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Remaster (and its derivations, frequently found in the phrases digitally remastered or digital remastering) is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began. The measure of its success depends on: 1. The skill and experience of the Mastering Engineer staff. 2. The equipment used for the process. 3. The quality of the original source recordings. Frequently advertised with regard to CD and DVD releases, remastering has become a powerful buzzword in multimedia industries, and it generally implies quality enhancement of sound and/or picture to a previously existing recording (frequently designed to encourage people to buy a new version of something they already own). For example, the reissue boom that began in the mid-nineties saw remastered versions of the back-catalogues of The Who, The Byrds and others, while remastered editions of first-generation DVD releases are similarly bestsellers. Despite its status as an industry buzzword, however, remastering actually refers to a fairly distinct process, one that does not inherently include the notion of a positive or neutral upgrade.

Contents 1 Mastering 2 Remastering 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 References

For more details on this topic, see Audio mastering.

To understand the concept of remaster it is beneficial to understand that often a pyramid of copies would be made from a single original "master" recording which might itself be based on previous recordings (for example sound effects might have been added from copies of sound effect tapes similar to sampling on modern today to make a radio play for broadcast; of for example, a door opening, someone supposedly being punched, falling down the stairs, a bell ringing etc)

A master is the recording which experts state will be definitive copy that is duplicated for before being provided to the end user usually into other formats i.e. LP records, CDs, DVDs etc..

Problematically, several different levels of masters often exist for any one audio release.

As an example, examine the way a typical music album from the 1960s was created. Musicians and vocalists were recorded on multi-track tape. This tape was mixed to create a stereo or mono master. A further master tape would likely be created from this original master recording consisting of equalization and other adjustments and improvements to the audio to make it sound better on record players for example.

More master recordings would be duplicated from the equalized master for regional copying purposes (for example to send to several pressing plants) . Pressing masters for vinyl recordings would be created.

Often these interim recordings were referred to as Mother Tapes.

All vinyl records would derive from one of the master recordings.

Thus, mastering refers to the process of creating a master. This might be as simple as copying a tape for further duplication purposes, or might include the actual equalization and processing steps used to fine-tune material for release. The latter example usually requires the work of mastering engineers.

With the advent of digital recording in the late 1970s, many mastering ideas changed.

Previously, creating new masters meant incurring an analogue generational loss; in other words, copying a tape to a tape meant reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. This means how much of the original intended "good" information is recorded against faults added to the recording as a result of the technical limitations of the equipment used (noise) e.g. ((tape hiss, static, etc.) Although noise reduction techniques exist, they also increase other audio distortions such as azimuth shift, wow and flutter, print through and stereo image shift.

With digital recording, masters could be created and duplicated without incurring the usual generational loss.

Unless there is a fault with the original or the equipment used, then digital copies are identical to the original.

For example, if you took a picture with a digital camera onto a camera card, then any copies from that card would be the same unless the equipment was faulty. So if you copied that picture onto your computer, then from that computer to a laptop, then took that laptop to a friend's house and copied it onto thier computer, then the copy on the friend's computer would be identical to that found on the camera card unless any of the equipment used in between was faulty.

Today we take copying images off the internet and being able to distribute them, often across countries without degredation for granted.

Once to do similarly, someone would have to copy the negatives onto a print. Then if someone only had a print they would have to get a specialist company to make a copy from that print if the negative was not available. If someone wanted a further print from that print then again a specialist company would need to be used. Each time this process occurred the quality would reduce such that if the equivalent to the digital example provided above was done, the copy the friend had at their house using entirely analogue old fashioned photograhy reproduction techniques would not be as good as the original negative.

As CDs were a digital format, digital masters created from original analog recordings became a necessity.

Remastering is, the process of making a new master for an album, movie, or any other creation. It tends to refer to the process of porting a recording from one analogue medium to another digital one, but this is not always the case.

For example, a vinyl LP originally pressed from a worn-out pressing master many tape generations removed from the "original" master recording could be remastered and re-pressed from a better condition tape.

All CDs created from analogue sources are technically digitally remastered.

The process of creating a digital transfer of an analogue tape re-masters the material in the digital domain, even if no equalization, compression, or other processing--is done to the material.

Ideally, because of their high resolution, a CD or DVD (or other) release should come from the best source possible, with the most care taken during its transfer.

This does not always happen.

The original or "best" master tapes were considered too valueable to use as the popularity of the CD medium was unknown. Also, for the oldest "Original" best quality tapes to be used, they have to be baked in a special oven to prevent them snapping during playback and as such can then only be used a few more times before they are unusable.

The earliest days of the CD era found record companies using higher generation copies which they had used for vinyl and cassette or 8 track mastering to create their CDs, with frequently underwhelming results. An nth-generation tape equalized for vinyl frequency response might be deemed perfectly acceptable by a record company, as in the past most people buying records did not have state of the art hi-fi to notice the difference, and (importantly) might be much easier to locate than the "original" source master, and because of the value of the original master stated above.

Additionally, the earliest days of the CD era found digital technology in its infancy, which also aided often poor sounding digital transfers marked by dropouts, underuse of Signal-To-Noise Ratio, etc. The earliest days of the DVD era were hardly any different, with early DVD copies of movies frequently being produced from worn prints, with low bitrates and muffled audio. When the first CD remasters turned out to bestsellers--For example, the box set --companies soon realized that new editions of back catalogue items could compete with new releases as a source of revenue. Back catalogue values skyrocketed, and today it is not unusual to see expanded and remastered editions of fairly modern albums (e.g. "New Miserable Experience" by the Gin Blossoms).

Theoretically, digital remastering should solve these problems.

Original master tapes, or something close to them, can be used to make CD releases. Better processing choices can be used. Better prints can be utilized, with sound elements remixed to 5.1 and obvious print flaws digitally corrected. The modern era gives publishers almost unlimited ways to touch up, doctor, and "improve" their media, and as each release promises improved sound, video, extras and others, producers hope these upgrades will entice people into making a purchase.

While digitally remastering films or audio does generally improve their visual and/or sound quality, it is not always appreciated by everyone. Some argue that remastering something from the early 1980s, for instance, is better than a mastering of a recorded medium from the early 1990s. These people may also argue that the remixing of elements of an original recording may hinder the remastered one. A couple of the reasons for remastering engineers to remix elements of a recording include a first-time stereo mix of a particular song where previous releases were only in mono and/or fake stereo (a.k.a. "electronic rechanneling" or simply "rechanneling"), and another being the fact that the original mixdown tape having been damaged and discarded after heavy use. In particular, modern-day heavy use of processes like dynamic range compression and noise reduction may have actually sparked disappointment in the eyes of many fans against many current remixes like The Who's Live at Leeds Deluxe. Those opposed also argue that unless the original recording has been seen, they may also be unaware whether or not there has been considerable update.

Also many remastered CDs from the late 1990s onwards have become casualties of the loudness war, where the average volume of the recording is pushed ever higher at the expense of dynamic range.

George Lucas provided digital special effects remastering to the DVDs of the 1970s Star Wars films. Not everyone liked the enhancements and eventually, against his personal preferences, released Special Limited Edition DVDs of the Star Wars films which also contained the original theatrical release, as seen in cinemas in the 70s, without the digitial special effects added.

• Special edition

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