Led Zeppelin cds: Steve's Picks? Please Help!!!

It's all up to Jimmy Page. He says yes, we get.

ED

 

Like Ed says and I personally find the eq. boosts intolerable on all the Zeppelin remasters, some a little more than others.

Your own mileage may vary.

 

Count me in as liking the original CD's rather than the remasters. The "IV" WG (target!) sounds better to me. You can hear the mistakes and everything- it just sounds realer to me, much more musical. The remaster just sounds cold- like they tried too hard.
My old Japan issue of "Houses Of The Holy" really sounds great- the drums totally rock! Defintely recommended!

They called me crazy when I said I thought the RCA David Bowie's sounded the best a couple of years ago too.

James

 

I think that the Led Zeppelin remasters were done well, but I still prefer the original CDs, because the vocals sound smoother, warmer and overall more natural to me. On my system, the vocals on the remasters sound harsher, especially when the volume is turned up. Also, I think that the guitars on the original CDs have a more natural sound than on the remasters. To me, it sounds like Jimmy Page and George Marino did some midrange equalization on the remasters, which makes the guitars and vocals seem to sound somewhat harsher than they do on the original CDs. To surmise, I can listen to the Zepp remasters, but prefer to listen to the originals.




Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

According to the article I have, they used Sonic Solutions which I have no idea what that is.

 

I like the mastering on Early Days/Latter Days better than the remasters. The original cd of In Through The Outdoor, I prefer over the remaster. And then there are titles on vinyl that are still yet preferable.

 

EARLY DAYS and LATTER DAYS have a different remastering? I assumed they were assembled from the same bits as the remasters.

Incidentally, Atlantic has shrinkwrapped EARLY DAYS and LATTER DAYS under a single sleeve, selling the package for the price of a single CD. I'd bite, but still no "Hey Hey What Can I Do" on an affordable anthology.

 

No-Noise, a noise-reduction application.

 

Yeah, the Zeppelin remasters are just a bit overprocessed, but still pretty good. Ditto on the Playboy girls... Definately some upper midrange boosting occasionally.

 

Well, Sonic Solutions doesn't always mean NoNoise does it? They could've just used another piece of equipment made by them, something that has nothing to do with noise reduction.

Anyway, TOTALLY agree about the Jackson Browne comment. Man, I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I compared the DCC discs and the Retrospective promo with the current batch of remasters. Harsh, thinned out EQ, and even echo! ARRRRGH!

One thing about the whole allure of flat transfers that doesn't get said enough is that the reason why they're often preferable is because the remasters go too far in their tweaking. Some albums by Zep, Bowie, etc. don't have great sounding tapes that need help, but it's even worse when somebody overdoes it. I only have the old discs for II, IV, and Houses of the Holy and remasters for the rest. The remasters have a bit more oomph and clarity to them, but they're a bit harsh and hard compared to the old CD's I do have. I don't have the old CD for III, but the acoustic guitar on the remaster sounds like it's got something boosted, a bit too much.

 

I think they used the same 1990 remasters for Early Days & Latter Days.

 

I love listening to "No Quarter" on the WG target of Houses of the Holy. Very nice and warm-sounding!

 

Sonicsolutions.com seems to be down temporarily, but here's some relevant information from www.sonicstudio.com:

Sonic Studio Products
The Sonic Studio product line is comprised of the flagship HD audio production and mastering workstation and attendant hardware and software options. The Sonic Studio HD is a combination of hardware processing boards, external I/O units, and application software which runs exclusively on the Apple Macintosh platform.

One Sonic Studio software option deserving of special mention is the NoNoise suite of audio noise removal and restoration tools. Sonic Solutions cofounder Dr. James Andrew Moorer's original system was the genesis of the Sonic Studio workstation. Originally conceived over a decade ago, the venerable NoNoise system is still the worldwide standard for removal of pops, clicks, crackles, and broadband noise from TV and film soundtracks, music masters, and forensic recordings.

So it's possible that the remastering team merely used the HD workstation, but I'll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that the venerable NoNoise system found its way into the mastering at some point.

 

The original "3" cd is great. It's much better than the remaster.

 

Bartels76,

The original CD version of "In My Time Of Dying" is missing a minute? Where in the song? I know it doesn't have that neat little studio chitter-chatter at the end of the track that Page and Marino threw on their version, but aside from that I think they are the same, no?

 

That was also corrected in the RE-1 version before the Marino remasters

 

Rob LoVerde
Member

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: New York
Posts: 120
Bartels76,

The original CD version of "In My Time Of Dying" is missing a minute? Where in the song? I know it doesn't have that neat little studio chitter-chatter at the end of the track that Page and Marino threw on their version, but aside from that I think they are the same, no?

It's missing the cough and studio chatter at the end of the song. It was lopped right off of the orginal issue of Physical Graffiti.

 

There was an RE-1 of Physical Graffiti?? No way! Are you serious?

 

reb

They may indeed be the same but they have been improved. There is higher resolution and clarity on these compilation discs.