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Are there any GOOD Dylan SACD remasters?

Wow, I've bought a few SACD only and HYBRID Bob Dylan remasters, and unfortunately all but Blood On The Tracks has been a let down? Is it that the engineers doing the remaster think they need to make it clearer, and therefore add top end? To me, it would seem you would just issue the same recording, same mix, same levels, on the new medium WITHOUT SCREWING WITH IT?? Isn't getting it in SACD going to give us better sound anyway?

Am I alone in this? Correct me if I'm wrong, the original master tape offers sonic's obscured by conventional CD technology. So an SACD allows us to hear the original master tape more closely to it's actual sound. Where in this process does it say that some rookie comes in and tries to make it sound better?

Jesus! Bob is in his 60's, and even if he was present on the remaster that wouldn't make me happy. All I want is more of what was originally recorded, offered naturally by SACD. It was a good recording to start with, and Bob can't hear as well as he did 25 years ago!

Yeah, some of my favorite later Dylan needs some help, Time Out Of Mind sounds like Bob is singing through a meggaphone frequently, extremely nasal vocals, and not even well recorded to begin with in my opinion. No remaster is gonna solve this. So how does the SACD HYBRID sound? Tom
trich727
pabelson
344 posts
 
Of course different masters were used. That's why they sound different.
tfkaudio
589 posts
 
I'd recommend adding Nashville Skyline, Oh Mercy, and Planet Waves to your collection of SACDs. These are the 3 that I like most in the SACD format.

Cheers.
ben_campbell
1,164 posts
 
Pabelson I think you'll find you are wrong.

Plenty of discs sound different due how to they've been remastered.
Nick Drake's remaster series sound completely different due to how they've been mixed but the source tapes are the same.
Does every version of Dark Side Of The Moon sound the same?
Nope but the source material is the same.

If Dylan had these albums done using different masters then the Dylan community would have exploded in excitement.

None of these discs have used anything other than the original master tapes.

You suggesting Bob recorded every album multiple times?
It's plain daft what you are saying.
pabelson
344 posts
 
Ben: Beore you call people daft, you might want to check your facts. Source tapes are NOT masters. Masters are what you make out of source tapes.

There's also nothing daft about the idea that there would be more than one source tape (or set of source tapes, if you're using multitrack recording). Those are called 'takes," and they're quite common. I've heard a few remasters where I'm pretty sure they were using at least parts of different takes than the original release.
ben_campbell
1,164 posts
 
Pableson my understanding is that out of the source tapes (alternative takes and the individual tracks etc.)the artist decides what is going on the album and this set is worked on (usually to an incredible extent)and stored as the master tapes.
Clearly the rest of the source material is usually kept as well.

The master is the definitive tape as it is the album as was released.The deinitive version if you like.

Now sometimes artists do release alternative takes and very often these appear on remasters as extra's.
Dylan's soundtrack to NDH has many alternative takes which sound completely different musically and lyrically.
Of course alternative takes very close to the released version will exist too.

I do believe it is very easy to make recordings sound quite different depending on what is done during the remastering process however the key point is that the same tape is used.

Nick Drake's Pink Moon is a very sparse album ( very few instruments) and yet it sounds very different from the original CD release because the mix has been changed.
These changes could easily be mistaken as alternative versions but they are not.

Now I shouldn't have called you daft and I apologise for that however I still think you are wrong.

I don't believe any of these Dylan albums have anything different on them from the original releases.
Indeed Dylan always used the studio in a hit and run fashion and seldom recorded any song the same twice over.

Your theory has merit anyone can easily see what some artists/producers might want to tweak things.However I believe this type of remastering is very rare.

It shouldn't be too difficult to give examples of this on the Dylan series.
Can you or others show obvious examples?

Indeed I cannot think of a single remastered album that uses the process you mention and not state it clearly in the notes or cover.
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