Bob Norberg er en av vetranene innen mastering av pop/rock musikk. Han er en såkalt "in house" mastering mann for Capitol Music i USA. Han har mange av de største artistene i Capitols katalog på "samvittigheten", bl.a. The Beach Boys.
Er du en av dem som alltid går for de siste re-masters på CD.. ?
Her er noen lydklipp fra Huey Lewis and the News "Sports". En skikkelig pop/rock klassisker.
Først hører vi litt fra Mobile Fidelity's CD utgivelse (1989). Deretter hører vi Norbergs Expanded re-masters fra 1999. Samme med kutt 2,3,4 osv.
Hva syns dere låter best ?
Ehh..kanskje jeg skal saxe litt fra Norbergs mastering filosofi... ;D
Bob Norberg on his mastering philosophy below..
There are two schools of thought regarding audio restoration. The direction this process will take depends on what the client is trying to accomplish. The goal of some re-issue companies is to restore the "sound" of the original recording. In such cases, all that needs to be done is to obtain an accurate copy of the original tape, "restoration" as such is really not an issue since you are merely transfering flat to digital. Consequently, tape hiss, crackle, hum will all be audible if they are present on the original tape.
The other philosophy regarding audio restoration is to remain true to the original "performance" rather than the recording. Bob Norberg has been perfecting the art of audio restoration and digital remastering since its inception. He has worked on many notable releases such as Frank Sinatra's "Complete Capitol Singles", Nat King Cole's "Complete Capitol Recordings" and Dean Martin's "Capitol Collectors' Series" to name just a few. He believes it's possible to "make an old recording sound as though it was recorded last week. "The goal here is to actually eliminate the "old sound" of the recording and to restore the "perfomance." In doing so, some denoising will be required, since tape hiss is common on old recordings and, consequently, a distortion of the original performance. For that matter, mono is a distortion of the original performance although mono is better left as is rather than try to "fake" stereo.
There are a number of techniques that can be used to eliminate unwanted noise and the undesirable side effects of the de-hiss processes. For Bob Norberg, it's a two step process in which he "routinely removes about half of the hiss in the analog domain while transferring into the digital workstation, the other half is removed in the digital domain within the computer. Since each of these dehissing methods has its unique side effects, going half way with each renders such side effects inaudible. " It's also important not to overdo any of this. Sure, you can end up with a CD that is dead quiet but you don't want to kill the music in the process. It can also be helpful to EQ the program (add high frequencies) to bring back a little "life" that might have been lost in the processing.
Further, solidify the Bass and open up the highs. This is not the same as simply turning up the bass and highs. Cranking more bass and highs into the EQ will sound like just thatyou cranked up the bass and highs. There are ways to increase the definition so that the notes being played can be heard more clearer and not merely louder.
Er du en av dem som alltid går for de siste re-masters på CD.. ?
Her er noen lydklipp fra Huey Lewis and the News "Sports". En skikkelig pop/rock klassisker.
Først hører vi litt fra Mobile Fidelity's CD utgivelse (1989). Deretter hører vi Norbergs Expanded re-masters fra 1999. Samme med kutt 2,3,4 osv.
Hva syns dere låter best ?
Ehh..kanskje jeg skal saxe litt fra Norbergs mastering filosofi... ;D
Bob Norberg on his mastering philosophy below..
There are two schools of thought regarding audio restoration. The direction this process will take depends on what the client is trying to accomplish. The goal of some re-issue companies is to restore the "sound" of the original recording. In such cases, all that needs to be done is to obtain an accurate copy of the original tape, "restoration" as such is really not an issue since you are merely transfering flat to digital. Consequently, tape hiss, crackle, hum will all be audible if they are present on the original tape.
The other philosophy regarding audio restoration is to remain true to the original "performance" rather than the recording. Bob Norberg has been perfecting the art of audio restoration and digital remastering since its inception. He has worked on many notable releases such as Frank Sinatra's "Complete Capitol Singles", Nat King Cole's "Complete Capitol Recordings" and Dean Martin's "Capitol Collectors' Series" to name just a few. He believes it's possible to "make an old recording sound as though it was recorded last week. "The goal here is to actually eliminate the "old sound" of the recording and to restore the "perfomance." In doing so, some denoising will be required, since tape hiss is common on old recordings and, consequently, a distortion of the original performance. For that matter, mono is a distortion of the original performance although mono is better left as is rather than try to "fake" stereo.
There are a number of techniques that can be used to eliminate unwanted noise and the undesirable side effects of the de-hiss processes. For Bob Norberg, it's a two step process in which he "routinely removes about half of the hiss in the analog domain while transferring into the digital workstation, the other half is removed in the digital domain within the computer. Since each of these dehissing methods has its unique side effects, going half way with each renders such side effects inaudible. " It's also important not to overdo any of this. Sure, you can end up with a CD that is dead quiet but you don't want to kill the music in the process. It can also be helpful to EQ the program (add high frequencies) to bring back a little "life" that might have been lost in the processing.
Further, solidify the Bass and open up the highs. This is not the same as simply turning up the bass and highs. Cranking more bass and highs into the EQ will sound like just thatyou cranked up the bass and highs. There are ways to increase the definition so that the notes being played can be heard more clearer and not merely louder.
