Trumpet1956 t1_jeeauk8 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:01 PM

Studio recordings are usually multi-tracks that are combined into a single stereo mix. The producers and audio technicians did their best to create a master that would give the best result, which prior to about 1980 was vinyl records. Remastering means you go back to the original recordings and create a new master that is created to sound great on modern media and equipment. They might also clean up noise, and make other corrections like dynamic range and equalization.

Seankps t1_jeega3k wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:49 PM

But what form did the original recordings take?

stevekeiretsu t1_jeego31 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:52 PM

tape, if we're talking vinyl era

Seankps t1_jeegsrd wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:53 PM

I assume those kinds of tapes have a lossless quality. Compared to those crappy cassettes I had in the 90s?

stevekeiretsu t1_jeeitj6 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:09 PM

Better than crappy 80s cassettes yeah but not lossless. One of my favourite albums is Fresh by Sly and the Family Stone and that famously sounds a bit weird because apparently perfectionist Sly overdubbed so obsessively he wore the tape thin

LudwigVonPoodle t1_jeejn9t wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:16 PM

When they’re brand new and in good shape, they’re not lossless, but they are about as good as you can get in the analog world. The problem is that the tapes are a physical media and will deteriorate over time. Or, even worse, they might get destroyed either by accident (like in a fire) or on purpose (like when they destroyed episodes from “Dr Who” and “the Tonight Show”).

Trumpet1956 t1_jeenwxf wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:48 PM

In the 1960s, Ampex developed 16 and 24 track 2" wide tape recorders that revolutionized the recording industry. They go back to those recordings to do the remaster.