The Digital Remasters

[Bridger987]

Alright, I've got to post this. I just downloaded Poodle Hat and Mandatory Fun from HDTracks. I was worried that the remasters that were done for Squeeze Box would be brickwalled and compressed to hell. They're not. They're in 44.1kHz/24-bit, and they've been allowed to breathe.



This sounds amazing-- you can really hear a difference. I am so glad that the mastering engineers respected the music enough to master them for sound quality, rather than playing into the Loudness War by making them sound as loud as possible by compromising sound quality. I find it funny that with these remasters, the parodies sound better than the originals (though let's face it-- many of them were already better in terms of content, too).

To all of those who worked on this project: Thank you.

For those of you who are curious (the audio nerds), here is the full dynamic range information for each of the albums that I've downloaded:
Poodle Hat

Code: Select all

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 Analyzed: Poodle Hat /  Artist: 'Weird Al' Yankovic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
DR	Peak	RMS	Duration	Title [codec]	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 DR11	 -1.05 dB	 -14.25 dB	4:20	01 - Couch Potato (Parody of Lose Yourself by Eminem) 	 [flac]	
 DR10	 -0.51 dB	 -14.03 dB	3:43	02 - Hardware Store 	 [flac]	
 DR13	 -1.46 dB	 -16.06 dB	3:10	03 - Trash Day (Parody of Hot In Herre by Nelly) 	 [flac]	
 DR11	 -0.95 dB	 -14.57 dB	3:37	04 - Party At the Leper Colony 	 [flac]	
 DR11	 -1.09 dB	 -13.73 dB	5:03	05 - Angry White Boy Polka 	 [flac]	
 DR12	 -1.15 dB	 -14.90 dB	6:15	06 - Wanna B Ur Lovr 	 [flac]	
 DR12	 -0.96 dB	 -15.34 dB	3:39	07 - A Complicated Song (Parody of Complicated by Avril Lavigne) 	 [flac]	
 DR11	 -1.06 dB	 -14.86 dB	4:51	08 - Why Does This Always Happen to Me? 	 [flac]	
 DR13	 -1.70 dB	 -17.35 dB	4:53	09 - Ode to a Superhero (Parody of Piano Man by Billy Joel) 	 [flac]	
 DR13	 -0.84 dB	 -15.83 dB	2:29	10 - Bob 	 [flac]	
 DR12	 -0.84 dB	 -15.49 dB	3:35	11 - Ebay (Parody of I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys) 	 [flac]	
 DR12	 -1.01 dB	 -14.75 dB	8:56	12 - Genius In France 	 [flac]	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 Number of files:    12
 Official DR value:  DR12
	
 Sampling rate: 		 44100 Hz
 Average bitrate: 		 1678kbs 
 Bits per sample: 		 32 bit
	
Dr14 T.meter 1.0.16 
==============================================================================================	

Mandatory Fun

Code: Select all

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 Analyzed: Mandatory Fun /  Artist: "Weird Al" Yankovic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
DR	Peak	RMS	Duration	Title [codec]	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 DR10	 -1.52 dB	 -13.83 dB	2:56	01 - Handy 	 [flac]	
 DR11	 -1.59 dB	 -14.26 dB	3:45	02 - Lame Claim to Fame 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.66 dB	 -13.42 dB	2:22	03 - Foil 	 [flac]	
 DR8	 -2.72 dB	 -12.27 dB	2:14	04 - Sports Song 	 [flac]	
 DR12	 -1.28 dB	 -14.54 dB	3:43	05 - Word Crimes 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.62 dB	 -12.79 dB	3:39	06 - My Own Eyes 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.69 dB	 -12.22 dB	4:04	07 - NOW That's What I Call Polka! 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.46 dB	 -12.69 dB	4:28	08 - Mission Statement 	 [flac]	
 DR7	 -2.05 dB	 -11.14 dB	2:56	09 - Inactive 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.64 dB	 -11.48 dB	3:12	10 - First World Problems 	 [flac]	
 DR10	 -1.42 dB	 -13.41 dB	2:53	11 - Tacky 	 [flac]	
 DR9	 -1.62 dB	 -15.04 dB	9:05	12 - Jackson Park Express 	 [flac]	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------	
 Number of files:    12
 Official DR value:  DR9
	
 Sampling rate: 		 44100 Hz
 Average bitrate: 		 1683kbs 
 Bits per sample: 		 32 bit
	
Dr14 T.meter 1.0.16 
==============================================================================================	

Edit: After liking the quality of these remastered albums so much, I've shelled out entirely too much of my hard-earned cash for the whole collection. All 14 albums. Even the earlier ones sound so much better.

[imthewalrus79]

I've seen it mentioned over on the Steve Hoffman forums that these new remasters are great with the exception of "Dare to Be Stupid." While all the other albums have been given a Dynamic Range that allows the music to breathe, it seems that DTBS is the opposite and noticeably so, with some distortion in Like a Surgeon. I was wondering if you can confirm or refute that information. Thanks.

[Bridger987]

I've seen it mentioned over on the Steve Hoffman forums that these new remasters are great with the exception of "Dare to Be Stupid." While all the other albums have been given a Dynamic Range that allows the music to breathe, it seems that DTBS is the opposite and noticeably so, with some distortion in Like a Surgeon. I was wondering if you can confirm or refute that information. Thanks.

Ah, hello over in Reading! (I'm in Bethlehem.)

Unfortunately, this is true. I didn't notice it during my first couple of listens, but I did find that it did seem a bit harsh-- especially on "Like a Surgeon."

[LovelySortsOfDeath]

I just got the HDtracks version of Straight Outta Lynwood and holy crap the difference is spectacular.

[Mad Genius]

The digital remasters are certainly worlds apart from their initial releases, especially with Running With Scissors onward. Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood are very good examples of this, as they were compressed a great deal. So, with these remasters, it's like I'm listening to Poodle Hat, and Straight Outta Lynwood for the very first time, despite having their initial releases.

[Yellow_13]

I always thought that "HD remasters" were the snake oil of the music world.

And then I went to listen to the tracks you're talking about with a friend's expensive headphones (I'm at his place right now).

It... It changed my world. It's as if I had terrible eyesight for the first 30 years of my life without knowing it and then accidentally put on a pair of glasses. That's what $10 headphones do to you...

But now, I'm stuck, because I know that other songs I love will never be available in high quality and that I'll be stuck with youtube versions of songs recorded 30 years ago forever.

Anyone ready to invest a couple thousand dollars in a modern, HD recording of Yugoslav era songs? Pleaaaase!