Iron Maiden Remasters

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by old school, Mar 11, 2012.

  1. Barnabas Collins

    Barnabas Collins Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
    I was able to score one of those 1995 reissues of "Somewhere In Time". SoT was never my favorite Maiden album, but it may partly be because I got so used to hearing the 1998 remaster. I think that album is the most offensive in terms of sound quality; it sounds really bright and harsh. Every time Nicko hits a cymbal-which is every 2 seconds-my ears close up. But the 1995 version sounds terrific. You can crank it without fatigue.
     
  2. sentinel90125

    sentinel90125 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia, USA
    The 1998 remaster of Somewhere In Time was the worst of the Maiden remasters I heard. Peace of Mind wasn't nearly as bad, although I still prefer the original.
     
  3. jackson123

    jackson123 Forum Resident

    Yeah that SIT remaster blows. Sounds like Nicko is hitting the frying pan instead of cymbals. The black triangle sounds insanely good. For some reason all the albums made in 1985-86 that where remastered sound the worst, SIT, Turbo, Power Windows.
     
    DiabloG likes this.
  4. Board

    Board Forum Resident

    I'm revamping an old topic here, but has anybody heard the new 2014 remasters? Are they identical to the 1998 ones? According to Discogs, at least some of them are European, not Japanese, editions.
     
  5. jeffgt14

    jeffgt14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Juliet, TN
    They're the same.
     
  6. Board

    Board Forum Resident

  7. Sentient Six

    Sentient Six Forum Resident

    Location:
    Annandale, NJ USA
    I have a few of the originals (Killers, Live After Death, No Prayer For The Dying) that I need to get (again, after dumping them for remasters) and I'm holding off in hopes that they will reissue the CDs with the same remastering that was done to the vinyl issues last year. Was the Live After Death reissued last year the full concert or was it the same tracklisting?
     
  8. Board

    Board Forum Resident

    But isn't the vinyl issues from 2014 the same masters as on the 1998 CD issues?
     
  9. marcelbr

    marcelbr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
    No, the new set of vinyl was cut from the original stampers from the 80s.
     
  10. No, that is not correct.
     
  11. marcelbr

    marcelbr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2015
    PrunelliParis likes this.
  12. Same stampers and same tapes are two completely different things. Supposedly, the new vinyl was cut from the original master tapes (it remains a bit unclear whether there was any digital conversion in between or not).
     
  13. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    The 2014 vinyl sounds great for the most part and like said previously they are taken directly from the original master tapes. No compression or limiting was done. In most cases little to no EQ changes were made. Some people liked that (me) some people didn't. Some people thought that albums like Killers didn't sound as lively because they didn't add the top end on to it like they did when originally released in the 80s
     
  14. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    No digital conversion in between. Sean Magee has stated when there were analog tapes to be used they used them for cutting the vinyl. Albums like Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son were digitally mixed though so those were cut from digital. Most of the 45 reissues were cut from analog tapes as well.
     
  15. oldschool

    oldschool I love tape hiss

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    It is the full album - 2x LP, Long Beach and Hammersmith concerts. Hammersmith is on Side 4.
     
  16. oldschool

    oldschool I love tape hiss

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Not true - the 2014 vinyl is newly remastered and has received favourable reviews overall.

    There is a whole thread on the 2014 remastered vinyl.
     
  17. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist.

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    Agree. The original SIT cd beats the remaster by miles.
     
  18. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    Are you guys referring to CDs or vinyl?
     
  19. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    The originals are still quite attainable. They can usually be had for under $30 each in great condition
     
  20. jeffgt14

    jeffgt14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Juliet, TN
    I could be wrong but I thought he was referring to the CD’s.
     
  21. oldschool

    oldschool I love tape hiss

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    To make it more clear - in late 2014 the 80es studio albums and the LaD concert were re-mastered anew and issued on vinyl only. They sound good.

    According to Discogs however some of the terrible '98 multimedia CDs were re-issued again in Japan and Europe in early 2014. These most certainly have the brickwalled mastering from '98. They sound bad.
     
    jeffgt14 likes this.
  22. Spirit Crusher

    Spirit Crusher Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mad Town, WI
    Wait, Somewhere in Time may have been mixed digitally (really?) but remember this was mid-1980s - still tape we're talking about here (before DAT, "digital" recording meant recording to a form of video tape). Magee, et al talked about having to bake master tapes, so the masters must have been analog tapes that had to be played back (and Somewhere in Time's warble issues would confirm this). Later, like late 80s into the 90s, master tapes could be digital audio on video tape.

    The question of digital conversion is during the cutting process - the preview head. It's been said around the Intertubes that a digital preview head has been common place for a long time in vinyl cutting.
     
  23. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    It isn't common place when the master they are cutting from is analog.

    If they did in fact cut from an analog version of Somewhere In Time then it was ADA and still digital IMO.
     
  24. Spirit Crusher

    Spirit Crusher Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mad Town, WI
    A digital preview head is indeed commonplace, because an analog preview head has to be custom-made nowadays (as I understand it - I wish others with more knowledge would chime in). Per George Marino, from Sterling's website:

    “The basic setup for cutting records is that you have an analog playback machine and the playback head feeds the signal to the cutting lathe. To cut a record properly, the computer in the cutting lathe needs to have a ‘preview’ [of what’s coming next as it’s printing], which is typically done via digital delay. The lathe gets two signals — the preview and the digitally delayed signal — and it’s the delayed signal that gets cut to the lacquer, which is not ideal.”

    I can't find any info if Magee, et al's cutting setup is all-analog, or if they have that capability, whether it was used on the Iron Maiden lacquers. They sound good to me so ignorance is bliss. If the tapes went through ADC first and the LPs were cut from hi-rez files, I don't care (though, since EU cuts and US cuts have variation, doesn't seem to be the case).
     
  25. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    Just because Sterling used this process doesn't mean it's commonplace. It just means that is how their machines do it.

    Like you say these sound good so it really is a mute point.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine