More Van Halen remasters just released ...

BlazeES

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#1
The remaining catalog of DLR / Van Halen albums got released this month:

Van Halen II
Women and Children First
Fair Warning
Diver Down


Here's the widely published background info:
"For the new 2015 remasters, the band enlisted mastering engineer Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. In order to produce the sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the original quarter-inch tapes."


If anyone has picked up one or more of these on vinyl or CD and care to give an honest review, I'm all ears.
This includes the first & last David Lee Roth era albums which were released, earlier this year.

Van Halen I
1984


I'm reading mixed reviews
and even then,
there's not a lot of valuable coverage of these re-do's from trusted sources.




 

BubbaH

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#2
VHII has been done alreayd on 180g vinyl. Havent checked it out yet myself. Local HMV is carrying both live box sets, 4 disc, and 6 disc version including S/T and 1984, as well as, the releases themselves. Have yet to grab one. Fair Warning may open my wallet though.
 

jaetee

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#3
Here's the widely published background info:
"For the new 2015 remasters, the band enlisted mastering engineer Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. In order to produce the sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the original quarter-inch tapes."

Wow... Working from 1/4" tape? I would have thought they'd have used something a bit beefier...
 

Northwinds

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#4
Wow... Working from 1/4" tape? I would have thought they'd have used something a bit beefier...
Agreed. I have 2" masters from Cirth Ungol (Frost and Fire and King of the Dead) and 2" master for M16 - Locked and Loaded. Still waiting to find someone to blow these down to 2 channel stereo. I am talking to an AK member who is in the industry that says he knows people with 2" machines so waiting to hear back from him to get these done and done right
 

orange

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#5
Wow... Working from 1/4" tape? I would have thought they'd have used something a bit beefier...
dayam...8-tracks would have been much nicer...my cousin's sounded AWESOME. :shaking2:
 

MarkWComer

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#6
Wow... Working from 1/4" tape? I would have thought they'd have used something a bit beefier...
That would be the final mixdown to stereo used to cut the lacquers. The studio masters are the fat tapes used to make that final mix. That's also the difference between remix and remaster- remix generally implies that the wide multi-track tapes are used to create a completely different mix or version of a song, a remaster generally means new lacquers are cut from the final stereo mixdowns.

(Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but this is what I've been led to believe.)
 

Northwinds

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#7
That would be the final mixdown to stereo used to cut the lacquers. The studio masters are the fat tapes used to make that final mix. That's also the difference between remix and remaster- remix generally implies that the wide multi-track tapes are used to create a completely different mix or version of a song, a remaster generally means new lacquers are cut from the final stereo mixdowns.

(Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but this is what I've been led to believe.)
Correct, 2" master tapes have to be mastered and blown down to two channel
 

orange

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#8
It seems to me that I've heard of audiophile LP masterings being created from 1" tapes before...at least 1/2 inch would be nicer.
 

BlazeES

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#9
It seems to me that I've heard of audiophile LP masterings being created from 1" tapes before...at least 1/2 inch would be nicer.
Late 80's and 90's man ... before that 1/4" ruled.
 

BlazeES

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#10
Heard a lot of consternation about these new VH remasters. The early 2000 HDCD ones are way brighter, almost to a fault ... and super thin on bass.
Folks are complaining about "thin" this and "crap" that on these latest gens.
I call bull s h ! t.

Just getting through listening to 'Fair Warning' and 'Diver Down' 2015 and the levels are signficantly up with just enough bass emphasis to make me smile.
No over the "edge" toppy BS anymore, way more analog sounding and the bass is full ... not that bass was ever stellar on VH albums.
 
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