General Chat

[Tyler]

Any lovers of Classic Rock here think that the new remasters will be any good?

I've been following this news since it was first reported in 2012, but I still have my doubts about how the newly-remastered mixes will turn out. The only benefit of the doubt that I'm giving these new reissues is that Jimmy Page initially saw them being released last year, so I'm hoping this implies that he's taken a more audiophile-like perspective on the catalog for these reissues.

The albums were listed in search results on Amazon's UK page yesterday, but were soon removed after Led Zeppelin fanatics (like me) starting spreading the news before an official press release could be made. I'm not some basic fan that only relies on U.S.-published news, so I was just eager in general to see them begin getting listed at all. :p

Still, I'm on the fence. I've heard 2008's Japanese-imported remasters, and the mixing is too damn cold. The 2008 issues are also only slight decible tweaks of the early '90s remasters that I've also stayed away from, because multiple people have said that the channels of some songs from those '90s releases were reversed (how no one in the studio notices that, I have no damn clue).

That's why I only listen to the first CD master releases that were made in the 1980's, because they copy the same warm, analog sound that the original vinyl pressings have, and all of the song's channels remain in their original positions. Those '80s CDs only had SLIGHT signal processing done to them, and that's why they're the most-preferred amongst fans. My only hope is that Page has kept this in mind for when these new remasters are released worldwide on JUNE 2, because the trick to remastering is not only using the original master tapes, but also using as little signal processing as possible to keep the original sound intact.


What are your predictions, guys? Rock 'em out below, I'll give 'em a read.
\m/ -_- \m/