OK, I don't really get the difference between remasters and remixes, but are there any that are essential? It seems in a lot of cases, people like the feel of the original despite arguably crappy sound.
Also, are there any albums that could really use a good remaster? Just heard Ace of Spades and was thinking it doesn't sound particularly great, but I'm sure many world argue with me on that one.

Remasters use the same mix, but normally just boost the levels and compress the dynamics in most cases.

In a remix you can clean up every track (as in 'layer') separately and give individual instruments or elements more prominence than before.

I'd love to hear a good remix of BÖC's "Imaginos". The original production is very complex, layers upon layers of stuff, but it's very uneven and muddy.

… And Justice for All is a great example of an album that should be remixed so that Jason’s bass can be heard next to the other instruments. The album has been remastered which changes the sound of all instruments together, but did not bring out the low end.

I don't really think the problem with And justice was the bass. It just sounds so sterile and mechanical. No amount of bass is going to fix that.

Mix: taking the individual instruments and putting them together into something that sounds like music (ie- bass, guitars, individual drum hits, etc.)

Master: changing things about the overall mix after it's done, like EQ shaping, compression, coloring it with effects, etc.

>but are there any that are essential?

Yeah- just depends on why it was remixed or remastered. Some stuff had a really crappy original mix or master back in the day and is really fixed by the remix/remaster. A lot of them suck but sometimes they don't. Some particular favorites just off the top of my head include the remaster of Possessed's Beyond the Gates, the remix of Molested's Blod-Draum, the remaster (and alternate track order) of Manilla Road's Mark of the Beast, and the remaster of the Chalice demos (demos in particular often benefit from a remaster because the original tended to be low-budget or literally unmastered).

It's essential to avoid Black Sabbath's Black Box. Those albums never sounded like that and never should have.

I can't think of a single remaster or remix that's actually relevant.

Usually, they take iconic and distinctive elements of the production and make them less prominent, less unique, less enjoyable altogether.

Like what Alice in Chains did with the 2022 remaster of Dirt. Now you can't listen to the original on Spotify as they entirely replaced it. So yeah, I have not listened to that album since. That's how terribly usuless and bad that remaster is. The remaster made it noticeably worse. Congrats guys!

Yes, that AIC "Dirt" remix is appalling. Just terrible.

I tend to prefer all of the Steven Wilson remixes of the 70s Yes and Jethro Tull catalogs to the original mixes.
The new remix of Deep Purple's "Machine Head" is sonic perfection to my ears and makes the classic even stronger.

A few of the Thin Lizzy deluxe editions contained a few remixed songs, too. In every case, they sound 'heavier' due to an emphasis on the guitar.
So, IMO, quite a few classic rock albums/songs have been improved upon with remixing.

But I've rarely come across improvements via remixing in metal.

I think the remixed / "Re-Mistressed" version of Cradle of Filth's Cruelty and the Beast is such a huge improvement that these days I have little use for the original version. Then again some prefer the original, clicky drums and all, because the overhaul supposedly broke some other aspect.

My copy of Rust in Peace is the 2004 remaster. I've seen many Megadeth fans call it a major downgrade but I don't know if I've ever heard the original, or if I'd be able to tell the difference.

(edit) This is from the entry for Nevermore's Enemies of Reality: "The album's production attracted much criticism at the time of release, leading to a remixed and remastered version being issued in 2005."

Has anyone heard the original? Was it that bad?

I tend to prefer full-on re-recordings rather than remixes and remasters. There's a lot more novelty in hearing the band play the same songs years later, and sometimes with the benefit of better musicianship, a more defined sound, different creative choices, etc.

There are a few remasters that are pretty good, the Cowboys from Hell remaster of 2010 is much better than the 90s release and the 1999 remaster of Power & the Glory by Saxon is a must for all metal fans. And as for re-recordings, the one I like the most is the first EP and album of Sepultura, Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation that Cavalera Conspiracy released last year.

I read your comments about the Alice in Chains, Dirt's remaster since Iam a big fan of the band and it didn't bother me too much. I guess I always have listened to the album in a digital way, I bought the official CD of Dirt like in the mid 2010's so I really can't tell the difference except for the volume that is noticeably higher in the remastered version.

A whole thread could be dedicated to the Megadeth remixes/remasters over the years and how much of a mixed bag they've been. But the best one I think they did was the 2018 remix of Killing Is My Business, which cleans up the muddiness of the original and is generally an improvement even if it loses some of the raw charm.


The remix has re-recorded vocals in some parts according to this site's release notes: "When remastering the album for this release, the original lead vocal tracks for "Take No Prisoners", "Rust in Peace... Polaris", "Five Magics" and "Lucretia" were all missing. Dave Mustaine recorded new vocal tracks for "Take No Prisoners" and "Rust in Peace... Polaris", while unused alternate takes from the original sessions were utilised for "Lucretia" and "Five Magics"." It's especially noticeable with that pitch-shifted voice in Five Magics, which sounds a bit goofy in the remix.

I'm the opposite, I can think of a ton of remixes and remasters I at the very least don't mind owning, but I can count the amount of full re-recordings I like on a single hand. I'd prefer live albums to get that effect.

I'll never understand why the people who don't care about, or who say they can't hear, the differences post in these sort of threads.

one of my all-time favorite quotes about this subject...

"I love classic...music so I really hope...they...can rescue all my potential favorite records from sounding how they did when they originally blew everyone's fucking mind."

There should be a statue of limitations, after which the original artist can't go near their own work. I wish we could blame all the revisionism on corporate heads wanting to sell you the same material over and over and over again. The artists never being happy with...and then "this is how it was always intended to sound" are full of shit.

There's a fine line there- some of that stuff had legit technical issues with it where some minor touching up is required (lots of classic releases with volume inconsistencies for example), or the original mix is just awful (even the unmixed versions/Manor Tape bootleg release of Born Again sound WAY better- I'd love a robust remix of it!), but obviously you also get stuff like the frankly embarrassing Megadeth ones.

good call. The original mix was a muddy mess. The remix was a drastic improvement.

The 1997 Roger Glover remix of Deep Purple's Machine Head album is the gold standard for how to do it. Manages to make the album sound both modern and yet of its time - it's really well done.

The best Megadeth remix is the 2002 version of KIMB which really brings out the sheer rabid frenzy of the album.

The 2004 remix of Rust In Peace got slammed but TBH the original mix was nothing to write home about, very tinny with no bass at all. No idea why some people seem to think it was a perfect production job.

AJFA lacks bass but the mix has this antispetic feel that suits the bleakness of the material. MOP, however, really could do with a remix job as it sounds very flat.

heres a comparison of the original mix of Create the Infinite vs. the remix. the original isnt quite as bad as its reputation but its still kind of muddy and unclear. the best way i can describe it is as if it has a dirty filter over the top of it. the remix is a lot brighter, clearer, and more tight. perhaps a tad overcompressed, but that might just be in comparison to the original mix.

remastering these days is typically done more to finetune a release for a new medium its getting released for. in the early CD days labels were remastering old albums to take advantage of all that fancy dynamic range the medium had vs. cassettes and vinyl (especially vinyl, where A LOT of concessions have to be made for a playable experience), and the same has happened with mp3s, and then with streaming now, etc. generally you wouldnt really be able to tell the difference without either listening to a record a lot or if the remaster did a really bad job, which does happen from time to time, like the infamous Aspid remaster which screwed up the speed of the record and had folks convinced for years that the band played in F standard tuning.

remixes are the much bigger deal and far more rare since they take WAY more work. the Megadeth ones are the big example. some i dont really have an issue with, like Rust in Peace which, changed vocals aside, makes the drums way punchier, and others, like Countdown to Extinction or Youthanasia, really fail to justify their existence. i also think the Peace Sells remix is worse than the original. i think bands really need to consider whether a remix is necessary before they move forward with them. even a lot of records i dont think have particularly good mixes, like Demolition Hammer's Tortured Existence or Testament's The Legacy, i wouldnt want remixes of. they sufficiently build an atmosphere and convey the energy they intend to put forth with the music, and i think something would be lost by a remix. but then there are albums like Sabbat's Dreamweaver, whose production actively interferes with the album and one that i really think would benefit from a remix.

99% of remasters are shit. Louder, less dynamic, more harsh.

Some of the David Bowie remasters though from the 2000's were pretty good. Most Iron Maiden remasters are garbage, same for Megadeth. In general I will try to track down the originals.

This one is excellent. Such an improvement over the original.

https://thetruepanopticon.bandcamp.com/ ... st-version

Only two I can think of off the top of my head that actually improved my listening experience of the album significantly. The first is Blind Guardian's Nightfall on Middle-Earth, where the remaster (I want to say it was the 2017 version?) made the rhythm guitar a lot more noticeable and crunchy, and everything just came out sounding more polished and complete overall to me. I can barely remember the original mix now though, I haven't heard it since I got the remaster. I'm pretty sure the audibility of the rhythm guitar was lacking in a lot of places, and I remember some of the synth effects becoming much improved in the mix.

The other is Virgin Steele's Barbaric Remix of Visions of Eden, which gave the guitars a lot more prominence and more of a real "metal" production overall, rather than the original which sounds like Defeis putting cheap electronic guitar noises in hastily atop his piano playing to make the album sound "metal" almost as an afterthought. Obviously it will still never be a perfect production, but this remix improved my opinion of the album quite a bit, bringing it up from "this is OK but lacking in a lot of places" to "this is almost worthy of being counted among the good Virgin Steele albums."

Other remixes/remasters I've heard generally either sound comparable to the original or worse. Unless there's another good one I'm forgetting about, but there definitely haven't been a lot that impressed me.