When did you first notice something was 'wrong' with a remaster?

So much for my hearing, then.

 

Those have heavy obtrusive NR on them . . . sounds like a blanket on the tweeters. I did not like the compression on the Experience reissues either, but they clearly used beter tapes, the bass is a ton more detailed, and despite the digital compression they are more dynamic sounding than those 'ugly MCA's'. I have all 3 titles in the old and new masterings and compared them A-B, track by track. I have listened to AYE more than any other classic rock lp in the last 10 years.

The mono tracks are not bad on those, but when stereo was available, they used vinyl and not the tapes for some insane reason! Something Else was mono all the way thru, my old Pye vinyl is true stereo.


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the pumping NR over they keyboard intro on "I Know There's An Answer" from the 1990 'Pet Sounds' was a particularly obvious use of NR on cd.

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I thought the UV-22 Claptons, particularly the Layla cd, were among the worst sounding cd's ever made. Even though MoFi used some unnecessary EQ on their gold cd, it is so much truer to the 'tape sound' than the UV-22's, which sound like utter hell, it just isn't funny.

 

Actually, IMO the old MCA remasters of Hendrix (the ones with the Mankowitz artwork) do sound way better than the new MCA rematers (the "expanded Experience Hendrix editions). For sound quality on the Hendrix material, the very best sounding CDs are the old Japanese Polydors, P20P series, but the Japanese Polydors from the P33P series run a very close second. If you can not afford these very nice but rather pricey editions, then buy the original Polydors from West Germany, although I have heard some Polydors from Australia that even sound better. My Hendrix collection stands at about 65 CDs including the only 4 titles that Hendrix actually released while he was alive in every version that I could locate.

 

All to different levels, though. Hunky Dory isn't great, the first two attempts at Ziggy sucked (regular Virgin and 2-disc issue), but the third one is resoundingly OK. Similarly, Alladin Sane really doesn't sound that bad, nor do several of the later albums.

And the Au20s aren't maximized to any great extent...they really just have the same Ryko problem of not having much of a bass-cloud at all.

 

Oh yes, the mono tracks are bad, especially if you have anything else to compare. I've said it once and I'll say it again: the two VGPS tracks on "Psychedelic Pstones" absolutely *kill* the mono tracks on the '98 issue. Heck, you can hear the ugly PCM NR floating through several of the tracks (for example, the beginning of P. Cat) even better compared to these versions.

FWIW, the reason vinyl was used for the stereo VGPS is presumably because that set only existed as an acetate. It isn't the "regular" stereo mix for many of the tracks.

 

Damian, you're not wrong - the CD with the purple/white 'face' on it is an EMI/Ryko, not an EMI/Virgin. No NR on the former...just icky EQ.

 

I have the CD here. Numbers on the spine are CDP 0777 7 94400 2 3

Doesn't mention Ryko or Virgin anywhere, just EMI. Insert is a four-part foldout, back insert sez PRINTED IN HOLLAND and the year in the small print is 1990.

Has anyone with a parametric EQ found a way to 'flatten' this one out a bit?

Cheers

 

What was released on Ryko here in the states was released elsewhere in the world on EMI...the year is important. 1989-1998 (aka purple/white face) = EMI/Ryko. 1999-present (white discs with mini album photo) = EMI/Virgin.

 

OH, THE HUMANITY!

 

My choice would be Rubber Soul when it first came out on cd...

For as much as (I think) I know about the Beatles, for some reason I had no knowledge at the time that RS and HELP! were remixed. A few years earlier I was lucky (and smart) enough to pick up the full set of Japan mono red vinyl lps. The mono lp's served as my Beatles reference for a long time, those were the Beatles source I listened to for four or five years.

Anyway, back in 1986/87 I was along with the whole compact disc "perfect sound forever" crowd. When I bought the Rubber Soul cd, I listened to the thing with headphones for several days and couldn't for the life of me understand why it didn't sound right. Yes, I could tell they added reverb to "Nowhere Man", but I couldn't figure out why I used to like this album, and why now it was so un-involving. For whatever reason, I really liked the HELP! remix, but Rubber Soul just didn't make it.

Bottom line is, it was the first time I realized these record company guys really may not know what is best for the fan... Since then, they have often just not let well enough alone.

Nowadays, with the help of all of you, I'm able to track down the good issues of almost anything!

The other day I bought three original issue RCA cd's: Lou Reed's Transformer, and Bowie's Diamond Dogs and Pin-Ups. The sound of these discs just blew me away. After several attempts at the Ryko Bowies, I am now an original RCA cd man all the way. BTW, I paid $8 each...

"Long live the Hoffman Forums!!"

 

For me, it was George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS remaster. The first warning sign was noticeably high levels, which proved too loud to played with any other discs in my changer. Then any listening on headphones proved immediately fatiguing.

The Konk Kinks reissues seemed kind of poor, too, but I had no basis of comparison, other than a distant memory of equally crappy vinyl issues of questionable provenance. Still, it seemed hard to believe these albums couldn't be made to sound better than these CDs.

Some of the Blue Note RVGs were noticeably bright and forward, especially Jackie McLean's A FICKLE SONANCE and Sonny Rollins's VOLUME 2.

 

Disregarding those awful 80s CD comps processed with FDS (full-dimentional sound) from Priority and Original Sound, I would have to say the first CDs I ever noticed a mistake on was Kool & The Gang's "Ladies Night" CD. All the gaps were removed and the treble was boosted like crazy! On top of that, "Too Hot" was faded out early.

Second one was the original CBS of Earth, Wind & Fire's "That's The Way Of The World" CD. They left out an interlude connecting "Happy Feelins" and "All About Love". Then the treble was jacked up.

I don't recall the first remaster of a CD I heard that I knew for a fact to have sound problems, though. But, CD remasters with wrong edits, fades, versions, ect., ane ones I remember well, and some of them still piss me off because they will never correct them!

 

The first Doors box set- grey/silver paint. To my ears it sucked so bad-I have all but banished it from my memory.

 

The Beatles "1".

I couldn't understand why the earlier tracks instead of having cymbal crashes had sounds similar to the following:

"sheef sheef sheef sheef tweet sheef sheef sheef sheef tweet..."

It was like an asthmatic bird chirping, not like a band from Liverpool!

It took me years to find out what was wrong.

 

For me it has to be Led Zeppelin at the BBC.

It really opened my eyes(ears) to the damage that NR can do to music, you can really hear the NR closing down the hiss to a weird metallic noise whenever a track gets quiet.

It is so distracting I can't listen to it anymore.

It is also rather inconsistent with one track denoised and then another track not touched. However the hard eq makes sure the track is a pain to listen to anyway.

Can't beleive John Astley won an award for this???

Anyway I think he must be starting to come round to our way of thinking.
His last two Who releases haven't been too bad to my ears.

JJ

 

IIRC I don't think the Au20's were maximized, they just didn't have any bass like the earlier Ryko's.

 

Pepzhez is exactly right. The amount of noise reduction on Keep You Hands Off My Baby boggles the mind. It really does sound like a 96kbps MP3. They took a bad recording and made it MUCH worse. The lowest circulating boot copies of Keep You Hands Off My Baby slay the official version. EMI really should redo the BBC set. It could of been so much better.....

Chris

 

Well the dropout certainly isn't there anymore. I guess it's personal preference on whether or not it's been "fixed".

 

The first remaster I noticed was bothced was the '97 EMI Limited Edition Piper mono CD. I couldn't believe how harsh and dead the vocals sounded compared to the Doug Sax stereo mix. I was also peeved that they chopped off the end of Flaming. I then listened to the 'bonus' 1967 The First 3 Singles disc and was horrified at how much worse Apples and Oranges was compared to the Early Singles disc that came with the Shine On box....

 

I do not think the Au20's were maximized, either. They were noNoised to death, though.