Rush 'Vapor Trails' Remixed (2013)

Hi Pete,

On the early Rush albums (on CD), or mid-period 'Moving Pictures', drum strikes leap out of the loudspeakers with wonderful dynamism.

On the new remix of VT, the drums are the same volume as everything else - all the time! - and effectively lost in an aggressive, ill-defined mush.

A handful of audiophiles are of no concern to the industry when it comes to album sales. And the awful paradox for us, is that the better the system we own; the worse it sounds.

John.

Hi John,

Yes that's what I heard on Clockwork Angels - same volume everything that's why I wondered if they master for MP3 - no dynamic range - compressed mid range that sounds loud. One of my test tracks when listening is Led Zep 1 'Babe I'm Gonna leave You' from the original release date (from my brother I'm not that old!!) the dynamic range compared to today is unbelievable. Had the Titans for a few days so will be posting my thoughts and decision on what to buy next week - really great experience over the last few months.

Pete

If everything is loud nothing is loud. On, for example 2112, Fly By Night, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures you can hear/feel how the drums are tuned and struck - I cite these as I think they are particularly well recorded but it applies to the whole back catalogue before Test For Echo. From then on the music diminishes and be get mostly sound effects. The nadir was Vapour Trails but for many albums it's just been various degrees of bad.

The big saving grace was that from Snakes And Arrows (a fantastic effort from a band that could have just sat back and coasted, but unlistenable on a good system) and Clockwork Angels (my god! how much more genious have they got in that magic bottle, but impossible to enjoy in the lounge) there was always  the tour video to enjoy for years. But now that's been cocked up too.

Not that they are unique in this affliction. It's odd (but apparently not) that a trio of such perfectionists are represented by such sonic crap.

This isn't peculiar to RUSH either though, we know many bands have released poor mix/masters. It does make you wonder if they actually really do attend the mix/mastering sessions full time or just when their schedules allow, after a year recording just leave all that to their trusted collaborators? Hence perhaps the QC has suffered for ultimately record co execs getting their VFM and product out on time, or is this really just not the case for those who would know better?

We have seen this in films where the final edit is with the Studio, not the Director (recently the biopic on Grace Kelly with Nicole Kidman is an example)

You would think quality musicians such as RUSH (Neil Peart is in my top 4 drummers) would hopefully be paying more attention to the final released product or are they just too busy on any given occasion, Steve Wilson appears the opposite to this though it seems.

Just thinking aloud. 

The problem with Steve Wilson is there isn't enough of him to go round. A candidate for cloning if ever there was one. I doubt even he could rescue something so dynamically crippled. I wonder if there exist masters of some of the many albums (not just Rush) that have been ruined. My understanding is that they get squashed in the console. Pity.

I saw some brief footage of Geddy appraising one of the remixed tracks during production - using a laptop with some rinky tinky speakers plugged in. So I suppose the result was predictable.

From the Burning Shed website, in the words for the VT remix album:- 

'David Bottrill's remixes have finally brought some justice and clarity to this deserving body of our work.' - Geddy Lee 

My red highlight, so maybe they aren't still happy with VT?  I emailed to what I thought was the band after we has seen the S&A tour say how crap the sound was,  predictably no response. I have seen several interviews saying they believe in that good sound is important, but later evidence says they don't bother with wither tour or released  music. We didn't see the Clockworks Angels tour as we had been so disappointed previously. I did get the DVD for xmas though.