Old Albums, re-done?

My opinion is there is nothing bad into re-mixing and re-mastering albums (not re-recording). When you have an ear to the Genesis remastered or the re-edition of A Night At The Opera, you wish they could do that to all the old stuff don't you?

This thread reminds me of a similar phenomenon: Making sequels to concept albums that were released ages ago. Dream Theater sorta did this with Metropolis Part 2, Queensrÿche had their Operation Mindcrime Part 2 which IIRC got really, really mixed reviews and Hawkwind's next album is going to be In Search of Space: The Return. (the original ISoS was supposed to have a unifying theme of "humans through the eyes of aliens")

That sounds like something the Joker would want to do. 

My opinion is: you shouldn't mess with something that is already perfect. Most of the times, rerecording an album sounds to me as something like repainting Sistin Chapel...

MisterProg2112 wrote: If old albums were recorded with today's technology it would be terrible. Of course they aren't as good quality, but that makes them sound unique and great.   Does anyone else notice how some great bands from the 60s and 70s release modern albums today, and they aren't half as good as the old ones?   Case and point.

^ if you want to know what can be done today, by modern bands, using modern studios and 'ancient' instruments, check out the Collossus Projects by the The Finnish Progressive Music Association. If they can do that with new music, then there is no reason why it cannot be done when re-recording older albums.

But what about the production techniques used by Steven Wilson in his Porcupine Tree recordings?

Edited by npjnpj - July 03 2008 at 05:19

I would have to say in general it's a bad idea, but I make the exception for Tubular Bells.  Nicely re-done and certainly worth re-doing.

Recording the classic would be the worst thing to do. I myself like the '70 progsound far better than the 2000 and after progsound. It has lost all creation of a space where a band plays. Bad mixes, ugly amplification. It doesn't sound very warm to me. BTW the vocals are recorded most sh*tty of all these days.  You would defenitly ruin a lot of good music. Besides... you can hear the 'sound of the time' in those records, so you can hear the progression much better. Going from 'Foxtrot' to 'A trick of the Tail' is an amazing journey! Evolution!

Dean wrote: Never said all artists and mixing engineers do this - just pointing out that the temptation is there . And with Pro-Tools (or the like) it is blisteringly fast and simple to do in competent hands - I've seen an engineer (in a small independent studio) replace a fluffed kick-drum triplet with a good one from the previous bar in seconds, without even consulting the artist, and far quicker than re-recording the whole drum track. The speed, ease and fluidity with which he did it made me appreciate it wasn't the first time he had done it either. When questioned over it his reply was ::shrug:: 'time is money' - needless to say the drummer re-recorded the track again without the edit.   I agree with you on Muse and TMV - handled sensibly the digital studio produces excellent results.

Well taking a bit of a previous kick part is easy to do. I meant reorganizing an entire 52 bar solo was a pain in the ass. Copying/pasting a previous part is simple. Another common trick that is used is using sampled kick/snare/tom/etc parts mixed in with whatever drum part is already recorded. (Brendan O'Brien and some other producers put out a set of these drum samples). This technique is pretty common on not so good drummers because engineers are able to beef up the drum sound (as the original recorded part is weak). Of course you also have to use a program that matches the sample to the rhythm of the original recording, but its pretty easy. The drummer usually has no clue that its been done either. Its not like they played bad, just didn't really play well enough to get a good sound out of the drums.   And indeed, in many studios "time is money" and engineers do not want to be bothered with tons of retakes and especially do not want to be bothered with people that shouldn't be in the studio in the first place, even if they are helping to pay the bills.