Hi there,
I've got a quick question about what a digitally remastered album is.
For example, they have just released a new Led Zeppelin album, digitally remastered.
From what I have gathered, mastering is the process by which the mixed tracks are all set to the same level and made ready for putting on to CDs, so I can't work out what they mean by releasing these albums.
Cheers,
Sam
Well, a big part of it was that the first time around they were mastered for analog LPs, so at the very least they would need to be converted to digital to do this well - this basically adds up to remastering as there will be work required to get the best out of the digital format.
As Andrew says digitising an analogue mix requires serveral issues.
A big one is dithering:
The digital version is a set of discrete components whereas the analogue is a continuous wave; or to put it another way the analogue contains a continuous signal but the digital takes small snap shots of it. In some cases the more snapshots you have the closer you come to the original analogue signal and the less distortion you get of the original. If you look at a digital photo the more pixels you have the better and sharper the image is. Dithering attempts to reduce any low level digital distortion. (Sorry best ad hoc explanation I can think of.)
Note - it's not always true that the more 'snapshots' the better the image. There is the so called 1 Bit signal where the idea is to capture the wave in a single pass. That's a differnt story though.
Other issues involve ensuring that the mix meets redbook standard. The removal of any unwanted artifacts/noise/hiss/etc. Remixing to meet modern ideas of what a mix should sound like (instrument placement, eq etc - these have changed quite a bit i the last 40 or so years). Level/gain differences and so on. Someone else's idea of what the mix should sound like.
Cheers,
Tony
Ah I understand now. Thanks!
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