Worst mastering you've ever heard?

You're welcome

It's a 4 disc set which will cost a little more than a 2 disc set but this isn't expensive. This set has all of the hits as well as unreleased tracks. It also has one of my favorite Gaye moments...his rendition of The Star Spangled banner from 1983...from one of the NBA Championship games IIRC. From here, you could make your own cd-r of hits and such

 

Can't disargree with those "Norberg Sinatra remasters";sounds like it mastered in a swimming pool!

 

I concur.

 

As for the "re-mastered" Coldplay and GH albums which ones sound bad? The UK or the US releases or both?

 

Everything from Queens of the Stoneage - just way too darn loud and ear-splitting

 

I own a mixture of Sinatra stuff and wondered if there are better versions of the Norberg afflicted material still floating out there done by different engineers...I can't say they're bad to these ears, but I've never heard the original vinyls as a way of going by them....

 

I'm with you on that point, although I will say at least one of the remasters (Songs for Swingin' Lovers) sounds particularly muffled to me. A co-worker of mine owns The Capitol Years UK box set and brought it over for us to A/B with my own remasters. Comparing "In the Wee Small Hours," we found that the UK release has tape hiss (a good thing, in my opinion) and a very good sound overall. The '98 U.S. remaster has almost no tape hiss (noise reduction, obviously), but the vocal and strings stand out more. It didn't sound muffled to me the way Swingin' Lovers did on first listen. He's a HUGE Sinatra fan, and to his ears, he liked both versions.

 

I'd like to know about the coldplay albums as well? Is it worth seeking non-us pressings. Can anyone confirm this?

 

So many modern discs to choose from...

Well, the new Genesis boxset is, for the most part, a disaster of monumental proportions. Otherwise, (hed)p.e.'s "Back 2 Base X", is pretty damn rough. Or at least rough enough to make note of in this thread.

 

The White Stripes-Icky Thump.The bass will spilt you head open.

 

Anybody hear Level 42's latest album Retroglide? Very good music but I can't listen to it without a dose of Tylenol. It's just one huge and muddied brickwall of sound. Such a shame too.

Best,
Josh

 

the Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In is one of the worst I have ever heard. Can't listen to it on my home stereos or even on my headphone amplified iPod Nano. Only in the van where the noise and the sound of the fans/AC/motor can make it seem like the constant clipping is just a bad nightmare and that no one would ruin these great songs by such horrible mastering.

I only hope a professional is at the helm for their upcoming Greatest Hits CD? Does anyone know who is mastering it?

Cheers.

 

I wish it was Steve Hoffman. However, I'm sure it'll just be yet another Compression-filled mess, even LOUDER than "Let Love In".

 

The remaster of Duran Duran's Rio is pretty terrible - very harsh sounding.

 

And they used the wrong mixes for some of the songs,too!

 

Anything that You-Know-Who put his hands on when he redid The Who's catalogue. Thanks for destroying Quadrophenia for everybody. Took all of the masculinity out of it.

All of the 1987 Beatles catalogue, especially PPM to Revolver, ugh!!

The Beatles 1. Mastered on a Game Boy Advance

Judas Priest Remasters, especially Screaming for Vengeance. It sounds like they took the old CBS discs & re-ripped them in Windows Media Player on 128kb. God, they sound horrific.

Jethro Tull 25th anniversary edition. LMFAO!! I actually PAID for this disc thinking it would sound great (I was unaware of the DCC at the time) sounds like a needledrop from a Fisher Price record player to one of those dollar store blank cassettes, then flat-transferred to CD. And the volume level, who was the chief engineer on that one, a county librarian.

Is this the REALLY LOUD stereo mix?? If so, then yeah, I feel your pain.

Some of the best remasters I've heard are the KISS remasters from the first album to Creatures of the Night. Nobody's mentioned those. Are there any KISS fans on here??

 

Yeah, the Priest remasters are criminal. Maiden as well.

 

Yes.

 

I had a problem with that one too, I find myself constantly turning it down, as if a little gremlin keeps making it louder when I'm not looking.

 

Me too. I'm constantly turning it down (and many other CD's), when rock and roll should be TURNED UP!!! Sometimes I think this hard mastering is a big conspiracy to put music in the background and not the foreground where it could really do some healing.

 

Acuatlly they were both done by Peter Mew,and easily the worst mastering ever done!

 

The 'Queensryche' remasters are some of the worst ear bleeders I've ever heard.

I don't know if it's bad mastering, recording, or both.

 

Yes, Mr. Townshend......big Kiss fan right here. I'm glad you said the Kiss remasters are really good, because I was afraid the Forum would rip them for sounding compressed and processed. They still may.

I just hope I don't have to re-purchase all those un-remastered Kiss cds I used to own before selling them back to the record store.....

 

Apart from the loudness, major label remastering jobs of older recordings always add extreme amounts of high-frequency brightness. It is a cheap trick to make an analog recording sound more modern and "digital".

The Queensryche remasters are totally unlistenable due to the extreme high-frequency brightness and ear-splitting loudness.

 

Don't forget the 1980s early 90s Japanese pressings. My favourite version of ANATO.