Plasmatics- New Hope For The Wretched Remastered HQ

OK, this one was a fan request. I had never heard of this band before, but it turned out to be super fun to do and I ended up really digging the band.
Now, fun does not equal easy. I was unable to find a high quality version of the original release to use, so I was forced to use the atrocious sounding 2001 re-issue. (ps, if anyone has a HQ copy of the original, I'd be happy to re-do this!) I mean, it's bad. Like really, really bad. Apparently, "mastered for CD" means running the original album through a TC Electronics Finalizer at full bore to the point of distortion and calling it good. No corrections between tracks, no actual "mastering" whatsoever. Ugh.
Onto what I ended up doing. So really, I essentially DE-mastered this. Luckily, it doesn't seem like too much compression was used when they screwed it up, just a LOT of limiting, so much of the dynamics between the instruments was intact. But, in order to get back some life, the first thing in my chain was something I'd never tried before. I used a multi-band compressor with a ration lower than 1, essentially turning it into an multi-band expander. It worked really well, surprisingly. I got back 2-3 db of life, which was just enough to make this work.
Next up was a regular EQ to sort of spot check the mixes. I just did a little corrective work of a couple db on a couple frequencies that were sounding annoying. Then on into Ozone’s neat little “active EQ” plug-in. I used this mainly to control the highs that just blare out and keep them a little more tame.
Then, I went into a multi-band enhancer to clean up the upper mids a tad. Just a tad to soften them and add some depth since they sounded slightly harsh and flat. Lastly, I went into a another round of standard EQ to re-adjust anything that wound up sticking out oddly with the processing I had done.
So, there you have it. Am I happy with it, not really. If I could get a hold of the originals, I am certain I could do a pretty good remaster. Does it sound better than that absolutely horrible CD release that is currently available? Yes, quite a bit I would say. It doesn’t hurt to listen to any longer and there is some additional depth and dynamics in there now.
Remember to support the artists and buy their fantastic music!

All remastered music posted here is for the purposes of entertainment and experimentation only. I am simply exploring modern mastering techniques and their effect on great albums from various eras. I love these bands and their music and am in no way seeking to monetize anything about this. All rights are with the original artist and no infringement is intended.

Видео Plasmatics- New Hope For The Wretched Remastered HQ канала Respectful Remasters by Metalmucil