Quality of Remasters

I feel your pain.  I have tried the Steve Hoffman forums, but they are painful to read

You have a resource here on this forum with Kuma's thread 'Post your experience of reissue vinyl'. It's proving to be a very popular and I personally find it useful.

ATB

Steve

The dynamic range database will give you a view of DR for different releases - may help?

I always just google whatever the album title is followed by 'best mastering'.  This invariably takes me to the SH forum but it usually leads you to the correct thread and info you need.

As a rule of thumb I try and find the original pressings and have done for Genesis, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Dire Straits, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan and a host of others, all of which are far superior to any 'remaster'.

Their are exceptions of course but if you want an acid test of how awful some 'remasters' truly are try Kate's 'Hounds of Love' original cd (great) vs remaster (a crime against humanity).  

Have fun.  G

Given that so many remastered albums are disappointing, is there a site or service that reviews or compiles lists reflecting the quality of a given remaster vs. the original release?

Are you referring to vinyl, CD, streaming or all 3? A lot of vinyl reissues are ruined by being digitally remastered. I always try to look for analogue remasters from the original master tapes where possible. IMO digital works in bits so you only get bits of music.

ATB

Steve

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.  This is very helpful.

Steve J, at this point, I'm looking at CD.  Going forward, I think that my music purchases will be CD. I plan on getting a UnitiServe, so I'd be looking at having the hard copy CD, and a perfect rip with the UServe for streaming options.  

For example, I have Fleetwood Mac's self titled album and Rumors on vinyl.  I was on Amazon and saw that each album had a "Deluxe edition" [Extra Tracks, Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered] that has been remastered, and has additional music w/ a bonus disc, and sometimes it's fun to hear some of that additional stuff (see the Pretender's first album and the great bonus music with it).  Similar situation with much of David Bowie's collection.  Yet anytime I see "remastered", I for some reason automatically think that it has been screwed up somehow.

Clark.

I think this must be a problem that does not tend to exist on classical music releases.

Modern restorations of old analogue master recordings [of classical - in the broadest sense -  music] are actually far better than the original releases on old vinyl and shellac in every single case that I have encountered, but blessedly classical music has not been afflicted by "the loudness" war, and the significant efforts to correct many problems found in analogue tape recordings that is possible in the digital domain is a considerable cause of pleasure given how fine the modern restorations now seem. It is probabaly true to say that challenging direct cut 78 masters had to wait till digital came along to show their full potential as LPs cold never satisfactorily carry the vibrant, and visceral sounds that the 78 could, and now digital restoration and carrier files release them from the confines of noisy shellac pressings to reveal the master recordings in their full glory, where [and it is the great majority] the metal master parts still exist. So fine that one might almost wonder how much progress has really been made in the art and state of the art in actual recording over the last fifty or eighty years! Not so much as most would assume. strange to realise that many 1930s recordings are vastly better than today's modern pop productions.

ATB from George

To add on George's point, the same does not universally apply to a comparison between original issue CDs and remastered CDs. 

Some particularly fine remasterings have been issued in the Originals series (DG, Decca and Philips) and on the Testament label. Unfortunately, there have been mistakes too: Decca's 24/96 treatment of the Karajan/Pavarotti/Freni "La Boheme" is worse than the original CD in every aspect, and so are some EMI transfers in their GROC series (the abbey-road treatment to Giulini's Don Giovanni effectively ruined the performance). I guess it all depends on the quality of the source material and the priorities of the remastering engineer.

EJ

The Fleetwood Mac remaster you refer to is indeed not as dynamic and 'natural' as the early WEA CD transfer.  A good case in point.

All my observations relate to CD btw.  G