Andy Pearce's Mastering Style

Just been listening to Pearce's Black Sabbath and Saxon remasters. He seems to go for a "relaxed" warm sounding EQ while not using much compression. Yes, I think not using too much compression is a good thing but I also feel this style of EQ results in loss of detail from the master tape. I have the Rhino Black Box of Sabbath and the 2009 Saxon remasters for comparison. They are too compressed but they also seem to have a brighter EQ which to my hearing sounds clearer and more revealing.

 

You may have more luck with this over at Music Corner.

 

Any way to get a mod to move it there?

 

I don't know that I'm familiar with his work, but he remastered the upcoming Long Ryders boxed set for Cherry Red. I've got my fingers crossed.

 

You are right, the Pearce remasters sound always a little bit more warm and relaxed, but not really far away from the original vinyl records (UK Vertigo, WWA, NEMS). Pearce tends to lower the upper mids a bit to get the sound more smooth.

 

I like his work on the ELP catalog and Black Sabbath.

 

The Black Box, and the 1996 Castle remasters of Sabbath as well, have a bright, compressed sound that does indeed sound more revealing, but I think that's a bug, not a feature. I remember doing a shoot-out of MOR with various CD's and LP's and when I got to the 96 Castle, I was stunned to find its stark clarity in comparison with others, but as the songs wore on, it was increasingly bothersome. Pearce's remasters, in a general sense. are much warmer and sound much better IMO. There are some exceptions - back when it was released, some here claimed that his Paranoid remaster was pretty much identical to the 96 Castle remaster, and Technical Ecstasy apparently had some sort of cock-up because Pearce claims it was mastered flat, but listeners here agreed almost to a man that it was terribly bright. I never got it so I don't know.

 

I believe you've brought this up before...
I don't think Andy Pearce is gonna remaster again to suit your tastes, so you might just have to live with them, or live with the Black Box. Or get yourself a stereo with a treble control or EQ so you can crank up the high end.

 

Or, he could just turn the volume up a bit. That's what I like about these remasters, they're very crankable.

 

I like the fact that he doesn't compress to brickwall-standard and treble-boost everything he remasters.

Dio - Sacred Heart (Deluxe)
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (Deluxe)

These are the best i've ever heard them on CD.

 

The Paranoid remaster IS the Castle one. There was never a Pearce remaster released.

 

The Paranoid Deluxe Edition is not a Pearce remaster? Discogs credits him, I thought the package did too but I don't have it handy at the moment.

 

Huh? No.

http://www.discogs.com/Black-Sabbath-Paranoid/release/1716092

 

Re-mastered by Andy Pearce @Masterpiece.

Sanctuary Records make special dedication to the memory of Tim Hunt who carried out the initial material master tape transfer for this expanded edition release.

Basicly he remastered the allready mastered castle edition?

 

Uh...I don't think so. A "master tape transfer" is not remastering. It's making a copy. I'm guessing Tim Hunt transferred the masters and the unreleased material to digital, and Andy Pearce did the remastering from those files.

 

As far as I remember, both the Castle and the later Pearce version should sound the same...

 

Any remaster is better than the Black Box. Personally I find it appalling. I really love the work of Andy Pearce with the remasters of Black Sabbath, especially the catalog with Ozzy and Dio. The new remaster of Born Again is very good despite the limitations due to lack of the original tapes.

 

Have you ever listened to them for yourself ..switching back and forth?
I just did.

 

Sorry, I only decide from memory. I first bought the Castle when it was released in 1996. After a while, I decided to sell it because I was not entirely satisfied with the mastering. Later I bought the Pearce remaster and I thought it sounded very similar...

EDIT: I listened to my FLAC rips of the 1996 Castle and the 2009 Deluxe Edition. Both sound VERY similar.

 

They didn't sound close to me at all. And if you do a phase inversion test on them, they will not null out. The Pearce has a warmer sound, while the '96 was slightly bright.

 

The 3 disc deluxe I have and the '96 Castle are the same basic mastering. Same NR on Planet Caravan. Credits aren't always correct. Pearce even confirmed that the TE & NSD remasters that came out weren't the ones he did. I'll post clips. I have never found an actual Pearce mastered Paranoid. If one is out there, I'd love to hear it.

 

Me too.

 

Are you comparing the deluxe to an actual Castle '96 or the one from the Castle 70s Replica box set? Just checking, because those are different masterings for BS and Paranoid.

 

I actually have both the replica set and the '96 Castles. I'll recheck as I'm comparing from the rips I made...and I'm not sure which ones I actually ripped. All the discs are in storage. What's the sonic difference between the replicas and the '96 remasters supposed to be?