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Rush reissues: "NOT mastered"


barry123
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Iron Maiden famously or infamously chose to avoid mastering "A Matter of Life and Death", and most people to have commented on the audio quality give it rave reviews, including me. The audio on that album is a refreshing change from the ceaselessly beefed up remastered "wall of sound" garbage that we seem to be getting every time we pop in a cd from any band.

 

I'm wondering what others think about a new wave of Rush reissues in which the Rush albums contain no mastering, they are just straight from the master tapes with no compression, EQ, analogue widening, etc, etc.

 

The advertising would say something like "Rush believes that remastering has lost the Loudness War", with commentary on the back about how Rush has come to agree with the audiophiles that this whole business of making things sound brighter and punchier than the sound produced when originally played, is just silly.

 

I don't like the concept of marketing gimmicks just to convince people to buy the same single album 5 different times, but removal of mastering might actually be a step in the right direction. Of course, from what I've heard about Vapor Trails, this is not possible.

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I wish it would happen...A lot of modern albums have sacrificed dynamics for the sake of loudness.

 

That's true, and it makes me so mad because sound engineers and producers who know their shit have proven over and over how decreasing dynamic range and increasing loudness actually reduces the overall volume of a track when played over streaming services or the radio. So the main goal of loudness isn't even accomplished.

 

I listened to the remastered American Idiot a while ago--actually well-mastered--and it sounded much better.

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I have the original American Idiot so I'll have to find the remaster now. When did it come out?

 

It's the 2012 HDTracks remaster. It's an analog master.

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I have the original American Idiot so I'll have to find the remaster now. When did it come out?

 

It's the 2012 HDTracks remaster. It's an analog master.

 

So no actual CD then?

 

I don't think there's a CD. I got mine online.

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I have the original American Idiot so I'll have to find the remaster now. When did it come out?

 

It's the 2012 HDTracks remaster. It's an analog master.

 

So no actual CD then?

 

I don't think there's a CD. I got mine online.

 

Bummer. Thanks.

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I did a side by side comparison of the original release of Fly by Night lp from '75 and the just re-issued and re-mastered on 180g vinyl Grace Under Pressure and was immediately struck by just how compressed the latter sounded. The FbN lp, even though it was 41 years old, threw a huge soundstage with dynamics everywhere. P/G, however, was much more restricted and less engaging. Even the cd version of it sounded a bit more full.
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