Why is remastering so bad ?Music

[Biased turkey]

I purchased 2 CD that were "Remastered" from 2 LPs of the seventies ( Yeah I know I'm an old fart ) and the sound was very different from the original version. It sounds so bland ,so washed with almost no contrast between the various instruments.
I was able , a few months later to find an unremastered ( read original ) CD version and of course it sounded exactly like the original.
Was the remastering version crappy because it was made by a young kid who doesn't know a damn about rockn'roll ? , the same way a 50 years old sound engineer would be in a bad position to remaster a rap song ?
just curious.
By the way, one of the LPs was "Layla" from Derek and the dominoes ( 2 CDs ). The "remastered" version was the 20th anniversary edition 3 CDs )

 

[Ev0]

I do notice this sometimes while listening to my CDs. For example, I always find songs off of Van Halen's debut album sound much better on the radio than on CD, simply because on the radio there is a slight echo effect on each song, which imo, makes a huge difference. This echo is nonexistant on the CD, and I always feel as if something is missing when I listen to the CD.

 

[livemusic]

I do notice this sometimes while listening to my CDs. For example, I always find songs off of Van Halen's debut album sound much better on the radio than on CD, simply because on the radio there is a slight echo effect on each song, which imo, makes a huge difference. This echo is nonexistant on the CD, and I always feel as if something is missing when I listen to the CD.

Doesn´t you sound system has an adjustable equalyzer? Some stereos come with pre-sets already, like pop, rock, live, that kind of stuff. The live usually has some echo, the hall one also.

And yes, some remastered albums don´t sound good, it´s bland as Biased Turkey said.

 

[emad]

I read about it somewhere.

It has something to do with people wanting their music to be normalized louder and louder. Digitally making it louder means cutting off the peaks of the sound waves which in turn makes the sound less warm and of course, more flat. This also explains why some of the softer and more high pitched sounds don't show up in some remasters. Most music released over the past 15 years has had this issue to some degree.

It's kinda like when you set the sensitivity of your microphone really high. If you talk loudly, the details get lost and it's just a nasty sound overall.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Ev0]

Doesn´t you sound system has an adjustable equalyzer? Some stereos come with pre-sets already, like pop, rock, live, that kind of stuff. The live usually has some echo, the hall one also.

Nope, it's just a boom box in my room. I notice the same lack of echo on the real stereo in my basement though.

 

[Biased turkey]

I do notice this sometimes while listening to my CDs. For example, I always find songs off of Van Halen's debut album sound much better on the radio than on CD, simply because on the radio there is a slight echo effect on each song, which imo, makes a huge difference. This echo is nonexistant on the CD, and I always feel as if something is missing when I listen to the CD.

Thanks for the opinion.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear in the original post, so I resume:

Original LP : good ( of course it's the original )
Untweaked CD made from the original analog tapes: good
Remastered CD made from the original analog tapes : sucks
I'm not talking about the "radio version" here
I never noticed any additional echo on a broadcasted tune, but at my age the ear is not what it used to be. Thats why I don't bother to install a SoundBlaster on my computer, any crappy onboard sound chip will do

 

[TallicaFan2k5]

well I don't think the remastered stuff sounds bad... I have Kill Em All and Master of Puppetts remastered...they both sound okay.... it says on the back the quality is limited due to source recording or whatever, but it sounds fine to me...

 

[Ev0]

I should have said this earlier, but there are bad remasters out there, and there are good remaseters out there too. Whoever remastered Axis: Bold As Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience did an excellent job; all the music still has a bit of a raw sound to it, and it sounds a lot like a 1960s recording, albeit updated with more crispness to the sound. A best of both worlds sort of thing.

 

[Biased turkey]

Imho remastering should be done in 2 cases:
1) the original recording was crappy or has been deteriorating ( like the recording made on ... wax cylinders for example )
2) The artist doesn't like how how the original record sounded ( then why was the original record released in the first place )

I don't ' think "Layla" falls into any of those cases. The remastered version was just released in order to get some more extra money from the fans . Did you say extorsion