Greatest Hits 1 & 2 re-issues out Today!

Kacoblin wrote: I know I may sound like a broken record. I just can't embelish enough how genius this band is.
I personally can't anticipate more the re-releases of their official studio works in march.
I know i'm silly naive boy giving his hopes up, but what else do I have to look forward to in the Queen universe.
Anytime something Queen turns up, I indugle my impeccable ears in their remasters, remixes, whatever it may be.
It does seem like they're just burning a whole in our pockets. Let's face it, by the end of the day were all just happy that this band even existed, and they walk away with a handy loft of prophet. I honestly thinks it's worth every penny.
I collect any new or old prints they released. Even if my visions on these new releases are proven futile, i'll still be a very camp and very satisfied Queen fan.

I would like to jog everyone's memory for a moment here. What songs [that haven't been releases before] would you like to see placed on every album? This could be quite exciting for some, just to dream of something vernal released from the vaults.
Same here (except the camp part), I myself try & collect worldwide editions & early print runs of the CD albums where I can, although at a reasonable price of course :)

Oddly enough for me The Miracle & Innuendo are the ones I'm most excited about as there's quite a few extra tracks known to exist from the sessions of these albums.  I'm also rather interested to hear the Queen versions of There Must Be More To Life Than This, Love Kills, Man Made Paradise, Heaven For Everyone (from the AKOM sessions) and would also like to see a proper release of those demos that have existed online for the last 5-10 years but without the tape hissing & compression.

I have now got both new 2011 remasters (wouldn’t have bought them myself, but they were a present, which was nice!) – I have listened to GH1, and can give my own comments/opinion, for what it’s worth.

The first thing I think that’s worth pointing out, is that some people’s expectations of a Queen remaster are way above what the end result is ever likely to be.  We have to remember that when compared to a lot of the bands of the era (by which I mean early to late 1970’s) Queen’s records were already, for the most part, far superior sonically in terms of the recording techniques used, the quality of the original mixes, and the mastering carried out at the time.  As a result, any new remastering of the already very good Queen audio product will usually be carried out with the aim of adding some clarity, ‘sparkle’, definition etc, rather than providing a drastic reimagining that some people expect to hear.  However, some bands have albums from the ‘70’s really sound dated, dull, etc… and those are the ones that can benefit far more from a very thorough and completely different remastering, almost to the point of making the actual mixdown sound different.

With the above in mind, I am pleasantly pleased with the GH1 remaster on first listening.  Without breaking down each track individually, some of the things that have stood out to me are as follows;

The early tracks – Seven Seas of Rhye, Killer Queen and Now I’m Here – are the tracks here most in need of some treatment to balance out the tracks on their own, and also make them fit with the rest of the compilation.  I think these have been greatly improved in this regard, and the things that didn’t ‘sit’ right in previous remasters seem to have been addressed. The drums have been improved and have more life and clarity, and sit far better in the overall mix.  The hi-hats and cymbals especially have a new brightness without being harsh, and the snare seems to new represent more of that ‘Roger Taylor’ sound.  Subtleness in the drumming (ghost notes etc..) are more easily noticeable.  Sheer Heart Attack, Queen II and A Day At The Races have always seemed to haver ‘big’ tom tom sounds, which whilst my personal preference found this fine, they did seem high in the mix/master in past versions, and tended to boom somewhat in places.  The toms have now been toned down and sit far better with the songs.

Generally across the board, piano sounds have been made brighter (although this may have made the Seven Seas…intro sound slightly thin?).  Stand out individual points to me so far (I emphasise on first listen are);

·          Freddie’s repeated/echo vocals on the intro of Now I’m Here are much clearer and can be heard fading to the distance
·          Freddie’s lead vocals on quieter passages (eg Save Me and Play The Game first verses) have far more clarity, and you get the ‘breathiness’ of his delivery as if you are stood next to him
·          Killer Queen – the kick drum has more life and presence in the song, which makes a difference
·          The Jazz Tracks; the horribly overloud/poor sounding snare has been tamed somewhat (though this can never be completely eradicated without a remix), and again the toms are reigned in slightly, meaning that the kit sounds more a whole single instrument, which it never has done on previous versions
·          Flash – the piano, bass and kick drum on the ‘stab’ signature part are more individually identifiable
·          We Are The Champions: The ride cymbal ‘ping’ can really be determined now, as opposed to before when it often became a ‘wash’ throughout the chorus

Remastering to really try to accentuate parts that are buried in the mix, but without ruining the original feel and sound of an album is very tricky.  Especially with a band like Queen, where certain frequencies may need enhancing, but to do so may change inherent other key signature parts of the song.  If frequencies are enhanced/reduced for example to boost vocals or piano, the sound of Brian’s guitar could easily be affected, thereby really trashing the track.  This has been carefully considered here I feel.

Whilst I could give a more comprehensive breakdown, I will cap off by stating that (whilst this isn’t a project that we welcomed in front of other releases) the remasters (to my ears) seem the best overall to date, and are a plus to the Queen catalogue.  Overall, the tracks sound ‘alive’, fresh and coherent in a way that they may not have done before. I am heartened to think that Island/Universal/QPL between them may just surprise us yet when I consider the effort Bob Ludwig has put into these masters, and I can’t wait for March when the first five gems can be reassessed afresh.

I hope this may be of help, and if there is call for it I could provide my thoughts on GH2 after a listen?

Cheers

CMSDrums,

Your opinions on GH2 would be appreciated here.  Mine should be arriving from the UK in 2 weeks.

Wow!    What a great write up CMSDrums!    Thanks!    That was really cool and informative without getting too deep!    Rock on!

The thing here, for me, is not make happy the fans but just avoid to give more money to Emi, so now if "new generations" of people interested wants to buy a Queen compilation, will be the Universal copy, nothing more....there is no understanding about what the fans wants to listen. Queen is over along time ago.

thank you, CMSdrums for the report... EXACTLY what i wanted to know.  I don't need a better booklet... i just want to hear the music i love in the best possible way...

I just got the new versions "borrowed" and put them in a multitrack system. And what I hear and see leads to one conclusion: Keep your old ones !

So far I compared some key tracks of the new GH1 to the version of 2000. 

Obviously the strategy was to adjust the tracks to each other and also adjust the quieter parts to the louder sections within same songs.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Here the loudness of the different parts has been adjusted. Unlike before the ""Life had just begun" part nearly reaches the same level as the "So you think you can stone me" part. That means the original dynamic is lost. Some parts have been turned up to 4 dB. 

We are the Champions: As in BoRap the verses are slightly louder now and the whole song goes up 1 dB. Also the frequencies around 300 to 600 Hz have been raised. If you do that yourself with the old version you will hear no difference. 

Seven Seas of Rhye: This one is very interesting as it plays faster now. The "old" version always played a bit off-key, those trying to play along at home may have noticed this. The new master is closer to the correct speed. Nearly 5 dB were added with the peaks limited. And this may lead to the impression that some things from the background seem louder now. But they aren't. 

Bicycle Race: Also 3,5 dB louder than before and interestingly some frequencies were reduced here, mainly the 300 - 600 Hz range and the mid-range of 3-6000 Hz. So it sounds louder and yet softer and less sharp than before. 

Good old fashioned Loverboy: Also slightly faster now, but not as much as Seven Seas. And again the level was raised nearly 5 dB. 

So far it's obvious that the strategy of Bob Ludwig was to make all the songs sound a bit more like a "unit" and bring them to a similar loudness level without changing too much. It's okay, it's a way to go and will make new customers happy. But if you search for some real improvement you won't find it here. The best sounding versions of GH 1 and 2 are still to be found on the DVDs.

The Abxolute Greatest Hits album was also remastered by Bob Ludwig.  Do the songs in GHI and GH2 sound the same as those in AGH ?

One would hope that the sound on the Greatest hits albums has been specially done to make them ipod and radio friendly (!), and that the actual studio albums are nearer to what we actually want.

I have to raise the obvious question though, and that is how exactly have the albums been "remastered"?
Different people on different forums all seem to have their own opinions and some seem to contradict each other.
What exactly IS a "remaster" if the songs have not been "remixed"?
IF the sound is much clearer and crisper, then surely that implies that Bob has actually worked on the multitracks and NOT, as some are suggesting, been given a stereo copy and played around with a few frequencies.

For me, the albums need to have been re-mixed from the original multitracks (as much as possible) to gain nice crisp, clean audio. What I'm expecting are the albums to sound like the "Japanese Jewels" (?) release of Teo Torriatte, which sounds extraordinary.

Maybe someone should email Brian and ask him what's been done.

Brians wig wrote:

I have to raise the obvious question though, and that is how exactly have the albums been "remastered"?
Different people on different forums all seem to have their own opinions and some seem to contradict each other.
What exactly IS a "remaster" if the songs have not been "remixed"?

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Read my report above. There is no remixing, it's all just EQ and loudness. You can achive all this with simple sound restoring programms. Although I'm convinced that they used the professional versions - which in the end are not that much better than the consumer versions. 
Everyone else hearing "different sounding drums" or "different voices" ....it's wishful thinking and just the result of EQ and compression. You have no idea what you can make of the "Jazz" album with the right tools...

I may add more comparisons on GH2 later or tomorrow.

Soundfreak wrote:

Everyone else hearing "different sounding drums" or "different voices" ....it's wishful thinking and just the result of EQ and compression. .

It's not wishful thinking - the whole point is exactly as you say; by adding different EQs, compression etc.. you can make certain frequencies within the stereo mix (whether is be a snare drum, bass guitar, vocal etc..) sound vastly different, and that's exactly what's been done here (although not vastly, but subtlely)

brians wig wrote:

What exactly IS a "remaster" if the songs have not been "remixed"?
IF the sound is much clearer and crisper, then surely that implies that Bob has actually worked on the multitracks and NOT, as some are suggesting, been given a stereo copy and played around with a few frequencies.

For me, the albums need to have been re-mixed from the original multitracks (as much as possible) to gain nice crisp, clean audio. What I'm expecting are the albums to sound like the "Japanese Jewels" (?) release of Teo Torriatte, which sounds extraordinary.

For a "remix", the actual multitracks are revisited, where the level of each individual instrument or part can be adjusted within the overall mix of the song (and treated to sound differently etc)

A "remaster" only starts at the point of the original stereo mixdown, and therefore the individual levels of parts cannot be changed.  However, if, for example the bass guitar is present mainly at a frequency of 200Hz, and the bass is reqired to be louder, then Bob Ludwig can apply a program that will boost or accentuate anything in the stereo mix that is at a frequency of 200Hz, thereby giving the impression that the bass is more prominent in the mix.

The Teo Torriate you refer to was actually a full remix from multitracks, and so therefore could be changed completely, hence why it sounds so different to the original mix.

If remastering is done thoroughly and carefully, it CAN enhance certain parts within the mix.  Whilst some will say it is a science, others call it an art, I'm halfway between the two.  It's all well and good comparing the scientific aspects of the actaul track against another earlier version to say 'this has increased by 5DB etc..' but the proof is in actually listening to it and hearing the differences.

Obviously the above is a crude summary, but hopefully gives the idea behind the difference between mastering and mixing.

It's all well and good comparing the scientific aspects of the actaul track against another earlier version to say 'this has increased by 5DB etc..' but the proof is in actually listening to it and hearing the differences.

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That's exactly what I do, I put the old and the new track into the multitrack-system and try to make the old one sound like the new one. And then I can see quite exactly what has been done.

There is no proof in "actually listening to it" - cause that is totally subjective. I have once attended a press listening session for the Beatles remasters and it was hilarious how people tried to hear so many differences - when there were actually none. The only difference was, that they may have never heard these songs so loud over a PA-System .....

As much as Soundfreak's original post put me off listening to his further thoughts on this, I did read his follow ups after CMS' "review" post and mainly agree with quite a lot of what he (Soundfreak) says. I had a listen to the GH1 remaster online at We7.com and there are some nice remastered tracks on it. But as highlighted by SF, sometimes the dynamic is changed and messes with the overall feel of the track. Even parts may seem highlighted more than normal - I'm reminded of the Killer Queen solo where, one of the harmony guitars seemed a little more prominent than normal.

However, I still come away feeling pretty positive about what I listened to. It's not all bad and I do believe there are some nice changes to certain tracks. Now, I can't be bothered re-listening and listing each track with my own observations, so, no go there!

Anyway, while it's interesting for us all to listen to and maybe think it's maybe all bad, I actually believe in what someone else said, i.e. the albums versus greatest hits 2011 remasters will be the ones we fans want to listen to. I think that, because, I remember being surprisingly happy with the 2005 ANATO remaster (also by Ludwig?) and looked forward to the idea of him doing the rest. Looks like that time has finally come...

Adam.

cmsdrums wrote:

A "remaster" only starts at the point of the original stereo mixdown, and therefore the individual levels of parts cannot be changed. 
The Teo Torriate you refer to was actually a full remix from multitracks, and so therefore could be changed completely, hence why it sounds so different to the original mix.

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That's what i feared.
If that's the case with the albums, then they STILL haven't done the job right and I'll be keeping my money and dreaming of that alternate universe where the surround mixes took off and every album was done... :(