Albums that need remastering! Now!

RHCPs I'm With You - Wonderfully recorded and performed. Unlistenable.

 

The Rykos are for you! Barely any bass to be found!

 

The River could use the same treatment. Remix, remaster, the works.

 

I obviously want bass, just not bloated bass...

 

Everything Vlado Meller has touched.

 

I know, I wasn't being serious. I have a set of the Rykos (well the EMI UK versions of them) and they are incredibly thin sounding compared to the RCA original vinyl. An exception is The Man Who Sold The World, but there was always a ton of bass on that record anyway.

 

Vlado Meller did the original mastering (only mastering to my knowledge) of Beastie Boys' Licensed To Ill.

 

Truth
Beckola
Beck, Bogert, Appice

 

I downloaded on iTunes some classic Def Leppard and the tracks are totally unlistenable. They have the most extreme bizarre EQ I've ever heard.

I "remastered" them myself with my DAW and they are far, far, far better sounding now.

 

I know you were joking.

 

I have to laugh. Not only have we bought into the notion that we should re-purchase albums we already own again and again, we also clamor for them when they dont arrive in a timely manner. I picture the hazing scene in Animal House. "Thank you sir! May I have another?!"

 

I agree! I have never liked the mix on that record and it is one of my favorites.

 

Stevie Stiletto ‎– Smell The Sock

 

A nice prominent low-end on this album.

 

Perhaps you're right; I'm no expert. But I note that this is the first time I've ever heard anyone attribute Magic's crappy sound to the mixing and not the mastering. Perhaps it needs a re-do on both.

 

That was done by Classic Records for the most part.

 

I take what the artists say about the sound of early albums with a grain of salt. The last few Testament records are sonic disasters. Brotherhood and Dark Roots have a DR of 6, Formation tops out at 7. The rest of the catalog after Souls of Black is no great shakes either. If they really cared about the "sound" of the record they wouldn't be brickwalling and compressing them to death or recording them entirely through Pro Tools.

They also re-recorded those songs because they don't have any control over the masters and hardly make any money off of the original recordings. Twisted Sister said they hated the sound of Stay Hungry when they re-recorded it. Then when the original got released they talked about how much they loved the original album.

 

You should feel sorry for a sap like me, who had everything on vinyl in the 70s, then bought the catalog when it came out on CD in the 80s. Those CDs are among the worst in my collection, if only because of the dismally low levels.

 

I happen to like the '80s Zeppelin discs. The levels don't seem that low to me. LZ II, for example, peaks at 97%. All of the dynamic range is left intact. Besides, there's no reason to make a CD too loud. That's what volume controls are for. Crank it up!

 

I know, the levels seem low only in comparison/because of the loudness wars. Still, it's jarring when it comes up after a more recently released CD. I'd like to compare the 2014 CD remaster of Zep II with the one I have. But I'm not going to buy it for a third time.

 

Honestly, their entire output between 1989 and 2015 needs a remastering. Loud, compressed and even unlistenable thru cellphone and heaphones.

 

I have a Japanese edition (digipak) that actually sounds gorgeous.

 

I'm not really defending the sound of the modern records either. They're not my favourite sounding metal records at all. Practice What You Preach and The Ritual are the only two that sound decent enough to me. After that, The Gathering is probably their best sounding metal release, and that was 1999. It's unfortunate that they haven't been able to have truly good sounding records for most of their career. A lot of metal bands suffer the same circumstances.

 

The Ritual is probably my favorite sounding album for them (and one of my favorite albums by them). I like the recent remaster for The Gathering, although I'm not sure if it's the same remaster from 2007 on Prosthetic that was just brought forward as I didn't buy it.

I often wonder why metal bands still have albums mastered with low DR because it's not like they are going to get airplay on top 40 radio. It's most likely something that the label is doing and the band doesn't really hear it after they've listened to the original mix in the studio. Then again, it's probably that they are equating "loud" with the genre, which is unfortunate.