audio amps years ago that were some of the best amps I ever used. Short lived, sad.