Feed Me Weird Things 25th Anniversary Remaster

[Silent Member]

I guess the mastering person tried to clean it up, but the grit is part of what makes it good.

 

Sounds a bit like someone put some weird ass eq notch filters all over the album to remove the "mud" and boost some bass/highs while adding "air"(really sounds like audio black holes). Am I hearing things? I fucking hate this.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Silent Member

[thefxbip]

I think it sounds ok but you know, a 90s electronic album has a certain sound to it. To change mastering like this, kinda fucks with it a bit. Like when they remastered NIN The Downward Spiral, the latest definitive remaster, i thought it sounded gorgeous but it took off the aggressive edge and rawness of the original record at the same time. Fucks the vibe.

Remasters have an anachronistic thing about them. One does not simply update a sound from an particular era with ears of today and not fuck things up in some way or other. The particular aesthetic or attitude prevalent in the original era is important and the ones that are dominant now are not neutral. Having two different attitudes from different times kinda clash sometimes.

Still very ambivalent about remasters because of that. And often the latest version becomes the official version and it can be a bit of a Star Wars Special Edition kind of deal where you wish it was the original that was the first readily available.

Edited July 8, 2021 by thefxbip

[pizza]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xdjh

interview + jungle mix by Tom

[markedone]

imo this resmaster nailed it; totally retains character of the mix, wihle just adding a bit of low end in a few areas.  the 90's ness is in the music and the raw-sounding mixing that tom put together, which hasnt been hampered with at all

[xy_politics]

i'm listening side-by-side to the bandcamp previews against original rip

obvs not a perfect basis, but good enough to hear any drastic changes

and these changes are drastic

and not in a good way

only listened to theme and kodack (which is my favourite from this album) and i think i've heard enough to stay well away

the tinny amen and bass guitar on kodack has been squashed into the background mush

no, no..  give it a chance..  ok, north circular

wtf

awful

this is a de-master

borgnine sounds like it's been replayed through a logitech 2.1 speaker set, all whomp, tizz and piccolo snares, the 101 is pushed to the back

i get the impression senor colton doesn't really have a clue about what made the early squarepusher records so distinctive and interesting

which is fair enough, but if tom signed off on this, perhaps he doesn't either

it didn't need anything doing to it

[xyz888]

Tom Jenkinson: When we remastered the record, we used the original as a sonic reference point and also to compare relative levels between the tracks, length of gaps and so on. It was pretty surprising to hear how different the album sounded to my original DAT tapes. It seemed like a lot of the 1-2 khz band had been filtered out and generally the music sounded over-processed, so the remastering was focused on getting a decent overall balance while retaining the bite in the original recordings – overall how it sounds in the new edition is much closer to my original tapes. The memory of the first mastering session is clouded by drinking several bottles of Champagne so perhaps that's why it ended up sounding so weird.

[thefxbip]

So the secret of the sauce was Champagne this whole time....mmmmm

Edited July 8, 2021 by thefxbip

[thefxbip]

I wonder what version would sound better on a big loud sound system in show environment.

[thefxbip]

Relistened to both versions of Theme from Ernest and what i like about the new version is the Air, the breathing and how the stereo is working. Has a round beastly quality.

But for better or worse the main break snare and 101 are are less in your face it seems and the kick really bangs and booms.

But i have a feeling that the new version would sound better at version high volume or in a show or dj mix. Because that 90s sound is a bit high mid heavy and unbalanced at times, a bit harsh which can be difficult at full volume, loads of things happening in the center, could use wider sound.

First version is more gritty tho and pulses in a different way, snares are more sharp cutting.New mastering sometimes has the new pusher style of compression on breaks.

Edited July 8, 2021 by thefxbip

[Silent Member]

Yeah, I guess it's like those remastered OG Star Wars movies, the effects are "better", but if you're used to old stuff it feels off.

[xy_politics]

bought the wavs from bandcamp to be totally fair and have another look, especially in light of interview quote posted above

opinion not changed so far

but wait a minute..  remastered tundra is completely mono!

jeez nice job guys

[thefxbip]

4 hours ago, xy_politics said:

bought the wavs from bandcamp to be totally fair and have another look, especially in light of interview quote posted above

opinion not changed so far

but wait a minute..  remastered tundra is completely mono!

jeez nice job guys

good spot!

yeah...they kinda fucked up that one eh?... hahaha

Edited July 9, 2021 by thefxbip

[xy_politics]

2 hours ago, thefxbip said:

good spot!

yeah...they kinda fucked up that one eh?... hahaha

reckon most likely scenario is that the original DAT is actually mono

but for 1996 fmwt some filtered and panned information was blended in i.e. fake stereo

and that was either forgotten or vetoed in the new mastering (perhaps that's what tom is referring to, "music sounded over-processed")

thing is, it made the track loads better and had some interesting side effects e.g. the pads and choirs sound "closer" to you than the drums which is a smart subversion of your typical d&b / techno presentation

[thefxbip]

Yeah the little movement and stereo it had actually added to the track, i agree.

Ah well, it still exists eh?

Tundra 4 is the real version anyway hahaha

[toaoaoad]

The Swifty deserves a lot more love in this here poll, love that tune

[NI64]

On 7/11/2021 at 12:53 AM, toaoaoad said:

The Swifty deserves a lot more love in this here poll, love that tune

Reading the liner notes I was shocked to learn it was recorded live in one take. Such an amazing solo

[WurstPLUS]

Windscale 2 mediocre performance?! WATMM weirdos.

[WurstPLUS]

On 7/9/2021 at 11:50 AM, xy_politics said:

but wait a minute..  remastered tundra is completely mono!

jeez nice job guys

Checked tracks. To be fair, there wasn't much stereo width going on in the originals - except in Smedleys and Kodack. Which they preserved in the remaster.

In the remaster, beside Tundra, they also made UFOs totally mono.

Windscale 2 in the remaster is more mono-ish, but it is mostly shifted to right speaker (on the bass guitar parts). Got worse IMO.