The Art of Re-Mastering - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

dave walsh · 29th Apr 2010, 11:14 pm

On Radio 4 this morning. An interesting program ranging from The Who "Live At Leeds" to classical recordings. The original Who recording has interference from a plug board loose connector that swings with every bass drum beat! Dave W

Ted Kendall · 29th Apr 2010, 11:26 pm

Such are the mind-crunching levels of detail one sometimes has to plumb. This forensic aspect is one of the things that makes the craft so fascinating.

vinrads · 30th Apr 2010, 2:50 pm

I bet they "Won't get fooled again", best Who track ever. It needs to be loud, very loud.

dave walsh · 30th Apr 2010, 3:11 pm

Enthusiasm's good but don't get the thread closed! I thought the classical section was intriguing as well. It was interesting that, in fact, the engineer on the program felt that one of the Leeds re-mix "versions" he'd done had been too loud! I'm not a reactionary-I was actually at the 1970 precursor-Live in Hull. Sadly Pete Townsend is suffering horrendous hearing problems these days. He did a R4 program on the music of Purcell last year and was praised for the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Cheers Dave

Andrew2 · 30th Apr 2010, 7:08 pm

I enjoyed this programme, but it should have run for an hour and given us more detail. I know the Beeb has to think of its 'lay' audience, but a bit more technical detail would have been nice.

dave walsh · 30th Apr 2010, 7:54 pm

Your probaly right Andy. I've tried to interest BBC4 in doing a TV Doc on the Beeb archive retrieval but no luck s far so I'm attempting a bit of "private" research. Dave

mhennessy · 1st May 2010, 11:20 pm

I haven't heard this yet (thanks for the pointer Dave), but if you're interested in mastering, and the recording industry in general, have a look at Mastering Audio by Bob Katz. It's a really good read - lots of technical information and insights. Bob is against the "loudness wars", and there's a good discussion of this subject there...

Mark

paolo · 2nd May 2010, 8:58 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave walsh

It was interesting that, in fact, the engineer on the program felt that one of the Leeds re-mix "versions" he'd done had been too loud!

Would that be a certain Jon Astley? Some people aren't a fan of his work but I don't mind it. He's certainly keen on noise reduction and compression, but his work doesn't come across as ear-bleedingly loud as most other mastering engineers these days.

Hopefully this trend will fade away and there is already some evidence of things starting to move in the right direction: http://turnmeup.org/

Paul

dave walsh · 2nd May 2010, 1:00 pm

Interesting Paul, Mark. I didn't know that that there was a "dynamic" [no pun intended-perhaps!] lobby in the industry. When I do a domestic transfer to CD, apart from the limited tolerance to overload there anyway, I rarely go anywhere near the permitted max level [especially with a loud source] as this does allow much better quality at high volume. I suppose there is a psychological factor being exploited with a commercial release ie mine's bigger [louder] than yours!
Dave W

29th Apr 2010, 11:14 pm	#1
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	The Art of Re-Mastering On Radio 4 this morning. An interesting program ranging from The Who "Live At Leeds" to classical recordings. The original Who recording has interference from a plug board loose connector that swings with every bass drum beat! Dave W

29th Apr 2010, 11:26 pm	#2
Ted Kendall Dekatron Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 3,670	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering Such are the mind-crunching levels of detail one sometimes has to plumb. This forensic aspect is one of the things that makes the craft so fascinating.

30th Apr 2010, 2:50 pm	#3
vinrads Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK. Posts: 3,760	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering I bet they "Won't get fooled again", best Who track ever. It needs to be loud, very loud. Last edited by Brian R Pateman; 30th Apr 2010 at 6:28 pm. Reason: Font error corrected.

30th Apr 2010, 3:11 pm	#4
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering Enthusiasm's good but don't get the thread closed! I thought the classical section was intriguing as well. It was interesting that, in fact, the engineer on the program felt that one of the Leeds re-mix "versions" he'd done had been too loud! I'm not a reactionary-I was actually at the 1970 precursor-Live in Hull. Sadly Pete Townsend is suffering horrendous hearing problems these days. He did a R4 program on the music of Purcell last year and was praised for the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Cheers Dave

30th Apr 2010, 7:08 pm	#5
Andrew2 Nonode Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 2,037	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering I enjoyed this programme, but it should have run for an hour and given us more detail. I know the Beeb has to think of its 'lay' audience, but a bit more technical detail would have been nice. __________________ Andy G1HBE.

30th Apr 2010, 7:54 pm	#6
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering Your probaly right Andy. I've tried to interest BBC4 in doing a TV Doc on the Beeb archive retrieval but no luck s far so I'm attempting a bit of "private" research. Dave

1st May 2010, 11:20 pm	#7
mhennessy Dekatron Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Evesham, Worcestershire, UK. Posts: 4,244	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering I haven't heard this yet (thanks for the pointer Dave), but if you're interested in mastering, and the recording industry in general, have a look at Mastering Audio by Bob Katz. It's a really good read - lots of technical information and insights. Bob is against the "loudness wars", and there's a good discussion of this subject there... Mark

2nd May 2010, 1:00 pm	#9
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: The Art of Re-Mastering Interesting Paul, Mark. I didn't know that that there was a "dynamic" [no pun intended-perhaps!] lobby in the industry. When I do a domestic transfer to CD, apart from the limited tolerance to overload there anyway, I rarely go anywhere near the permitted max level [especially with a loud source] as this does allow much better quality at high volume. I suppose there is a psychological factor being exploited with a commercial release ie mine's bigger [louder] than yours! Dave W