[robinojones]

I bought my first vinyl re-issues yesterday and I must say that I am a little bit disappointed in their sonic quality.

I tested the "Demons" reissue compared to my original copy from the 80ies and ouch what a downgrade. The dynamic range is so tiny and the sound is very compressed compared to the original pressing.

I also got the "Absurd" soundtrack - what a great packaging, but the audio is not so impressive to my ears. On the website they mention: "Exclusively re-mastered for vinyl from the original CAM tapes." what are CAM tapes? I apologize in advance if it is sourced from the original analogue tapes but to me it sounds squashed.

Is there any information online on how these releases are produced, pressed and mastered? Are they using re-mastered digital files or analogue sources?

[texasvinyl]

CAM is the original Italian record label, so the Absurd reissue was sourced from the original tape.

Most of the labels here go to great lengths to track down the original tapes or best otherwise available source, and most of the releases are specifically mastered for vinyl.

Of course we also see plenty of subpar stuff, unauthorized reissues, unknown sourcing etc, as has always been the case as long as records have been around. Fortunately we have good labels on this board that are dedicated to doing things the right way, and everyone on the board tries to help sort the good from the bad.

[monsterworship]

Texas beat me to most of it but here is my sentiment:

What is your listening setup?

CAM is the name of the original record label.
So the source was original analog master tapes.
but I would assume that it did not go direct from analog.

Personally, I think Absurd sounds amazing. I have a decent setup.

I do have the original Demons, but don't have the rustblade Demons to compare.

To the best of my knowledge all of the independent soundtrack labels are doing the best they can with the source they are given and are getting things mastered specifically for their intended source.

So perhaps it is your ears

[robinojones]

Thanks for all the information guys - it's reassuring.

When I saw the extensive soundtrack selection at my local record shop I wanted to buy everything in sight but I wanted to hear a couple before doing a complete record buying devastation.

Of course audio quality is subjective to everyone's ears but I have a pretty good setup.

Denon DP-62L
marantz 240 Amplifier
dynaco pas 3 Preamp
Lipinski L-707 Speakers

Amp and Pre modded by Stephen Haselton from Shoal Audio.

[synthxanderharris]

You could be experiencing something as a result of the "loudness" wars. One thing to consider is the re-master may have taken loudness into context of the remastering process. Currently, there is a certain amount of digital clipping (drives me crazy) on much mastering from digital mastering houses, especially in the electronic and heavy metal music fields. The label and the artist may have decided to dial the volume back a bit, which is good because you get better representation of the overall frequencies as a listener. Listeners don't always recognize these things BUT the average person knows when something sounds good or if it sounds bad just from years of listening to bands they like. If the wave form of the audio file is cranked to smithereens, you really the nuances of the music.

The other thing to consider is who knows what shape those source tapes are in used for the remaster. I'm sure they digitized the reels in some capacity more as a documentation purpose because tape degrades over time, especially when you have to consider how the master tapes were stored, where, and how often were they transferred from warehouse to warehouse. Another thing is who knows what shape that tape was in when the original recording process took place. If the original was an analog recording, the engineer could have used tape reels that had been used over and over again a demo capacity for other bands that is just saturated all to hell as a way to save money. It's hard to say without knowing the full details of the original tape condition. I personally kind of dig that lo-fi sound, for obvious reasons, but I also have to say that I prefer digital to analog these days, especially in recording. I think it sounds better and it's cost prohibitive for the average musician who doesn't have a budget to go into a studio with 24 track 2 inch tape. Most people wind up recording their basics on tape anyway and then dump those tracks from the tape machine into a DAW (ProTools, Logic, Ableton) of the engineers choice.

I kind of went off the subject there but check out these articles.

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.s ... etter.html

This is interesting as well: http://productionadvice.co.uk/vinyl-mastering/