OT: Beatles remastered jobbies.

I was thinking of getting them - but wonder if they've followed the fashion of being 'remastered' to remove any dynamic range - as has happened to successive Beatles re-releases? Non of which sound as good as the when they first appeared on CD.

Not only Beatles - I'm trying to avoid buying pretty much anything remastered these days and rather see if I can find an older CD release.

Indeed. It's something I just don't understand. At the end of the recording session and mixdown, the artist, producer and engineer are presumably all happy with the sound they've produced. If they weren't, they'd carry on until they were.

It then goes off to some fashionable mastering house where it is messed about with - unsupervised by any of the original production team.

Now mastering was an essential process when vinyl was the only option, as because of the inherent limitations of that medium it might not be possible to cut a record straight off the master tape.

No such limitations apply to CD.

I was thinking that might be the case. We used the Beatles' Red and Blue albums on CD when we were setting a studio up last week. I've had another listen today with the new ones and the new ones are a lot, lot better. Crisper, clearer, and a lot more defined. Basically better.

I've compared the new Beatles stuff with the older CD release and there is no comparison, the new remastered version kicks arse.

True, but in 1967 I'm sure the Beatles would have liked to be able to do what they've done now.

This was supervised by George Martin.

A lot of the work done with these new versions was getting rid of drop out from the original recordings and clicks from where the tapes were spliced.

You don't tend to get drop out or splice clicks from properly mastered digital formats, which was pretty much the reason for doing these remasterings. Try them. I think you'll be impressed.

Crisper sounds like they've eq'd stuff. There was nothing wrong with the original recordings.

That would worry me. Sounds like heavy re-mastering. To make it sound like 'new' stuff. Which is generally overdone. Too bright.

People like Bob Dylan don't seem to be impressed.

Perhaps the same applied to him. Not much point in releasing exactly the same as before.

Can't say I've noticed any of these on the original CDs. Or certainly not enough to annoy.

Sadly you've actually put me off. If I want to 'brighten' a CD, I can do it on replay. But none of the Beatles stuff needed it.

If the master tapes were properly stored, dropout shouldn't be a problem. Besides, they've got the original CDs which were made before the masters would deteriorate. Nor should you get 'splice clicks' on analogue. Unless using a magnetised razor blade. I know they edited the multi-tracks and there's the possibility of cutting in the middle of a note on one or more of the tracks - but this should be so far down in the mix as not to notice.

Doesn't sound eq'd. Just sounds clearer and crisper. The vocals are a lot more distinct without being louder. It sounds more natural.

Depends what you like. I prefer this as it sounds more like it would in the studio as opposed to what you'd hear on vinyl.

I don't rate Dylan, at all. That's another matter. Writes good songs, performs them terribly and that harmonica... don't get me started!

It's there though, and some of it is bloody obvious. Have another listen, then try the new stuff.

None of the Beatles stuff appeared to need it, I'll agree with you there. Then I heard the new masterings and heard a whole lot of stuff I've never been able to make out before.

I generally use either 2" 4 track or ADAT and don't do physical splicing as computers exist, but I've spliced in the past and lost things I really didn't want to lose.

A properly made CD is effectively a clone of the master tape. Not so vinyl.

My wife has quite a collection of the Beatles original LP's. Bought new and still in excellent condition. They still sound good to me, played on an old but good direct drive deck and amp.and, (at the time) expensive Leak speakers. Mike.

Indeed. I've got all the original LPs and all the original CDs. The CDs sound to me exactly what I'd expect of a good dub from an analogue master. And quite a good demonstration of the beauty of CD. Listen to 'Michelle' on Rubber Soul. Shows all the LP artifacts being the last track on the side, but of course clean on CD.

I have a good collection of beatles stuff, up to now the pinnacle being my Dr Ebbetts remasters...from what I've heard of these new ones, I'll be getting them in short order. Mono first i think.

As I said the original CDs are pretty well a straight dub from the master tapes. And for the first four in mono too - just as recorded. Any 're-mastering' can only make things worse.