Tug of War Remix

I analyzed it with the dynamic range tool. The peak levels and RMS values were all lower by exactly 0.2dB. The old CD had peaks for many tracks at 0dB, the new one those same tracks all peak at -0.2dB, for example.

It would be impossible to get everything to match up exactly like that if any kind of remastering (EQ changes, etc.) were done.

 

Surely it isn't surprising that an album that was originally mixed to 16/44.1 might not be all that different if just transferred flat as Geoff Emerick likes it?

 

I seriously doubt you could do two back to back transfers with the exact same equipment and get the numbers to match that perfectly. I could be wrong, but the evidence is pretty clear to me, feel free to generate your own theories.

The don't claim it is a remaster. It is a perfect level shift of an old CD release. That settles it enough for me.

I posted the DR reports in the other thread (since this is the remix thread). #7785

 

Dumb question - why does everyone call it the "black face" pressing? Did Al Jolson work in it?

Does anyone have a pic of the CD?

 

Answered in the other thread... #7747

Yes, the label is black. That was common in early CD label designs. There are also blue, red, etc. for other early releases from many artists. Give My Regards to Broad Street has a light powder blue version..

 

Just read this review on Amazon that says it IS a remaster of the original mix.
2.0 out of 5 starsWARNING! the 2cd is the 2015 remix not the 2015 remaster of the original mix.
Byart 87VINE VOICEon October 5, 2015
Format: Audio CD
This is a review of the sound of the 2015 remix, not the 2015 remaster of the original mix. The new remix is awful, harsh & dry. The remaster of the original mix is wonderful, warm & musical but you can only get it in the $60. box set. I'm dissappointed that Paul chose this for the 2cd set, just as he left off Helen Wheels on the Band on the Run 2010 reissue.

 

It's so clear:

Everything is noted as 2015 remastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton. Except the original mix of 'Tug Of War', which doesn't say that, but has the note as quoted above. PRT Studios did the original 1982 mastering, as proof there's an original 1982 acetate for 'Take It Away' which went to auction a while ago.

 

Thank you MINDGAMES--finally a clear and seemingly irrefutable answer to my question!

 

And there is a reason: the quality of the songwriting...need I say more, or am I becoming another whining Hoffmanite?

 

Really? Is there THAT much hate for Ebony and Ivory? I adore it, like I adore a nice havarti.

After a first listen to the remix, I am not digging it. I was expecting more sonically - and was annoyed by the HEAVY compression on the vocal and guitar on the title track, and the EQ choices on the vocal and guitar aren't pleasant. This is a first impression...will go back and listen again. I have the second disc in and it feels more like Tug of War. Shame, as I was so looking forward to the tape/24 bit improvements. Why wasn't Geoff Emerick asked to mix the set? Has he retired/ears no longer able to do it?

 

Helen Wheels was on the second CD, where it belongs.
It doesn't take a McCartney scholar to know that Helen Wheels was not on the UK album, but added for the U.S.

 

I bought the 4-disc deluxe set (about 80€ here in Germany) and tonight decided to compare the original CD mix with the remix. Generally I like the remix better, in the sense that Paul's voice and guitar have more presence, as do a lot of the other sonic elements in many of the tracks (snares, kick drums, strings etc. etc.). Clearly there's been more sound reprocessing than unnecessary buggerising round with the original mix, with which there was very little wrong (unlike Venus And Mars, which has some truly tragic, muddy, lifeless mixing and eq, especially on the drums in Rock Show and Letting Go - if there's ONE album in Macca's collection that should've been remixed, THAT was it).
Anyway, I digress. The only TOW remix track I'm not sold on is Ballroom Dancing, which was a missed opportunity. There's so much going on in the mix that it's muddy - always has been, and still is. I don't think the remix has achieved anything there... In my view it could have been stripped back a bit and it would have completely rocked. One thing I found curious though is that from the fadeout of What's That You're Doing (which really comes up well, IMHO) onwards, there is significant tape noise between tracks. Maybe there's a good reason for this, but right now it just sounds like the final mix wasn't cleaned up quite as well as it should have been... any thoughts?

 

This is true but for the millions of fans who bought Band on the Run with Helen Wheels, it deserves to be there. Period. I don't care what it was like in the rest of the world. It fits.

 

It was also added to the Australian release of the LP.

 

Which easily makes up for the fact that Paul refuses to tour Australia anymore...

 

That and the fact that Ode To A Koala Bear didn't make #1 here! Man, that guy sure holds a grudge!!

 

I like the original mix.

 

I still don't have the new CD so haven't yet heard it. I did hear the remix for the title track and discerned very little, if any, difference. But I'm not sure why Paul felt that TUG OF WAR needed remixing? It was already one of the better sounding albums, and I remember feeling that way even in 1982.

 

That is a head scratcher. I was listening to the original mix the other week and while I have a no noised CD, I could still tell it was a great mix.

 

Sigh.

The original album was digitally mixed at a low resolution common at the time. In order to provide a high-resolution download option, it needed to be remixed from analog.

 

It is my feeling that the remix does not improve on the original. Even technically, I think it is worse. Here's what I wrote in the mammoth thread:

I have now heard the CD and the Hi-Res and while I think the Hi-Res improves a bit on the issues I have with it, the remix is still not to my liking.

 

I played the re-mix CD of TOW through my Audio Research tube based system, using an Arcam FMJ-139 disc player and Sonus Faber speakers. The vocals, guitars and horns sounded harsh, brittle and congested compared to the original mix. This re-mix seems to be geared to the iPod/computer listener, with it's over use of compression and treble boost. I'll stick to the original vinyl or CD.

 

This is true but I'm not sure that it's the whole reason. We've speculated that Pipes of Peace might also have been a digital mix and it wasn't subjected to a remix to provide a hi-res option. It is, of course, possible that POP wasn't mixed digitally, thus rendering the need for a new mix obsolete.

 

Straight from the horses mouth:

http://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/tug-of-war-remixed

 

You left out this part... after they matched it as best they could they "improved on" things.