re: Maxoom, Child of the Novelty & Strange Universe rema
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:32 pm
Just a quick note to clear up the confusion:
First, there is a difference between what people commonly call a "Master" and a "Multi-track Master".
A Master is the common reference to the final "mixed-down" version of a song, usually on 1/4-inch tape (sometimes 1/2-inch). These Masters were originally recorded as Multi-track, meaning that the individual instruments and overdubs were done on a tape machine which uses very wide tape, up to 2 inches, and the individual tracks on that tape run physically parallel to each other. Usually, this is called the 24-track "Master", but it is not the Master that most people talk about when speaking of "Original Masters". In fact, the real "Original Master" IS the 24-track 2-inch tape. But once this is mixed down to Stereo (2-track 1/4-inch), people in the industry refer to these final 1/4-inch tapes as the Masters. They're more like "Master Mixes".
Obviously you can never "remix" a Master, unless you are referring to the original 2-inch Masters. Once they are mixed to 1/4-inch, all you can ever do with those finals is "re-master" them, meaning that you can re-EQ and/or compress them, perhaps even add some stuff but not take much away or radically alter their components' sounds. You CAN creatively use EQ and such to "bring things out" or "tone things down", but this usually results in changes to surrounding instruments. For instance, if I EQ a song to hear the vocals get a bit brighter, I will invariably affect the guitars or something in the same "tonal spectrum" of the item I modify. So the process of re-mastering is very different than the process of re-mixing, which would require remastering anyway.
Almost 100% of the "re-releases" of any artist are simply "re-masters", made from the original 1/4-inch mixes and simply re-EQ'd. Very rarely will you see a "re-mixed" release, usually because of the costs involved with the whole process.
Now, to my own situation:
My re-releases are "remasters". They were made from the 1/4-inch tapes of original mixes. Nothing is remixed.
The existence of my original tapes is as follows:
My first three albums (Maxoom, Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe) are owned by a third-party, and I have every reason to believe that the 2-inch Masters still exist (as do the 1/4-inch final mixes), but they are not available to me at all, nor do I expect that they will ever be made available to me. As a matter of fact, I can't even truly be certain that the Multitracks do exist... I just assume they do, but it is entirely possible that they, too, were destroyed... albeit for different reasons than the Columbia Albums (see below). What I do have access to for these albums is the 1/4-inch final mixes, and it is from these that I re-mastered the records.
My next seven albums (the Columbia albums) are still owned by Columbia, but all of the 2-inch Masters have been destroyed. They do not, to my knowledge, exist at all. Therefore I can never re-mix or re-visit these sessions. This was not done, by the way, by the record company. It was done on the initiative of a single person who simply worked for the studio at which the tapes were being stored. This person either destroyed them physically (as was told to me), or sold them to other groups to record over at late-night secret sessions, (as I suspect is the more likely scenario). What I do have access to for these albums is the 1/4-inch mixes, and even some alternate versions of those mixes on 1/4-inch tape. I also, obviously, have access to the vinyl. Any remastering of these 1/4-inch tapes is exactly that... remastering, not remixing... as that is now, and will forever be, impossible.
Everything after that (From Full Circle onward) is available to me in both 1/4-inch mixed form as well as 2-inch Multitrack form, so these could be remixed OR remastered.
So, I hope this clears up some of the confusion. It even confuses me sometimes!
Frank
First, there is a difference between what people commonly call a "Master" and a "Multi-track Master".
A Master is the common reference to the final "mixed-down" version of a song, usually on 1/4-inch tape (sometimes 1/2-inch). These Masters were originally recorded as Multi-track, meaning that the individual instruments and overdubs were done on a tape machine which uses very wide tape, up to 2 inches, and the individual tracks on that tape run physically parallel to each other. Usually, this is called the 24-track "Master", but it is not the Master that most people talk about when speaking of "Original Masters". In fact, the real "Original Master" IS the 24-track 2-inch tape. But once this is mixed down to Stereo (2-track 1/4-inch), people in the industry refer to these final 1/4-inch tapes as the Masters. They're more like "Master Mixes".
Obviously you can never "remix" a Master, unless you are referring to the original 2-inch Masters. Once they are mixed to 1/4-inch, all you can ever do with those finals is "re-master" them, meaning that you can re-EQ and/or compress them, perhaps even add some stuff but not take much away or radically alter their components' sounds. You CAN creatively use EQ and such to "bring things out" or "tone things down", but this usually results in changes to surrounding instruments. For instance, if I EQ a song to hear the vocals get a bit brighter, I will invariably affect the guitars or something in the same "tonal spectrum" of the item I modify. So the process of re-mastering is very different than the process of re-mixing, which would require remastering anyway.
Almost 100% of the "re-releases" of any artist are simply "re-masters", made from the original 1/4-inch mixes and simply re-EQ'd. Very rarely will you see a "re-mixed" release, usually because of the costs involved with the whole process.
Now, to my own situation:
My re-releases are "remasters". They were made from the 1/4-inch tapes of original mixes. Nothing is remixed.
The existence of my original tapes is as follows:
My first three albums (Maxoom, Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe) are owned by a third-party, and I have every reason to believe that the 2-inch Masters still exist (as do the 1/4-inch final mixes), but they are not available to me at all, nor do I expect that they will ever be made available to me. As a matter of fact, I can't even truly be certain that the Multitracks do exist... I just assume they do, but it is entirely possible that they, too, were destroyed... albeit for different reasons than the Columbia Albums (see below). What I do have access to for these albums is the 1/4-inch final mixes, and it is from these that I re-mastered the records.
My next seven albums (the Columbia albums) are still owned by Columbia, but all of the 2-inch Masters have been destroyed. They do not, to my knowledge, exist at all. Therefore I can never re-mix or re-visit these sessions. This was not done, by the way, by the record company. It was done on the initiative of a single person who simply worked for the studio at which the tapes were being stored. This person either destroyed them physically (as was told to me), or sold them to other groups to record over at late-night secret sessions, (as I suspect is the more likely scenario). What I do have access to for these albums is the 1/4-inch mixes, and even some alternate versions of those mixes on 1/4-inch tape. I also, obviously, have access to the vinyl. Any remastering of these 1/4-inch tapes is exactly that... remastering, not remixing... as that is now, and will forever be, impossible.
Everything after that (From Full Circle onward) is available to me in both 1/4-inch mixed form as well as 2-inch Multitrack form, so these could be remixed OR remastered.
So, I hope this clears up some of the confusion. It even confuses me sometimes!
Frank