Classical recordings are frequently remastered and the refurbished product is sold to the customer as an improved version. This is especially common for older, analogue recordings, but even digital recordings are being remastered. For a time, 24 bit/96 kHz remasterings or variants thereof were all the rage, and marketed as such even when released on 16 bit/44.1 kHz CD.
But are these remasterings really an improvement? The case of Günter Wand's Beethoven symphony cycle allows us to easily make comparisons as both the original 1980s releases and the 2001 24/96 remasterings are available on YouTube and Spotify. I also have the CD releases so I'm confident about my conclusions.
Here are playlists for both versions on YouTube, first the original, then the remastering:
I have used my audio software to make direct comparisons, and here is what I hear:
- The remastered version is about 4 dB louder.
- Smile EQ has been applied to the remastered version, meaning that the bass and treble have been boosted.
Yes, that's all I hear in this remastering. A volume boost on top of a volume boost. Unfortunately the combination of these changes has introduced distortion in some of the loudest parts of the symphonies. As an example of this, consider the final seconds of the third movement of the fifth symphony, at the end of the transition to the final movement. The original is first, then the remastering:
A telling example is the last 20 seconds of the Finale of the first symphony starting from 5:30 in the links below. Here, the trumpet line sounds less brilliant and somewhat distorted in the remastered version. At 5:34, there is a slibilance artifact in the violins that gets amplified in the remastered version because the treble has been boosted. At 5:39 in the remastered version, there is an unpleasant rumble as the timpanist switches from the C to the G timpani. The timpani sound more even in the original version.
So what are your thoughts? Do you hear the same things that I do in these examples? Do you think that remastering actually improves the sound of old recordings, or is it mostly a marketing gimmick?