I happened to click on the 2017 re-release on Spotify quite by mistake. I’m only four tracks in but each has sounds just way better than I’d remembered (it’s probably been a year or so since I last listened to it). I’m hearing whole new elements to songs that I’ve listened to dozens of times.
My question is what has the remastering done to do this? Was the original mix just awful? Has audio engineering advanced this much in 20 years so the engineers can take old tracks and just make them sing?
When they reissued the Beatles CDs remastered, there were a few I only had on vinyl, so I picked up Help! and Revolver. I ended up lying on the floor with my speakers set up one next to each ear (what? They sounded better than my best headphones), and I was utterly captivated.
Because the remastering (done by Sir George Martin, with his son Giles helping, I believe) brought out all these tones and nuances I’d never heard before! Vocal subtleties, guitar attacks… even entire instruments (I swear I’d never noticed Ringo wailing away on bongos on the Help! album).
Now, I’m sure some of that is that I grew up playing the vinyl on a crappy system while we were dancing and trying to sing along (hey, I was in 4th grade when Beatlemania hit). Or hearing the classics on an AM car radio* [shudder],* so I’m sure many subtleties were lost back then.
But I understand what it’s like to be blown away by remastering… I went out and bought pretty much all the Beatles '09 Remasters. Thanks, Sir George!
So my answer to “Has audio engineering advanced this much in 20 years so the engineers can take old tracks and just make them sing?” is yes.
It’s pretty remarkable. There were a few tracks later on that i didn’t like as much as the old versions. But overall it was like night and day.
I love the original album but haven’t listened to the remastered version. I’ll have to listen to the old and then listen to the new. Thanks.
Spotify lists it as ‘Being There (Deluxe Edition)’. I’d be interested to hear your reaction.
It used to be common to mix rock albums compressed, with reduced dynamic range. This meant there were no “soft” bits, but also meant they were a bit muddy compared to orchestral music. I think this practice has ceased, but I don’t know the time scale.