Mastering of 2016 SHM Discs?

[Kristopher]

Ok well before I lost my entire collection 2 months ago (I’ll mention in another thread) I bought Live At The Palladium, Live In Japan, Offering


After starting my collection again last month I acquired the 2012 SHM Japanese Remastered Classics except Loveliness which doesn’t exist. They all have the same mastering, even the Ticket To Ride. Offering 2016 sounds better then that. (Thankfully that was still cheap as it’s my favourite.) So I bought Loveliness 2016 and just got it today.


Omg I am so blown away by Loveliness It’s like night and day. I thought that about the two lives albums, not so much Offering which did have SOME improvement.

I know all the tapes were burned, but why do these 2016 discs sound so much brighter? (I wonder how passage sounds since I play the 80s disc.) Were the source for these tracks taken from lost/alternate sources not used for the remastered classics? Or am I being fooled with the same Red Book audio just touched up well?


Thanks for any answers!

 

[tomswift2002]

Ok well before I lost my entire collection 2 months ago (I’ll mention in another thread) I bought Live At The Palladium, Live In Japan, Offering


After starting my collection again last month I acquired the 2012 SHM Japanese Remastered Classics except Loveliness which doesn’t exist. They all have the same mastering, even the Ticket To Ride. Offering 2016 sounds better then that. (Thankfully that was still cheap as it’s my favourite.) So I bought Loveliness 2016 and just got it today.


Omg I am so blown away by Loveliness It’s like night and day. I thought that about the two lives albums, not so much Offering which did have SOME improvement.

I know all the tapes were burned, but why do these 2016 discs sound so much brighter? (I wonder how passage sounds since I play the 80s disc.) Were the source for these tracks taken from lost/alternate sources not used for the remastered classics? Or am I being fooled with the same Red Book audio just touched up well?


Thanks for any answers!

The analog 2-track stereo album masters (except the 1978 Christmas Portrait master) still exist.

The tapes that burnt were the analog multi-tracks that were used for the 2004 SACD. But there are still digital copies (which are the same generation, they are not an analog generation removed) of those analog multi-tracks that Richard was able to access in 2018 and scrub them clean of background noise like the air conditioner and a squeaky door, for the RPO album.

But the analog masters for “Lovelines” individual tracks probably still exist, as none of the tracks, as well as Karen’s solo tracks, were on the 2004 SACD (unless there were tracks mixed for a possible SACD 2 or other surround sound format like DVD). Also, aside from “Touch Me”, the SACD didn’t feature any 1980’s tracks, and for TMWWD Richard could’ve been using the single master or a digital copy in 2004 (we know that Richard was doing the remixes in the 90’s and early-2000’s with both the original analog masters for some songs and the 1-inch digital tape masters for other tracks).

So the 2016 “Lovelines” SHM CD could’ve been mastered from the 1989 analog masters.

 

[Kristopher]

That makes sense. They should use those analogue masters and do vinyl re-issues again! Now I need to get Passage And Made in America as those were the worst of the main albums.

 

[tomswift2002]

That makes sense. They should use those analogue masters and do vinyl re-issues again! Now I need to get Passage And Made in America as those were the worst of the main albums.

For vinyl, forget using the analog masters or digital—-if a new vinyl sounds like it came from a pawn shop or yard sale, all the analog and digital masters in the world are not going to matter! Universal needs to stop making vinyls feel like an “after thought” and not just give the pressing contract to the extreme lowest bidder with poor quality control standards.

With “Passage”, track down a pre-1998 vinyl. For some odd reason, in the 1980’s & the 1998 the Remastered Classics masters, which the current CD’s & vinyls are mastered from, the song “B’Wana She No Home” was mono-ized. It’s in 2.0 mono, whereas the original 1977-1997 vinyls (including the “I Believe You” 45 where it was the B-side) feature the song in 2.0 stereo.