Kraftwerk: Were the Capitol reissues from 1995 remastered?

Anyone know an answer to this question?

 

Bump. Anybody? The following titles were reissued in 1995 by Capitol:

Radio Activity
Trans-Europe Express
The Man Machine

I'd bet dollars-to-donuts that they were simple reissues of the 1987 releases, nothing more.

 

Today I received an early Kraftwerk CD. It has "Printed in EU" on the backcover and the cover looks like a scan (but in good quality). As I discovered on Discogs, this pressing was made in 1994. Sound is great, but I think the original 1986 release was a little lower in volume level - or do they all share the same mastering ? Unfortunately I don't have the 1986 pressing to compare...would be great if anybody out there could share some information. Thank you very much.

 

I borrowed the original 1986 CD from a friend and did a quick comparison. The 1994 pressing with "Printed in EU" is a secret remaster. It is louder, has some compression and the stereo channel imbalance fixed (original 1986 CD has louder left channel on several tracks).
It would be very interesting if the other albums also exist in secret 1994 remastered version. Who knows ???

 

Here is the proof:



On top, you can see the waveforms of the original 1986 CD...on bottom the 1994 CD with exactly the same catalogue number. Strange, but true...
Both versions don't stay exactly in synch, so it could be a new transfer...also the phase is inverted on the 1994 pressing.

 

I've got a US Capitol JAX pre IFPI press (Late 80's i'm guessing), not sure on the year of manufacture 42:45:35
EAC Levels-
100/96.3/100/93.0/93.7/57.6/88.2
Track 1 looks similar to your 1994

 

You're right, another exsample:
I have both the 1986 Germany cd and the 1995 Capitol US cd , the 1995 US CD is a secret remastered,

as an example, the title track number 4 : Trans-Europe Express has DR 13 on the 1995 US cd
and the same track has DR 16 on the 1986 Germany cd.
The US cd is louder

I can also confirm that the 1995 US Capitol cd Radio-Activity is louder than the 1986 Germany cd Radio-Aktivität so again the US cd is a secret remastered. I have both cds.

1986 cd Germany Radio-Aktivität
44.6 % / 61.4 % / 57.2 % / 82.4 % / 18.4 % / 51.3 % / 12.7 % / 72.2 % / /43.7 %/ 40.5 %/ 46.0 / 56.8

US 1995 cd Radio-Activity
42.5 % / 79.1 % / 71.8 % / 97.0 % / 37.7 % / 74.8 % / 20.9 % /100.0 %/69.5 %/ 59.1 % / 61.0 %/60.3 %

 

Thanks Noomi, my later UK IFPI Capitol Radio uses the 1995 mastering, so i'm thinking before the remasters this was the last one used

 

with those titles
I like both the early German cds 1986 and the 1995 Capitol US cds ( Trans Europa Express /Trans Europe Express ( and Radio-Aktivität /Radio-Activity

 

I also, I didn't find them offensive, to me they sound fine and I haven't felt the need to go further

 

Sure, the secretly remastered "Trans Europa Express" sounds nice and with the fixed stereo channel imbalance, it sounds a little better I think...but I was wondering about the louder version, cause I never heard about these secret remasters.

 

Does anybody know if the other albums "Die Mensch Maschine", "Computerwelt", "Autobahn" also exist in secretly remastered version from the middle of the 90s ?

 

Wow - look at the difference between the two masterings on tracks 5 & 6 - I know which one I would prefer to have in my CD player.

 

Well, if you trust your ears (instead of watching waveforms only to judge about the sound quality), the louder mastering sounds better. It has less hiss, the stereo imbalance was fixed and to me it sounds like a new and slightly better transfer, compared to the initial 1986 pressing.

 

Less hiss could very well mean noise reduction or in other words some of the original audio was removed to try to help you forget it was recorded on analog equipment. Some feel that helps the sound but I suspect many here feel something key has been lost/taken away. Just a guess as I have not heard what you have.

Very interesting thread btw. Me likely.

-s1m0n-

 

I can't hear any noise reduction at all...it sounds like a new transfer from a Dolby encoded tape that reduces the tape hiss a little bit.

 

US Autobahn, Elektra SRC WEA pressing, no IFPI stamp, Discogs lists it at 1992
100/84.3/85.6/84.4/68.3/
Sample of Auto-
Dropbox - Auto Sample.wav »

 

Thank you for information. I checked the original Kling Klang CD and compared with the US WEA: Both are exactly the same.

 

Tell me this is going to become a Kraftwerk All Albums Comparison Thread.

We need it.

 

Wasn't that common? Cat. number can stay the same, but matrix code (and mastering) changing, since before "remastering" became a selling point, new transfers or tweaks were done all the time and cat. numberc changed only if the record company changed.
Also, I'm not sure I understand this "secret remaster" terminology that I see used in this forum. Every new "original" CD that has a different mastering from the very first pressing (like UK or US compared to WG or Japan) it's in fact a new remaster, not advertised as such therefore"secret". But it seems to me that you guys use the term sometimes and other times not.

Aaaand the right one is?

 

Capitol "made In EU" 72435816825 matrix 746473 @ 1
Same values.

 

Great idea! It should be something like the "Genesis - Early CD versions thread".
I own a few of the original CDs but I don't really know if they are the best pre-remaster versions available. I'd love to know more and compare.

I am happy to collect data from you guys (CD matrix, barcode, peak and DR values...), and I can then open a new thread when there is enough information to start. I guess we'll have to focus on: Autobahn, Radio-Activity (ENG, GER), Trans Europe Express (ENG, GER), The Man-Machine (ENG, GER), Computer World (ENG, GER), Electric Cafe' (ENG, GER).

 

This is already a good start: EAC and DR values, thanks to @Mbe

 

Great idea, I would welcome a comparison thread and offer any info I could.

-s1m0n-

 

I have this one too Kraftwerk - Radio-Activity
Do you need data, @albertop ?