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Is the remaster better?


Knuckledragger

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Hey guys, is there a primer (link) out there for making the graphs? I have seen them but have never made them. would like to do some comparisons.

Audacity, it is free for Windows and Mac. Just drag and drop the file into the main window and zoom in or out. It handles wav, mp3, and FLAC natively. Not sure about other formats.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

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mother-of-god-super-troopers.jpg

My ears hurt just from looking at that. It's bad enough to make actual brick walls blush.

Yes, please. There are so many bad remasters out there that finding and identifying the few good ones is worthy effort.

I know...

The best way I have found of identifying good masters is by year or credits. Usually, the earlier the pressing, the better it will be in terms of dynamic range.

For credits, I look for labels I trust like Audio Fidelity, MFSL, DCC, Chesky, Sheffield Labs, etc...

I also check for the following names:

Steve Hoffman

Alan Yoshida

Roy DuNann

Barry Diament

Kevin Gray

Joe Tarrantino

George Horn

Paul Stubblebine

George Massenburg

Keith O. Johnson

Bob Ludwig

Bob Katz

Larry Walsh

Doug Sax

Ron Furmanek

Bill Inglot

As for the Rolling Stones - Tattoo You...the first pressing black triangle is the best version in terms of dynamics but it needs some serious EQ work as it sounds very thin.

Edited by LFF
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You could also check out the Unofficial Dynamic Range Database

dr_logo.png

http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/

And two interesting articles on the matter, which seem to have contra-intuitive results regarding the "loudness wars"

Dynamics: evolution over the years, distributions

rms_sos.png

Dynamic Range & The Loudness War

We all know music is getting louder. But is it less dynamic? Our ground-breaking research proves beyond any doubt that the answer is no — and that popular beliefs about the ‘loudness war’ need a radical rethink.

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Audacity, it is free for Windows and Mac. Just drag and drop the file into the main window and zoom in or out. It handles wav, mp3, and FLAC natively. Not sure about other formats.

http://audacity.sour...e.net/download/

It can handle ALAC and wma too, but you need to install the 1.3 beta, which IMO is preferable. It also has a better, more detailed frequency grid in case you need to carry spectrogram analysis. You can read about it here

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  • 1 month later...

copqM.jpg

Truefax: This was one of the first albums I ever owned. My uncle bought it for me not long after I turned 7. I have owned a lot versions of it over the years. The original 1981 release on cassette and vinyl, the 1992 re-issue with Cargo, and now the 2009 remaster (which also features a remaster of Cargo.

I've been casually listening to the 2009 remaster and so far it sounds really good. I'll see about producing some waveforms later.

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  • 4 months later...

"Later" it is. Here's three versions of "Helpless Automation" which is arguably my favorite track off Business As Usual:

Original 1980s CD:

1bvz1.jpg

1992 re-issue:

tKDsi.jpg

2009 remaster:

W9GIO.jpg

That last one is ...unpleasant looking. I did say it sounds "really good" in my post from months ago. I'm going to need to re-visit all three and see if that sentiment holds up.

I don't have a original 1980s CD of their followup Cargo, but the 1992 and 2009 editions above are both part of a 2CD that included their first two ablums. Here's "It's A Mistake" from the second disc of both:

1992 editon:

Pmv3g.jpg

2009 remaster:

85cSK.jpg

Edited by Knuckledragger
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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Does anyone have a link to the method to plug the PS3 into the computer to read SACDs?

I'd love to jack the PS3 into my computer and start posting pictures of some of these SHM-SACDs to see how they compare. Going by ear, some of these waveforms must look fantastic.

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Not related to a remaster, but an annoying thing on a new release none the less. The new Zeppelin concert CDs from London show have an annoying 12.5 KHz and 15 KHz squeeeel throughout most of the songs, really obvious on Stax facepalm.png

A concert that had over 4 million people cued to buy tickets to and they let this crap slip through

Hopefully it will be less obvious on the home theater with the blu-ray

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