Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going - Remastered vs Original Pressing...

[Chops]

A couple years back, I got on a pre-order list for a box set of Phil Collins albums that were in the process of being remastered. A couple of them were released at one time, others were released as they became available. One of them didn't come until about 5 months later.

I only opened and played a few of the new albums this entire time, one of which being "Hello, I Must Be Going".

Today I popped this remastered album on my table and gave it a spin. The first thing that stood out is that Phil's voice has this kind of constant etched, gritty sound, sort of like inner groove distortion (IGD). It was like that throughout the entire album, on both sides. Other than that, it sounded pretty decent I thought.

Then curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out my original pressing of the album which was released back in Nov 1982. The first thing I noticed on this older album is that it was quite a bit louder, with me diving for the remote to turn it down to roughly the same level as the new 'remastered" album. I went from "38" on the volume down to "33"!

After this, I noticed that that etchy, gritty sound was no longer on Phil's voice. Upon further listening, I also noticed that this old, original album has more meat, more punch in the bass, more dynamic range throughout, and sounds smoother and cleaner. In short, it's a MUCH better sounding record than the new remastered one.

In other words, the compressed the life right out of the new album. It's somewhat flat in comparison. And for further proof, you can actually see the compression on the vinyl itself as a result of a larger run-off groove.

I'm glad I have the box set, but kind of feel ripped off because of the lesser quality mastering.

Original on the left, new on the right...

Original Side 1

Remastered Side 1

Original Side 2

Remastered Side 2

 

[Ron Resnick]

I find this kind of comparison very interesting. Thank you for posting about this.

Which company issued the box set?

Is the remastered box set digitally remastered, perhaps? (I think the original big labels sometimes do this, as opposed to the small, audiophile-oriented, perfectionistic reissue outfits.)

 

[Chops]

I find this kind of comparison very interesting. Thank you for posting about this.

Which company issued the box set?

Is the remastered box set digitally remastered, perhaps? (I think the original big labels sometimes do this, as opposed to the small, audiophile-oriented, perfectionistic reissue outfits.)

Hello Ron, and you're welcome.

I'm on a short vacation up in South Carolina right now, but when I get back into town on Friday or Saturday, I'll look on the box set and see what it says. I'm 99% certain the remastering wasn't done by any audiophile-oriented outfit.

 

[asiufy]

The culprit has a name: Nick Davis. This guy has butchered all the Genesis albums, and for some reason, now Phil's. Hopefully Gabriel won't let him come anywhere close to his albums...

 

[bazelio]

Here here. Peter's recent remasters aren't bad tbh. Is the Genesis "Gabriel Years" box set Nick Davis?

 

[asiufy]

I don't know such boxset. They did 3 boxsets a few years ago, splitting the band's history in 3 parts. Those were done as CD/DVD-A and CD/SACD combo, for each album.
The opportunity was there, as they actually went back to the multi-tracks, and remixed the album. But obviously, good ol' Nick couldn't leave it well alone and did a hack job of it. While the new mixes bring out a lot of hidden detail, it's all bathed in compression. Some albums suffered more than others, and I can take a song here and there out of the new mixes. But generally, it was a poor job.
That said, somehow, the vinyl version of those mixes didn't come out as bad. Since Genesis is my favourite band, I did get the LP version of the 3 boxsets, and was shocked to see that I could actually play through a lot of them, and actually enjoy it!
So if you're going to do these new Genesis remasters/remixes, do it on vinyl.

cheers,
alex

 

[bazelio]

Looks like it is Nick Davis, and yet it's really not bad at all. I have the originals minus The Lamb, and these remasters hold their own if not exceed in some cases.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The culprit has a name: Nick Davis. This guy has butchered all the Genesis albums, and for some reason, now Phil's. . .

Send out the posse! String ‘em up for what ‘e done!

 

[XV-1]

Chops.

You are a braver man than me - buying that album twice

 

[asiufy]

Looks like it is Nick Davis, and yet it's really not bad at all. I have the originals minus The Lamb, and these remasters hold their own if not exceed in some cases.

View attachment 48389

Yeah, vinyl As I said above, the vinyl is actually listenable. Dig the originals for a spin and compare, it's fun to see how much they've changed the mix.

 

[Chops]

The culprit has a name: Nick Davis. This guy has butchered all the Genesis albums, and for some reason, now Phil's. Hopefully Gabriel won't let him come anywhere close to his albums...

Thanks for the bad news. LOL

 

[mauricemishael]

Unfortunately, we live in the age of loudness where people don't pay attention to the details and replaced by the over-compressed audio this has made the musicians limited to the market demand.

A couple years back, I got on a pre-order list for a box set of Phil Collins albums that were in the process of being remastered. A couple of them were released at one time, others were released as they became available. One of them didn't come until about 5 months later.

I only opened and played a few of the new albums this entire time, one of which being "Hello, I Must Be Going".

Today I popped this remastered album on my table and gave it a spin. The first thing that stood out is that Phil's voice has this kind of constant etched, gritty sound, sort of like inner groove distortion (IGD). It was like that throughout the entire album, on both sides. Other than that, it sounded pretty decent I thought.

Then curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out my original pressing of the album which was released back in Nov 1982. The first thing I noticed on this older album is that it was quite a bit louder, with me diving for the remote to turn it down to roughly the same level as the new 'remastered" album. I went from "38" on the volume down to "33"!

After this, I noticed that that etchy, gritty sound was no longer on Phil's voice. Upon further listening, I also noticed that this old, original album has more meat, more punch in the bass, more dynamic range throughout, and sounds smoother and cleaner. In short, it's a MUCH better sounding record than the new remastered one.

In other words, the compressed the life right out of the new album. It's somewhat flat in comparison. And for further proof, you can actually see the compression on the vinyl itself as a result of a larger run-off groove.

I'm glad I have the box set, but kind of feel ripped off because of the lesser quality mastering.

Original on the left, new on the right...

Original Side 1

Remastered Side 1

Original Side 2

Remastered Side 2

Unfortunately, we live in the age of loudness where people don't pay attention to the details and replaced by the over-compressed audio this has made the musicians limited to the market demand.

 

[Chops]

Unfortunately, we live in the age of loudness where people don't pay attention to the details and replaced by the over-compressed audio this has made the musicians limited to the market demand.

Unfortunately, we live in the age of loudness where people don't pay attention to the details and replaced by the over-compressed audio this has made the musicians limited to the market demand.

It's so bad in fact, it made you say it twice. LOL

 

[spiritofmusic]

It's so bad in fact, it made you say it twice. LOL

The first statement wasn't compressed, hot mastered and brickwalled.

!!!THE!!!SECOND!!!STATEMENT!!!DEFINITELY!!!WAS!!!

 

[mauricemishael]

It's so bad in fact, it made you say it twice. LOL

hahahahaha didn't notice that it must be a glitch LOL

 

[spiritofmusic]

The good news is that the dark era of compression seems to be coming to an end. Maybe not across commercial music (I don't see Adele, Rita Ora or Lady GaGa etc, or their fans, being in the least bit bothered), but across more specialist genres and artists who have any semblance of craft and integrity, stuff today sounds way better than from one to two decades ago.

Nils Frahm is an artist who several years ago may well have been lost to brickwalling and hot mastering. Not today.

 

[mauricemishael]

The good news is that the dark era of compression seems to be coming to an end. Maybe not across commercial music (I don't see Adele, Rita Ora or Lady GaGa etc, or their fans, being in the least bit bothered), but across more specialist genres and artists who have any semblance of craft and integrity, stuff today sounds way better than from one to two decades ago.

Nils Frahm is an artist who several years ago may well have been lost to brickwalling and hot mastering. Not today.

That's awesome! well I gotta tell myself I'm a bit disappointed as I'm trying to innovate new way to make music but I think I work with the wrong people (singers) so hope in the future to share my vision along with some creative musicians and singers
BTW I checked Nils Frahm his music is so fresh and the mixing is awesome!

 

[spiritofmusic]

I've only heard Nils at the home of my good buddy Blue58. He often uses Nils to
1- demonstrate how good digital thru horns can be
2- show that modern artists are fully aware of stellar sonics and can get great sound recorded

I believe Nils owns the fantastic space he records in.
Beats the story I heard of Adele's drummer phoning his pieces in - quite literally, he recorded them on a patch via his IPhone and transferred the data across.

Adele, the only artist who sounds worse on a top streamer than on a clock/radio next to yr bed.

 

[Chops]

Hey, I like this Nils Frahm guy! I'm listening to his "All Melody" album right now on Tidal. Even at whisper levels, I can tell how clear and dynamic these recordings are. Nice! I know what albums I'm going to be listening to for the next few days!