Remasters…

Previous remasters may not have been done from original stereo mixdown master tapes. Probably a higher generation tape was used, which may have been an old digital transfer done in the 80s with inferior A/D converters. Advances in digital sampling equipment in the past 20-30 years have yielded some great improvements in sound quality, at least that’s what the marketing hype for the latest Led Zeppelin remasters have boasted about. The rest of the quality in remastering comes down to the mastering engineer’s choices in levels, EQ, compression/limiting, etc.

[from July 2000]

Warner Bros. To Bow Extensive Remasters Series

Warner Bros. will launch a new reissue series that will ultimately see hundreds of its catalog titles reissued with remastered music and the original liner notes and artwork as it appeared upon the original vinyl releases.

Dubbed Warner Remasters, the series will debut Sept. 19 with 20 combined titles from Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Rod Stewart, and Van Halen. The newly issued titles will carry a suggested list price of $11.98.

The selections in the series were all issued on CD during the early years of the format’s era, but as Warner Bros. Records Inc. VP of A&R Gregg Geller, who is overseeing the series, says, “I think it’s fair to say a lot of this was done in haste way back when. Certain elements of original artwork were omitted. Also, the CDs that were released in the mid- to late ’80s, which sounded wonderful at that time, no longer sounded as wonderful as they might be. The advances in mastering technology have advanced to such a degree that we can simply do a far better job today than we could then.”

No bonus tracks will be included on the initial batch, according to Geller. He says the decision was made to release the initial batch of albums as the artists originally made them, without the addition of bonus tracks, a practice that has become somewhat common with regard to reissues.

“I’m pretty strongly of the belief that these records were conscientiously and consciously made how they were for a reason, and you tamper with that at some risk,” Geller says. “There may be some [future releases in which] the addition of certain bonus tracks will be in keeping with the spirit of the work, but in the case of the 20 albums we’re releasing first, it was everybody’s feeling that they should be allowed to stand as is.”

It’s a decision Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen applauds. “I agree with Gregg that the albums should come out as they did originally,” he says. “If you start tinkering with it and start to repackage it, then the next thing you know, you’re re-recording stuff. Where do you stop? I like that there’s nothing extra on our records. They become different animals if there’s more stuff on it.”

Van Halen also commends the label on involving the artists in the process, even though he admits that, like that of many retailers, his first reaction was, “Why did it take so long to do this? When they started, we weren’t told exactly what the project would be. What we got was, ‘Would you please look at some artwork?’ ” But ultimately, Van Halen and all the acts were offered the opportunity to have Warner Bros. do the remastering or choose their own engineer. “We had our own guy do the remastering,” Van Halen says. “This isn’t just about the liner notes. The picture you paint sonically is a record of your life. I can really tell a difference.” New batches will likely come out quarterly, although Geller says the label has not committed to a precise timetable, and he is mum on what acts that will be included in upcoming releases.

OK, so the Best of tracks were digitally remastered, which makes sense. The “Remasters” series doesn’t specify how the CDs were remastered or what the source was for the remastering. I would think they did it the most economical way possible, which would most likely have been digitally. The 2013 remasters were supposedly pulled from analog tape, so I’m curious what the difference was in the process that produced that boxed set that was pulled from release in the US vs. what we’re about to be sold.

ron: The 2013 box of CDs are just the 2000 discs repackaged – I thought.

I was mistaken. You are correct, sir. So, all of the current remasters that have been released have all been digitally remastered and then repackaged. I thought the 2013 boxed set was an analog remaster.

ron: Info on the VH1 vinyl remaster (released in Jan. 2009):

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jon-schell/interview-with-audio-mastering-engineer-kevin-grey/92749494325

That was an amazing read! Very informative. Thanks for hunting that down, Mr. Higgins!

I guess it’s the fact that they have been rereleasing the back catalog ever since ’96 (other than III) as either a compilation or a remaster in one form or another up until 2012. It seemed like 15 years of rereleases to finally get a new album and now we’re back to rereleasing the old catalog again. Now that I have a clearer understanding of what was released before, I am a little more intrigued as to how these will be redone.

The two remasters of 5150 and OU812 weren’t all that impressive. I never cared for the overall sound of either of those albums. I thought FUCK was produced much better, but I only really liked a few songs on that album. Balance was the most sonically impressive album I think they ever did, especially on vinyl. Unless Dave dies first or quits Van Halen again, I highly doubt we’ll ever see the Hagar era albums being promoted or rereleased by the band.

ron: I think the biggest question will be the difference between the VH1 vinyl from 2009 that was remastered from the 1/4″ master tapes, and the same thing from 2015.Since both are from the same master source, the only difference sound be whatever the engineer dialed in.

Van Halen, Van Halen II, WACF and 1984 were just put out a couple years ago on vinyl remastered from the original tapes according to VHStore. If you go to the VHStore link in the first post in this thread you can still order the original vinyl remasters of VHII and WACF, but now you can only preorder the upcoming VH1 and 1984 remasters. I have that original four pack of remastered vinyl, but I never opened them.