Hey guys, I just posted a video analyzing a track I just bought from HD Tracks. It is in the rather high resolution format of 192 khz 24 bit. I wasn't planning on doing anything other than listening to it until I noticed that it was not merely a higher resolution version of the original.
It was completely remastered and altered in several ways which were damaging. It was compressed and increased in level by 4.1 db, and it had flattened the peak waveforms in a most ugly manner.
The frequency spectrum has a number of visible problems. The sound is harsh and distorted in the loudest portions of the track.
The original master was perfect as it was, and should not have been raised in level at all.
Thanks to Vlado Meller for a fantastic mastering job on the original.
A high resolution file has no need of compression and being made 'louder'.
It is not meant to play in a CD rotation at the neighborhood bar.
It is meant to transfer as much of the original fidelity as possible.
This 'remaster' at 192 khz is as far from that as possible.
I decided, just for fun, to see how RX4 would match the high level. It did it without a single waveform being flattened. With the mere press of a button. Most impressive.
Also for fun, I decided to master it myself and match the high loudness level. It took much longer than the RX4 job, but we were able to do it with no flattened peaks. Let me reiterate that the original needed no changes at all, but I was just doing this as an exercise. Pretend that a client is saying,
"make it louder...louder!"
So we did, but that does not make it better by any means. It is just to show that it can be done without destroying the waveform. It is not simple and takes every toy in the arsenal, but it is better sounding and as loud as the 192 version. It was a fun challenge, but I would not want to do that in real life mastering.
Snippets of the results, as well as pictures of the waveforms are on the video.
I am not intending to disparage whoever did the bad mastering job of the 192 file, but I do want to make clear that the truth is the truth, and if we know the truth, "the Truth will set us free".
Let me know what you think.
Until next time...
It was completely remastered and altered in several ways which were damaging. It was compressed and increased in level by 4.1 db, and it had flattened the peak waveforms in a most ugly manner.
The frequency spectrum has a number of visible problems. The sound is harsh and distorted in the loudest portions of the track.
The original master was perfect as it was, and should not have been raised in level at all.
Thanks to Vlado Meller for a fantastic mastering job on the original.
A high resolution file has no need of compression and being made 'louder'.
It is not meant to play in a CD rotation at the neighborhood bar.
It is meant to transfer as much of the original fidelity as possible.
This 'remaster' at 192 khz is as far from that as possible.
I decided, just for fun, to see how RX4 would match the high level. It did it without a single waveform being flattened. With the mere press of a button. Most impressive.
Also for fun, I decided to master it myself and match the high loudness level. It took much longer than the RX4 job, but we were able to do it with no flattened peaks. Let me reiterate that the original needed no changes at all, but I was just doing this as an exercise. Pretend that a client is saying,
"make it louder...louder!"
So we did, but that does not make it better by any means. It is just to show that it can be done without destroying the waveform. It is not simple and takes every toy in the arsenal, but it is better sounding and as loud as the 192 version. It was a fun challenge, but I would not want to do that in real life mastering.
Snippets of the results, as well as pictures of the waveforms are on the video.
I am not intending to disparage whoever did the bad mastering job of the 192 file, but I do want to make clear that the truth is the truth, and if we know the truth, "the Truth will set us free".
Let me know what you think.
Until next time...
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