Mastering Remastering

The ability to remaster old albums is a wonderful development made during the past decade or so. Here is a mix of articles about remasters and some places to find what you are looking for.

Behind the Hype of Remastering Old Albums
Matt Diehl: “Some labels use the term ‘remastered’ to resell music indistinguishable from previous recordings. Worse, to work with cheap earbuds, many engineers simply copy an album and make it louder, obscuring nuances. But loving remasters exist, and their practitioners work magic to deliver the musicians’ intent. Engineer Robert Vosgien, who works with artists like James Taylor and Elvis Costello, demonstrates by playing Bob Seger’s original song ‘Beautiful Loser’ alongside the version he remastered. The remaster is conspicuously clearer, revealing a healthy bottom end that adds rhythmic urgency. In the case of A Love Supreme, remastering was essential to even out differences in volume between the original record and the new tracks.

Originals vs Reissues- A Digger’s Guide to Buying Vinyl Records
“Originals vs. Reissues” is a recurrent topic among vinyl junkies. A quality reissue can offer a great alternative to owning a scratchy original, or spending big money on something scarce. That said, many factors help determine whether you’ve purchased a good or bad pressing of a record. This article hopes to outline a few points which can help you along in your crate digging adventures.

“Do Remastered Albums Actually Sound Better?”
You’re about to buy an album on iTunes when you see that there’s a remastered version just below it. Surely something that’s remastered must be better, right? To adequately answer that question, you have to understand a far more basic query: what is mastering?

Hawthorn’s Antique Audio
We are dealers in vintage 78 rpm records, sheet music and antique phonographs.

Our goal is to offer a wide selection of quality phonographs, records, sheet music and related accessories to collectors worldwide.

We auction early 78’s, cylinders, and other collectable records. In addition, we have a retail location in the Sacramento, California area.

Rare Records – Rock, Jazz and R&B LPs and Vinyl Albums
Welcome to RareRecords.net. We specialize in rare records and memorabilia. While most of our inventory is rock, we also offer music in other genres, such as jazz, rhythm and blues, electronic and folk. You’ll find more albums and LPs than anything else here, though you’ll also see the occasional compact disc or single for sale.

Vinyl Me, Please
Vinyl Me, Please is a record of the month club. The best damn record club out there, in fact.

Our mission is help people explore, experience, and enjoy music on a deeper level. A tall order, maybe, but it’s what gets us out of bed every morning with a thunderous shout. We do that both by sending you great music every month and by making sure you have a ton of fun each step of the way. Music is important, and so are you, and we work our asses off to make sure we do good by both.

Vinylify
Vinylify is an online service allowing you to create your very own unique 10″ vinyl record. Simply upload your tracks and completely customize your cover and labels. We’ll cut your vinyl by hand here in Amsterdam, before shipping it to you – wherever you are in the world!” [Editor’s note: I’m not putting in too many sites that are essentially selling products, but this is pretty cool. It’s also interesting that a huge majority of sites about vinyl records are just online stores. There is comparatively little commentary.]