I apologise if a similar thread has been done before but how comes most digtal hi res stereo mixes are still being released compressed?

[KG10]

Richard Wright of Pink Floyd sometimes complained how much audio fidelity was lost on the LPs compared to the master tape.

Wonder what he would have thought of the 2018 remix of animals? For the 2019 mix of a momentary lapse of reason I expect he would have rerecorded his contributions rather than having to use live recordings.

 

[KG10]

laziness, inefficiency, unavailablility of original tapes - it's always been chaos with the major labels, and still sometimes a problem to find the actual material.

It's always been an issue frankly - 90% of the time mastering restrictions had a negative effect on how the original audio had sounded in the studio when it was mixed. Very few LPs sounded anything like the original recordings - yes it sometimes added a certain character, but ultimately this has to be about making great records, rather than great recordings!

I believe SW said in an interview one time that the orignal mix down tapes would often be marked "do not use".

 

[MidiMagic]

I believe SW said in an interview one time that the original mix down tapes would often be marked "do not use".

"Do not use" means use a copy rather than the original.

Storing tails out means the tape must be rewound before it is played. This reduces the print through by putting the layers of tape in a different alignment.

 

[JulesRules]

Wonder what he would have thought of the 2018 remix of animals? For the 2019 mix of a momentary lapse of reason I expect he would have rerecorded his contributions rather than having to use live recordings.

That was how it should've gone, yes. Remember that the plans to do this mix were old and go back to when Rick was still alive - but then he died and the idea was put on hold for a long time.

 

[Owen Smith]

"Do not use" means use a copy rather than the original.

But if you're going to digitise it at 24/96 and then never use the analogue master tape for that album ever again, surely the original is the one you should be digitising to remove one lot of generational loss? Back in the analogue days where multiple copies of the master were run off to go to LP and cassette duplicating plants it made sense never to work directly from the original, but that's not relevant these days.

 

[KG10]

That was how it should've gone, yes. Remember that the plans to do this mix were old and go back to when Rick was still alive - but then he died and the idea was put on hold for a long time.

Any reason in particular they were so insistent on rerecording parts of it other than to get rid of that 80s sound to it and or to involve Rick and Nick more? Personality I didn't think there was anything was anything wrong with the original recording that warranted parts to be changed.

 

[JulesRules]

Any reason in particular they were so insistent on rerecording parts of it other than to get rid of that 80s sound to it and or to involve Rick and Nick more? Personality I didn't think there was anything was anything wrong with the original recording that warranted parts to be changed.

Those two were always the stated objectives as far as I know. I'm sure @Andy Jackson could tell us more but then again he might not.

I distinctly remember seeing the discussions from around 2008 when I joined by first PF board back in 2011. Like you, I don't really think there is anything "wrong" with the album as-is although it does swim a bit in reverb at times and the programmed drums make for a different listening experience compared to other PF albums. If you want to hear those songs at their best, the live versions are the go-to; which doesn't mean I approve of shoving the live vocal from "On the Turning Away" into the studio production.

 

[KG10]

Those two were always the stated objectives as far as I know. I'm sure @Andy Jackson could tell us more but then again he might not.

I distinctly remember seeing the discussions from around 2008 when I joined by first PF board back in 2011. Like you, I don't really think there is anything "wrong" with the album as-is although it does swim a bit in reverb at times and the programmed drums make for a different listening experience compared to other PF albums. If you want to hear those songs at their best, the live versions are the go-to; which doesn't mean I approve of shoving the live vocal from "On the Turning Away" into the studio production.

Maybe it's becouse I have a soft spot for reverb but I never really found it to be an issue on the original.

Another thing that makes this album an odd one out from the rest of the pf catalogue is that I believe it's the only one (possiblily outside of the latter sessions of the endless river) to be be recorded digitally as apposed to the rest that were recorded in analogue.

 

[Owen Smith]

Another thing that makes this album an odd one out from the rest of the pf catalogue is that I believe it's the only one (possiblily outside of the latter sessions of the endless river) to be be recorded digitally as apposed to the rest that were recorded in analogue.

So it should have better audio fidelity then, having been recorded digitally. Less analogue generational loss.