| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/20/2009 4:41:57 PM | I bought a new copy of the CD 'Crosby Stills & Nash' today. I had the original album years ago and loved it. Looking forward to playing it tonight, I ran the bath and lay back to enjoy a trip down memory lane..... WHAT!?!!!!
It sounds awful! What is going on? On the cover is a silver sticker boasting it is DIGITALLY REMASTERED! What was wrong with the original?
Can it really be my memory?
Or is it my hearing now?
It sounds dull and forced.
I remember it being light and clear.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this or any other DIGITALLY REMASTERED album?
For me it has lost all it's original quality and there isn't a single track I can honestly say is pleasing to my ears.
It's going straight back to the music store tomorrow and I'm going to see if I can get a copy of the original recording. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/20/2009 5:28:59 PM |  Well, this one didn't get the chance....
the turntable is long gone and after hearing the album (as in a collection of songs) on a CD player, I think I want the turntable back!
I'm sure I saw a copy of the original (big plastic disc in a large cardboard cover) album in a music speciality shop the other day.
There was something really special about handling a large album cover with loads of information on the band which I liked to read as I listened.
The CD booklets are so tiny, I almost need a pair of binoculars to read anything in there! | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 4 | |
| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/21/2009 6:50:55 AM |
What was wrong with the original?
Anything mastered for the "RIAA Curve" for vinyl will have the incorrect bandwidth/SPL for digital.
The problem is that the remastering process sucked in the early days of digital, more recent "remasters" rectify this, but most labels don't bother with this fix, the original content creators, or engineers/producers are usually the driving force here. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/21/2009 10:29:09 AM | | Cheers Late for the explanation. I think a lot of record company's have been using the remastered badge to shift a few more products but the quality is no better. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/21/2009 11:37:00 AM | I went back to HMV today and asked about it.
The guy said there was an earlier version but it was now deleted.
Can anyone can tell me if this earlier version is any closer to the original album sound or am I going to have to accept that I won't get to hear it the way I remember it.
The problem is that not many people are left from that era who would possibly remember how it sounded. You would need to be well over 60! | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 7 | |
| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/21/2009 2:31:45 PM |
Can anyone can tell me if this earlier version is any closer to the original album sound or am I going to have to accept that I won't get to hear it the way I remember it.
Considering that the technology didn't exist (that does today) in the '80s when most of the first digital issues of older albums came out, ...I doubt it. One problem with remastering any older albums is the condition of the original masters, many of which have deteriorated in quality.
The other weak link is older CD players, which don't have the same higher quality Digital to Analog convertors and hard-encoded time data that are industry standard now. There's a big difference here, and having had the opportunity to have heard pretty much every format to date (analog and digital, consumer and professional), I can honestly say that most of the remasters that have come out recently can surpass the old vinyl standards, provided the hardware used for playback is good enough to take advantage of it.
As for preferences, CDs and Vinyl aren't even in my top 5 choices of "format" as both have their own limiting factors when compared to listening to playback on a pro rig. But, at the consumer level, CDs (if the effort is put into highest quality master/remaster...) have finally equalled/surpassed the limits of vinyl and 1/4" compact cassette, provided that the playback hardware is current and not "el cheapo".
The problem is that not many people are left from that era who would possibly remember how it sounded. You would need to be well over 60!
Funny you should say that, there have been studies done on the ability to perceive audio quality, and the results overwhelmingly show that; even though younger ears are in better "shape" than older ones, the cut-off point for being able to tell the difference between audiophile quality and run of the mill playback is +/- 35y/o. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/22/2009 11:45:20 AM | | I have the 'earlier' cd version of the Crosby Stills & Nash album on cd, and YES, it is quite abit closer to the original album sound, with the exception of the original tape hiss, which stands out more than it does on the original vinyl format of the album, which I also own. Try finding it at a used cd shop... the back of my cd has a picture of the siding of the house on the front picture and is dated 1977 Warner Recording Corporation on the bottom of the credits...even though the original album was released in or around 1969. | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 9 | |
| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/23/2009 11:27:55 PM |
the back of my cd has a picture of the siding of the house on the front picture and is dated 1977 Warner Recording Corporation on the bottom of the credits..
The picture on the back of the remastered CD is different? How? | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/23/2009 11:39:29 PM | | ok...the back of my cd CASING/Jewel Box... has a picture of the siding of the house on the front picture...lol | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 11 | |
| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/24/2009 1:22:15 AM | If you don't have both, how did you compare them? i.e.
"I have the 'earlier' cd version of the Crosby Stills & Nash album on cd, and YES, it is quite abit closer to the original album sound, with the exception of the original tape hiss, which stands out more than it does on the original vinyl format of the album, which I also own. Try finding it at a used cd shop... the back of my cd has a picture of the siding of the house on the front picture and is dated 1977 Warner Recording Corporation on the bottom of the credits...even though the original album was released in or around 1969."
That's the part that didn't make sense to me, what are you basing the "it is quite a bit closer to the original album sound" on? | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/24/2009 9:26:04 AM | | umm...basing it on playing the 'original' release of the cd to the 'digitally remastered' relaease of the cd...then playing the vinyl source (red Atlantic label... could be original pressing, too?). All the frequencies sound 'boosted' on the digital remaster, wereas the output signal/levels sound relatively close on the original release cd and the vinyl source...except you can hear more 'hiss' on the cd compared to the record. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/24/2009 2:01:58 PM | Not to make light of the technical discussions going on but OP, have you had your hearing checked lately?
I have been going through a gradual hearing loss for almost 20 years. It's not environmentally induced as the reduction is across the spectrum with peaks in the voice range. Music I remember as bright and brassy sounds quite different to me now. | |
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avpd
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Joined: 8/5/2009
Msg: 14 | |
| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 8/31/2009 12:49:40 PM | | Sometimes they mess up the digital remastering by applying some kind of process to eliminate tape hiss. I've heard some classical recordings that came out badly on remastering. You can often find original vinyl copies of albums. Vinyl is making a comeback. | |
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| Digitally Remastered
Posted: 9/1/2009 3:37:13 PM | | "The Loudness War" has contributed somewhat to the decline of CD audio quality in recent years and it's no co-incidence that this has, erm, co-incided with the rise of the more convenient but sonically crap mp3 format. Without having heard this particular CD, I cannot say if this was a factor, but digital distortion ("clipping) caused by the CD being re-mastered too loud could be the cause here. | |
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