Who should have remastered and reissued Queen's catalog?

From what I've heard about Queen's new vinyl remasters, they didn't quite live up to the hype. I've heard that they sound much like the 2011 CD remasters, or, they just didn't sound like what anyone expected. What are some of your thoughts on who should have been the one to remaster Queen's studio albums?

 

I wonder who's going to win?

 

The suspense is killing me too. Wonder if all those who don't vote SH will be given "vacations".

Ed

 

Personally I enjoy the 2011 CD remasters. They certainly made me appreciate Hot Space more.

 

How about a Hoffman/Kevin Gray massive Analogue Productions 45 RPM vinyl box ala the SRV Texas hurricane box? It would cost a fortune, but I'd buy it in a second!

- Buck

 

Bob L.

 

Steve Wilson

 

Sean Magee. He has a tremendous "respect" for the music from a historical perspective. I find his remasters to be conservative - which is a good thing - and doesn't bow to the latest mastering/sound fad.

 

They should have gotten Wilson to remix them. I figured I'd play it safe and just get them one by one; I started with A Night At The Opera and the buck shall be stopping there. I've forgotten what a muffly sounding album this was to begin with (I have an original 70's copy as well which actually sounds better) and the remastered vinyl brings this out even more. The airier tracks are pretty good but once the band starts to rock in full force, it becomes a sonic mess.

The pressing and album cover packaging are superb..which is sad to say given the less than stellar sound quality of the music. As it's not categorically 'defective", I'll just try to get what I can for it as a return (yes, I'm THAT disappointed with it...until if and when these albums get a remix, I'm just sticking with the originals).

 

I wouldn't want remixes, so definitely not Steven Wilson.

A Mobile Fidelity Queen II would probably make me wet myself.

 

I'd be happy with either Mr. Hoffman or MoFi so I voted other.

 

He's not really a mastering engineer.

 

Well....I think the new pressings sound pretty bad (I only bought the first 5).
Awful really, when comparing then to the original UK pressings.
Huge disappointment. They just sound like cranked up CDs pressed to vinyl.
They sound nothing like the music I'm used to hearing for the last 40+ years.

Steve and Kevin would have done a nice job undoubtedly.
Chris Bellman
Bernie Grundman

 

Just give me Wilson like surround mixes and I will be the entire lot up through The Works pronto!

 

Well I know who shouldn't have.

 

Nothing wrong with whatever did it!

I'm a Queen fan first and foremost. Not a Gray, Hoffman or Ludwig etc. fan.

 

steven wilson and in 5.1

 

The real problem with these 2011 masterings (in their various CD, SHM and vinyl variants) is that it seems they were what the band wanted, so not sure we will get anything different for some time.

Got to wonder if noise exposure has caused the preference for these bass light masterings.

 

He's doing a fantastic job with the Rush catalog. If only they'd used him long ago.

 

I agree! ...and the Beatles as well!

 

I would have to agree with you with a Queen II MoFi release. The 2011 remaster and (horribly brickwalled) US 1st Press vinyl just isn't cutting it for me. Not much treble on both of them.

 

Judging by my 1st presses of Queen II and SHA, when it hits the innermost grooves and/or hits a loud bit, it's like the left and right channels are at a "battle for supremacy", basically, it turns into a giant wall of sound (I might try and include sound bites, since that got me thinking...)

 

Yeah...the last thing this music needed was any more compression.

Wasted opportunity. But hey, at least the records are neat colors!

 

All Queen Gold CDs by have a decent to really bad mastering.

 

I respectfully disagree. While I don't like the MFSL Gold Discs of News Of The World and ADATR, the ANATO one is pretty good, and The Game is by far the best digital version of this album to date.

And I know I'll probably get beheaded for that on this forum, but while really good, the DCC of ANATO has never sounded particularly superior to other versions to me. It's clearly better than the original EMI, the 1991 Hollywood, the 1994 Digital Master Series and most subsequent bad remasterings, but Bob Ludwig's 30th anniversary 2005 remaster is really, really great. The 2011 version is for the most part an exact digital clone, apart from BohRhap because they thought it would be a great idea to compress the dynamics while they were correcting the audible glitch.