Remastering Audio Tracks as a Hobby??? by 6IXSTRINGJACK

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Remastering Audio Tracks as a Hobby???

POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Friday, August 9, 2019 11:17
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1062
PAGE 1 of 1

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 1:40 AM

I didn't even know this was a thing!

I'm listening through work this guy has done and I'm hearing things I've never heard in some of my favorite songs of my youth.

On top of that, these files he's putting up here are crippled from his re-worked lossless FLAC files that are compressed down to 192kbps mp3 when uploaded to YouTube. I'd kill to have the files he's actually creating before they got uploaded.

When asked if he could put them out there by somebody posting on YouTube, he said he'd love to but the black helicopters would take him in the middle of the night and he'd never be heard from again... or something along those lines.

Check him out. Give him a follow. There's probably more than a few songs you like on here that sound better than you've ever heard them before. Looks like he's very active and always adding new songs.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 3:11 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Seems he's in the process of learning and feels he's getting better all the time. He's not happy with this one yet, but I think it sounds great.

Damn. I haven't heard that song in ages. Wasn't it on 3 Men and a Baby or the sequel? Probably like a dozen other flicks too.

Found a great remake of it too...

Never heard of Diana Vickers. What a voice!

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 5:58 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

God that's a lot of expensive equipment!

'Fraid I don't know most of these songs so nothing to compare it to, but the one that I DO know - the very first one - yeah, it does sound better (clearer, more distinct sounds) than original.

OTOH, I was usually listening in a car on an AM radio, so anything would be better than that. Anyway, thanks for the memories!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 3:42 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Yeah. Mr. Roboto was great. One of the first songs I remember as a kid. The ones that come to mind as my earliest memories are Mr. Roboto, Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf and Chicago's Hard To Say I'm Sorry.

I think this guy is more into the "easy listening" side of the music spectrum than my usual tastes, but even though that's not my go-to choice for music when I indulge there are admittedly a lot of good jams in that category. It's also possible that he might figure that those are the most interesting songs to work with too. He seems to literally have it down to a science. I would read through comments on some of his videos where he interacts with people and he would talk about "the math" and how while working on some songs it would keep him up at night.

I hadn't listened to my sound system in years. I just gave away my huge speakers that were 20 years old and followed me in every move since I was a kid. I did keep the stereo and some newer and smaller speakers that are suitable for most people. But that stuff is all boxed up now and I'm not pulling it out again. I'd love to hear this stuff with some legit speakers and not just my mediocre headphones. That being said, they sound amazing to me with just a cheap pair of speakers.

(Incidentally, he's remastered Billy Joel's Still Rock and Roll where one of the lines are "Don't waste your money on a new set pair of speakers, you get more mileage from a cheap pair of speakers").

I can't remember a whole list of other good songs he's already worked on, but here were a few more that really stuck out to me last night.

They just sound so good.

I've got to look around and see if other people are doing this.

Interestingly, some of the older bands seem to be releasing remasters on their own pages. Duran Duran looks to have released a remastering of their entire Rio album in 2009. Phil Collins looks to have released quite a few remasters of his songs as well.

Oh... and Elton John too.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 5:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I was just listening on cheap tablet speakers, and they still sound good to me.

Listened to a few more and recognized them (I never remember who did what and what it was called), and was curious how he got those sounds to come out ... a little tinkle on the piano, for instance.

The only thing I can think of is that he boosts the piano and mutes everything else, for a few seconds. Also, maybe he thinks about the harmonics that multiple instruments create when combined. Possibly amps up the main frequency and tones down others so you get a cleaner sound when all of the instruments are playing at once, instead of that "101 strings" mush that comes out when everything is adding to the sound.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 7:28 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I'm curious how he does it too. In the case of the actual artists, chances are that they still have access to a lot of the master recordings and they can edit specific parts a lot easier. Some of these bands may have released this stuff to the public over the years for people to mix. Maybe that plays into what he chooses to edit too. Note, that there is no Rolling Stones or Metallica on his list. They're both extremely protective of things like this.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 7:49 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Audiophile and mp3 are mutually exclusive terms and concepts.

I used to make awesome transfers on Hi-Fi cassette tape, and Hi-Fi VHS. I could turn on both the source material (often a CD, sometimes 12" singles) and my copy and switch the preamp selector from one to the other, asking listeners to pick which one was the copy. Nobody ever picked the actual copy, they always thought my version was the original source.

One thing I did was what I called "acoustic emphasis" for the music. I also religiously followed Maximum Headroom practices.

Remastering is all different. I doubt he is actually performing a remaster, unless he got a copy of the original tracks.

I could also custom make tapes for specific rooms or sound systems. I would tell the person that this tape they requested will not sound any good in their car, or apartment, or boombox, but only in the one space/room/system that I made it for. Sometimes they would tell me it was the best music they ever heard, but it sounded like crud in their car - so I reminded them that I had already told them that.

I recall that some pieces that can be improved upon, in technical terms (meaning it is good original material to work with):
Money by Pink Floyd
Jukebox Hero by Foreigner
Adagio For Strings by Samuel Barber (see Soundtrack for Platoon)
Housecapade version of Escapade by Janet Jackson
Almost anything from The Cars first album.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, August 9, 2019 11:17 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Yeah. Audiophile and mp3 are mutually exclusive. He's not working with mp3's. That's just something that youtube does when you upload a video to them. It reduces the audio to 192kbps mp3 format. I talked about that earlier.

I also mentioned to Sigs that he probably got the original tracks to work with too, and that it probably influences his decisions on what songs to work on since that would severely limit what he had to work with. I have to imagine with the work he's doing that he had the original tracks or he wouldn't be able to do what he does.

I don't have a ton of know-how in this arena, but I did mess with a program called Cakewalk for a few years back when I was playing guitar that would let me overlay a few guitar tracks and a voice track and mess around with them. I don't think he'd be able to do what he's done here unless he had access to the individual tracks to play around with. It sounds too crisp, even in the downscaled mp3 format.

Interesting story though. Thanks for sharing.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

YOUR OPTIONS

SHARE THREAD

NEW POSTS TODAY

USER	POST DATE

USER

POST DATE