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Topic: Judas Priest-The Remasters... (Read 16785 times) previous topic - next topic
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Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Hi, I was looking for Judas Priest's 'Defenders Of The Faith' for the last three years and I finally found the CD at a store yesterday. You can imagine how ecstatic I felt at the moment!!! However, the CD that I found is a remastered version. I know that they have cranked up the volume in this versiom. I feel that the CD sounds bad. Is the recording actually like that or am I experiencing the placebo effect since I've read about how high mastering volumes induces clipping. Can somebody who has the same CD and has listened to the original 1984 version be kind enough to tell me if the remasterd CD is as good as (or probably better than) the original version? Thanks a lot in advance.

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #1 –
I suppose it's similar to the Iron Maiden remasters. They sound bad to me too... in fact, all they did in Iron Maiden's case was pour the old stuff through a compressor (limiter) and voila!: new 24-bit 'remaster' ready to be sold!

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #2 –
Quote
in fact, all they did in Iron Maiden's case was pour the old stuff through a compressor (limiter) and voila!: new 24-bit 'remaster' ready to be sold!


No they didn't. The remasters sound a lot better than the old albums. And they may be a little compressed but that doesn't bother me. It's not like the waveforms look like a big rectangle in CoolEdit or anything.

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #3 –
Quote
No they didn't. The remasters sound a lot better than the old albums. And they may be a little compressed but that doesn't bother me. It's not like the waveforms look like a big rectangle in CoolEdit or anything.

Pardon my ignorance, I have never used any sound editing tool in my life before. Is it possible to to view the waveforms of .mp3 files in CoolEdit? I don't have access to the CD or the original wav files anymore. Is it okay if I take a look at the .mp3's waveform in Cooledit (If that is possible in the first case). Thanks

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #4 –
Quote
Quote
in fact, all they did in Iron Maiden's case was pour the old stuff through a compressor (limiter) and voila!: new 24-bit 'remaster' ready to be sold!


No they didn't. The remasters sound a lot better than the old albums. And they may be a little compressed but that doesn't bother me. It's not like the waveforms look like a big rectangle in CoolEdit or anything.

I agree that the Iron Maiden remasters weren't just put through a compressor. A-B the original CD release of any Powerslave tracks with the remasters and you'll hear they're  obviously quite different (I could provide a sample if needed). I'm not saying the remasters sounds neccesarily better though, because although the original Powerslave CD release is quite old, it actually sounds great. The original sounds more dry and up front, the remaster sounds more distant and "airy", perhaps they added reverb or even remixed.

I have two Judas Priest remasters: Hell Bent For Leather (Killing Machine) and Stained Class, but I don't have the originals to compare but I do think the remasters are excellent sounding, so I'd assume other albums would be done appropriately as well.

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #5 –
Iron Maiden will have a real challenge trying to beat the original Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son CD release. Probably best mastering and sound quality ever.

I don't say things like that without through consideration. Plain listening to the album with decent equipment should convince quite a few people.

The album's peak amplitude hits 100 % on some tracks, but ReplayGain values are close to -1 dB. So, as you can imagine, there's plenty of space and dynamics, especially for a heavy metal album. And although all mid-80's Maiden albums have pretty clean sound, this one takes it to the extreme. The sound clarity alone helps to generate the atmosphere a good album needs.

I honestly don't believe any kind of remastering could help that album at all. Audio technology has certainly improved since the 80's, but nothing revolutionary. They had DATs and high-end sound processing equipment already in the 80's. Possibly digital mixing and post-processing is easier nowadays because of computers but that's just it -- it's easier. Not necessarily better.

If the original tracks were recorded with say, C-cassettes, there's nothing that "24-bit" (I wonder why they call it that, sound processing has been 32/64-bit floating point for quite a while now) processing could do to it. If the tracks were already recorded on DAT's, you can merely change the balance of the album. Say, lower the volume of vocals, put it through heavy equalization, reverberation and compression.

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #6 –
I have started a separate thread which has something to do this very thread. Click here.

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Old Nick on
Quote
in fact, all they did in Iron Maiden's case was pour the old stuff through a compressor (limiter) and voila!: new 24-bit 'remaster' ready to be sold!


No they didn't. The remasters sound a lot better than the old albums. And they may be a little compressed but that doesn't bother me. It's not like the waveforms look like a big rectangle in CoolEdit or anything.


Actually, it's quite the opposite. The loudness is creating a placebo effect which makes you think the remastered albums sound more clearer and better. Although the waveforms of the remasters are smooth and haven't been too fiddled with, there is a lot of clipping and lack of dynamics in terms of the percussion tracks. Taking two examples are Powerslave and Somewhere In Time.

All the drum tracks in Powerslave sound very rich and punchy. You can clearly hear the details in the original where as the volume on them in remaster is too low(compared to the other instruments) and they lack in detail because of clipping. I like the added reverb in the remastered Somewhere In Time album, but again, the clipping makes it sound quiet and lacking (again, compared to the other instruments).
 

Judas Priest-The Remasters...

Reply #8 –
Kind of feel as though I'm necroposting here but...

I know of one "remastered" album that kicks the crap out of the original. Faith No More's Angel Dust limited Mo-Fi reissue. I suspect this is an exception. Mo-Fi is known for "doing it right" in audiophile circles.

I'd have to go back and listen to some Priest and Maiden. I only still own two albums by Iron Maiden and none currently from Judas Priest.

...one of you posters got me jonesing for some Seventh Son though...thanks for that. I haven't really listened to it since it was contemporary.
The Loudness War is over. Now it's a hopeless occupation.