Email from Owen Morris about the latest Oasis Remasters

One of my biggest complaints about Oasis music is the distortion and compression. Love them but can't listen to the first few albums in headphones.

 

Hey, thank you very much for that; much appreciated!

By the way, the CD singles (especially the "Definitely maybe" ones) sound loud but are way more tolerable than their CD album counterparts. So, imho, something could have been done to make this music a bit easier on the ears.

 

Morning Glory is now on HD Tracks in 24-bit / 44.1kHz standard. Thanks to Tom S and deadman for the heads up on this. I'd be curious to hear how this sounds next to the CD.

http://www.hdtracks.co.uk/what-s-the-story-morning-glory-deluxe-edition-remastered

Wonder if they'll make Definitely Maybe available in 24-bit as well?

 

Any decent vinyl versions of the first 2?

 

All the digital compression does make them sound less like the Beatles. Funny enough, I think the new CD1 of Morning Glory sounds a bit better totally than my other copies (the '95 and a down mix of the SACD). Not so sure about CD2. Some of those B Sides sounded better before, ironically including the cover of You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.

 

Any feedback on the HD Tracks version would be much appreciated.

 

Cum On Feel the Noize sounds horrible on the original CD single. What is it like on the new set? (I've not got it yet)

 

Just as bad, maybe worse. It really hurts the ears.

 

Please..

 

So if that is the sound on the 1/2" master, where is the Some Might Say from the Japanese CD5 taken from? It's the exact same mix no? But it's DR12 vs. DR4. That's a bloody HUGE difference.

 

Assuming you're referring to the single master, and not the Noel "electric band demo" version:

http://www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk/?page_id=1645

I recently contacted Owen Morris and asked whether the demo version of Some Might Say included on the Japanese import CD single of the song is the version that they recorded at Maison Rouge in June 1994. He very kindly got back with the following info about the demo session, as well as the mixing of the final studio version.

Owen: David, Yes… that import CD version of Some Might Say is definitely the demo version we recorded at Maison Rouge on the Whatever session. On that session, we first recorded Whatever (probably three days in total recording), then Listen Up (which took two days), and then quickly did that b-side version of Fade Away (pretty much as a live take, which I later regretted… ’cos it is such a good song – we should’ve made more of an effort. But it was in the spirit of keeping it “live”). And then Noel got the band (without Liam, obviously) to quickly run through and record this version of Some Might Say, which I guess he’d recently written; certainly it was the first time the band or myself had heard the song… very typical Noel Gallagher: at some stage during a session, he’d quietly tell you he’d got a new song (Acquiesce and Wonderwall are examples of this).

When the single was mastered at Abbey Road, I thought it sounded terrible: ’cos I didn’t master it à la my Definitely Maybe “brick wall” mastering… it sounded weak and thin. I did, however, enjoy mastering it myself for Morning Glory. I think it sounds OK. In fact it is now one of my very favourite of all my Oasis recordings. I think it is one of my favourite songs of his. And I never hear the timing problems anymore…
(Owen Morris, July 2014)

 

"

I agree.

At least on cd, they are not being presented "properly".

Yes, most of the loudness/compression that many of us dislike was done during the mixing stage. But not all. It's a cop-out to say they have to sound this bad on cd. The truth is that either:

1. No competent mastering engineer has yet been given access to do a better job, or

2. Ian Cooper (aka - the "new" guy) is a competent mastering engineer who is doing what he thinks the band would want (as opposed to what he knows would sound better), or

3. Ian Cooper has been "told" by the label and/or Noel Gallagher (or, at least, people associated with/representing him) to make these editions sound like this.

FWIW, Noel has demonstrated time and time again a complete lack of interest in and/or knowledge of the problems of the "loudness war" (which shouldn't be surprising since he was one of its "inventors").

One problem is that nobody really knows the extent of his involvement in/approval rights over these reissues. It's obvious that he's not heavily involved (he's done no press/etc). But one wonders if these solo acoustic demos are already on the tapes owned by the label, or whether some/all were provided by Gallagher? It's hard to know, and he's not interested in talking. Notice that they haven't included anything "rough" sounding (i.e. - nothing recorded on primitive equipment, which would have to be sourced directly from him). Then again, nothing "rough sounding" of his has ever "surfaced" either. This makes it that much more difficult to know who is involved and who is in control over these editions.

The only thing we can be relatively sure about is that we won't be hearing better sounding cd versions of these albums anytime soon...

 

Isn't that funny, he thinks it sounds terrible, weak and thin, I use it to demonstrate just how good Oasis can sound and think it sounds terrific! It's always been one of my fave Oasis tracks along with Slide Away.

 

Pretty damn honest...

So there you have it. Either you accept these productions as they are, or you don't. If you're in the "I won't listen to anything that isn't audiophile quality' then clearly Oasis is not a band you want to listen to. If you are in the "get the best sounding version of music I like" camp, then you can actually enjoy the music and band, and maybe (or maybe not) these reissues are for you.

 

I find that a false equivalency.

These a gigantic chasm of possibility in between "audiophile quality" and how these releases sound. I don't accept that it must be one or the other. I've, both, always listened to and enjoyed the band's recordings, while at the same time wishing they would sound a little less painful.

Robert Johnson, ok. I accept that, due to the age and primitive recording technology available at he time his material was recorded, it can only benefit so much from a sympathetic mastering process.

But were talking about a super successful, super wealthy British band from the mid-90's....

 

It doesn't matter. The engineer just told "you" that they were recorded to sound a certain way--a way that many around here consider to be crap.

They're not going to go back and remix this from the multis to please a very very small group of audiophiles. And even if they did, you'd have people complaining then about how they messed with history, how it doesn't sound the same.

 

It doesn't require a remix.

I'm not making this stuff up, as it already exists for all the cuts on the original "Supersonic"/"Shakermaker" discs, & for the title track of the original "Some Might Say" cd single.

I don't expect perfection, nor dramatic improvement.

Just a better version of what's on those "compromised" master tapes.

I guess I'm one who does believe some turds can be better polished than others...

 

At least he admits he does not know his backside from his elbow.

 

They are fantastically dynamic, very clean and smooth sounding......








Just kidding.... They suck balls.

 

Yeah. As I was saying yesterday, There's no fookin' reason for these tunes to sound acceptable on the oop CD singles and crappy on CD albums. And they were released around the same period!

Btw, I'd like to know who mastered the CD singles.

 

They're not, that's true (at least until maybe one day Steven Wilson gets asked to do a 5.1 mix of their catalogue)...but some day perhaps there will be MFSL editions of the Oasis studio albums? Or Analogue Productions? We don't know, we can just hope, doesn't mean I'm going to settle for mediocrity and it doesn't mean I believe that's the sound on the 1/2" masters because Some Might Say came from somewhere (not the demo).

 

At least we learned that at least Johnny Marr cares about production values.

 

I watched the Definitely Maybe documentary few months ago and Noel thought that Owen's "Brickwalling" method was the greatest thing ever. I think for him the compressed, loud sound is an artistic statement and so I doubt he would allow the tapes to be remixed or remastered any differently. They probably see the loudness as an integral part of the music and part of the band's identity.

 

I wonder.. why are people irritated by the Oasis sound? Wasn't it their thing in the first place? Without that loudness, dirty sound cluttering the space, the music would have been less effective, imo.