Maybe there will be a change in the music if they use different equipment from their earlier recordings. Probably less noise and a few changes in tunes, but that's about that. Fans are the ones who would buy into this.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
As a vinyl lover...yes there can be a significant difference. I have several original LPs from the 60s and 70s that were remastered in the 2000+. There is a distinctly different sound in most. Often it seem that the newer ones have a boosted treble range. Some are quieter, but many are noisier. It has a great deal to do with the sound engineers doing the remastering. I suspect some of the "boosted" treble is done to make them sound more digital. Ironically CDs released at the time of the original music from the earlier years often sounds more like the original than the newer remastered LPs do. Naturally there are exceptions. Another issue relating to a lot of vinyl is the quality of the vinyl itself. LPs before say 1970 were made on high quality vinyl. Then followed a period through about 2010 that thinner and poorer quality vinyl was used. This translated in noisier playback and sometimes distortion. More recent LPs are being made on good stuff again. Some now is actually better than the early ones.
johnnycamp5 Messages: 354 Registered: June 2015 Location: NJ
Grand Master
Some remasters can be great, and others horrible. It can depend on what is trying to be done.
Some can be a gimmick for folks who automatically think it means its "better".
Many of the remasters that were done in the 2000's were meant to keep up with the "loudness war" This is generally "dynamic range compression"
It makes the same piece of music sound a little louder (perceived as better) at the same volume knob setting. Lots of this was done for listening to car radio.
There are some MJ hit albums that were remastered around 4 times in a 10 year period (approx) to increase loudness.
Each remaster was "squashed" more than the one before, incrementally increasing overall loudness while sacrificing dynamic range.
On a nice home stereo (especially turned up) these usually sound awful compared to the original mix
There are some good ones too. Jazz music is usually geared towards stellar recordings/mixing and/or remastering.
I have the "jarreau" album both original and then remastered in the mid 2000's, and the remastered sounds a bit better to me, but not necessarily louder.
The "George Benson Al Jarreau" album is by far the best sounding mix/recording on my home system, but would likely be very "quiet or thin" sounding on a scrappy stock car stereo system, whose speakers are usually nothing more than glorified mid ranges drivers.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi. Yes it is a bit of a crap shoot. Some better some not. I got one Super Audio CD that is clearly better than the originals. It is "the Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals" by Analogue Productions. LPs are also available but I didn't get them. They didn't alter the sound any but did a little cleaning up of obvious noise. Especially in the lowest bass range. Considering that some of the tracks are over 50 years old they did a great job. I had to wait for several months to get the disks and they were a bit costly but IMO worth it. I would be curious to hear how the LPs sound. The Julie London tracks are stunning. If you like female vocals this is one to check out. Be sure you have a machine that can play it. Not all will do SACDs. There may be a non-SACD version but I am not aware of it.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18793 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I remember back in the 1980s, buying some of the "half speed master" albums because they were soooo much better. They really were. Wasn't just hype. The disks were night and day better. I thought then - and still do - that it was as much a result of a slight remix as it was the rest of the production process. But they were definitely worth it.
A few examples are Pink Floyd "Dark side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" and also the Fleetwood Mac (floating ball) and "Rumours" albums. The Mobile Fidelity pressings of those are awesome.
Not sure about the modern remix vinyl versions of those particular albums - they may be great too - or maybe not. Haven't tried 'em.
I will say though that I've been pleased with every 180g modern pressing I've purchased, and I've bought a lot of 'em. They're not necessarily remixes though. Just new vinyl. Different subject.
Back to remixes - I must add that I think there are probably a lot of disks made today that are sold as remixes that aren't really all that much better, if at all. I've heard a few remixes on CD that I could not tell a difference, and some that I think are worse than the original offerings. Seems like it has always been CDs labeled "remix" that were underwhelming, but that may or may not be the case.
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