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About Julian Cope's FRIED (original LP artcover)
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Andfurthermoreagain
308 posts

Edited Feb 23, 2012, 09:18
Re: About Julian Cope's FRIED (original LP artcover)
Feb 23, 2012, 09:04
Carlos wrote:
1996 and it's digitaly remastered.


'Digitaly remastered' was a bit of a con back in those earlier days as it could literally mean running a lower generation master through a digital console, which (as in the case of Fried) resulted in a very flat muddy sound. The same thing happened when they first issued The Beatles back catalogue on CD. The master used for the digital transfer was something like a master of a master of a master. I think I read somwhere it was the master used for the cassette issues.
I think people are finally seeing the benefit of 'remixing' for CD - as in the newer Beatles issues, The Smiths and Paul Drummond's superlative work on The Elevators (compare to the original Charly issues which were 'digitally remastered').
The word 'remixing' used to cause gasps of disgust in an artist's fanbase - like how can you remix an original recording that is untouchable. But what seems to be happening now, is that people are wising up to the fact that a lot of the sound issues with early CD reissue releases was due to lousy mastering or not going back to original tapes and that leaving the mix 'untouched' and just transfering to digital was actually creating more sonic issues.
As with the above examples, reissues are now being remixed with more respect for the original sound, an attempt to replicate the bright, vibrant clarity of the original vinyl release * - as opposed to a dull CD transfer.

*of course, notable examples to the contrary are Iggy's remix of Raw Power which he ran through pro-tools and put everything in the red to make it sound more 'contemporary' and the deluxe issue of Forever Changes which featured a remixed version with the drums turned up. I suspect with Forever Changes, Michael Stuart may have had some involvement as he claims he hated the drum sound on the original to which Arthur responded along the lines of 'yeah, I agree with you, don't worry we'll get it right on the next record'.
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