Achtung Baby/ Zooropa remaster/ reissue - Part V/Five

[bathiu]

Um, no. Sorry, U2 doesn't have a remaster for AB, at least as far as the band is concerned..doesn't say so anywhere. The band doesn't consider it remastered or they'd use that word...like they did for all the other reissues. Yes, they created a new "master"...but this digital tweaking is far from what they did for the previous remasters.

I think Edge made that clear...but I understand some people may regard "John Vanderslice" as more of an expert on this matter than The Edge.

Thanks for bringing it up again though. It's nice to reminded that they did exactly what I predicted they would do.

yeah, galeongirl, shame on you,
we have a newly-mastered album not a re-master, remember that

 

[Nick66]

Are you still going to argue these stupid semantics?

Fact is AB was edited, and most of us would call that a remaster. Don't give a shit if it's a 'true' remaster or whatever. It's not the original recording, so for me this is a remaster.

Point is still that these people were 100% correct U2 were editing AB, and they were ridiculed by a lot of people on here, including you Nick.

I'm not arguing sematics, you're bringing it up again.

"Most of us would call that a remaster"...fine, you can call it whatever you wish, but U2 doesn't consider, or call it a remaster. This is NOT what they did for the previous reissues, which involves going back to the source tapes. It's a completely different process from a technical perspective. I said all along I thought they'd tweak the levels.

And you're flat out not being honest when you say that I was "ridiculing" people for saying AB would be "editing" AB (I don't think I or anyone else ever used the term "editing"). Please show me ONE instance where I ridiculed anyone saying that U2 would be tweaking the levels, which is all they did, as Edge confirmed. In fact, U2 did exactly what I said, many times, that they would from the very beginning. These are all my quotes, easily found in the first thread months ago:

I'll tell you what I think happened…I believe they looked at remastering Achtung Baby and probably experimented around with it a bit, but concluded that they really couldn't improve it. That album is noisy as it is, and I think it could be easy to really fuck up certain songs (Zoo Station, for example) with too much compression, etc.

In fact that bit above in bold is exactly what Edge said happened.

I think it sounds just the way they want it to, or as close as they can get without screwing it up. At some point, where the "sound" of an album like Acthung Baby is so central to what it is, if you mess around with it too much Achtung Baby is no longer Achtung Baby. I suspect the band (especially Larry, I'd imagine) agrees with this.

They will likely adjust the levels on this, but there's no indication they are going back to the source tapes and doing an true remaster like they did for the previous reissues.

what they will likely do is make it louder, and tweak the levels, as is done with most new releases and reissues.

There's a difference between going back to the source tapes and doing a true remaster, and merely tweaking the levels of the existing recording. Both create a new "master", but the it's a very different process, and it's likely U2 is only doing the latter for this release.

I have no doubt that this album will be "louder" than the previous release. That's become standard practice (unfortunately). But this I believe will be the extent of any "remastering".

And I think whether they just "re-EQ" Achtung Baby (as I suspect), or do the full remaster, they need to be pretty damn careful, because that album has a lot of noise (e.g. Zoo Station) as it is, and I think they got just the right balance in the original maser...it would be easy to f**k it up. Not every album NEEDS to be remastered.

I do in fact believe that this release won't be exactly the same as the original, I suspect they will make it louder, which is something they are doing with all releases, and re-releases these days.

I do believe they will pump up the loudness on all the CD's in this set, so I guess you could say thats a kind of "remastering". But that's a standard practice, unfortunately, these days for most new releases and reissues. But a proper remaster, supervised by the Edge (or some other member of the band, or a prominent engineer), ala the other releases? No.

That is mostly my point about AB. The small amount required for AB probably isn't enough to label it a true remaster. In any event, if the band doesn't think enough was done with it to call it a "remaster", than it's really not.

Those are all from the first thread alone...so don't say I ridiculed anyone who said this release would not be the same as the original, because I said the same myself, many times. Apparently you forgot.

I'll also give credit to Dan Smee, who pretty much said the same as I said:

DAN SMEE

Maybe they have done exactly, and only, that. Cleaned a few little things, made the sound a bit crisper and less sullied by minor noises, but didn't feel they had tweaked enough to call it a full remaster?

Re-ssue still covers all functions a remaster may serve, but perhaps they drill down to the level of specifics required to call it a remaster, so re-issue was more suitable to the work they actually did do?

 

[Galeongirl]

Read back to the posts where you were poking fun at the people believing John Vanderslice was actually posting the truth on his twitter account and not just making up that he heard people tinker with AB in a recording studio.

 

[Nick66]

Read back to the posts where you were poking fun at the people believing John Vanderslice was actually posting the truth on his twitter account and not just making up that he heard people tinker with AB in a recording studio.

I never said Vanerslice was "making it up." That's another thing that's not true. And he didn't say "tinker", he said remaster....I merely said he wasn't in a position to know exactly what they were doing, and that people shouldn't assume that he did. In fact, I specifically said they could have been doing anything with AB in the studio, like just compiling the songs, and that Vanderslice was just likely assuming that meant "remaster"...like many on here did.

If you're going to accuse me of stuff GG, you should get your facts straight and accuse me of things I actually said.

 

[ryancoke71]

Yay it's "mastered"!!!!!

 

[leamspaceman]

Hello everyone, it's my first post here even if I always read this forum.I'd want to know if the bonus dvd contains "Outside broadcast" and if someone knows what you can download with the special code included in the uber deluxe edition (you can see it in the umpackaging videos posted some pages ago)Thanks very much

I'd also like to know what the download code gives access to? Maybe it's an 'Achtung Baby' foetus...or an 'Achtung Baby' sperm!

Man, those Germans treat that uber set harshly in the 'unboxing' clip. They almost tear the drawer section when they pull it out...and leave the vinyl out of it's slipcover before discarding it to the side. They don't actually unbox the whole thing either. And is there a U2 tribute band in the background?

You guys arguing about the 'mastering' issue...leave it alone. Chill, enjoy the release...life is way too short. Just agree to disagree and give each other a hug...as soon as possible

 

[alanah]

I'd also like to know what the download code gives access to? Maybe it's an 'Achtung Baby' foetus...or an 'Achtung Baby' sperm!

 

[Nick66]

You guys arguing about the 'mastering' issue...leave it alone. Chill, enjoy the release...life is way too short. Just agree to disagree and give each other a hug...as soon as possible

It's actually been surprisingly calm in here the past couple days as far as the "remaster' issue goes and it was pretty much settled as far as I'm concerned. U2 gets to decide whether their album is called remastered or not.

But when someone comes on here and says something flat out, provably untrue (then doesn't bother to apologise) that I was "ridiculing" people on here for saying AB was "edited" (I did no such thing, I said myself it would be tweaked), I'm going to respond.

 

[dan_smee]

For fucks sake. Get me a gun.

 

[mikal]

I'm really enjoying this remaster so far!

 

[digitize]

Is it really horrible that people would see that U2 made a new master for Achtung Baby that sounds better than the original and call it a remaster? I realize that the industry may not generally use the term that way, but it certainly works grammatically. It's obvious that U2 went back and forth on what to call it themselves. Nick, I appreciate you bringing forward the definition of remaster as it is conventionally used in the industry, but really, must we hammer this into the ground? It gets fairly annoying to hear this over and over and over again, even though I agree with you that it's not a true remaster.

 

[dan_smee]

Can we all just agree on two things:

1. Neither party will convince the other, on this the 29th go around for this particular argument. Both sides have their opinions, and won't give up ground; fair enough. You've all made your points, so for fucks sake, can we please, for the love of god talk about how good the music is! This leads me nicely on to point two...

2. Achtung baby fucking rocks!!!

 

[u2boy_nl]

I'm really enjoying this remaster so far!

So, it has been remastered after all?

Anyway, i won't be enjoying anything this weekend it seems.

I ordered the expensive box set (not the über expensive one) from Dutch retailer bol.com, they sent me a message they shipped it on thursday, which means I should have had it yesterday.

Didn't get anything though, got on the phone, and they told me i will probably get in on Tuesday....

I'm a bit pissed off that it takes 4 days to ship something for 150 kilometres...

 

[mikal]

So, it has been remastered after all?

Anyway, i won't be enjoying anything this weekend it seems.

I ordered the expensive box set (not the über expensive one) from Dutch retailer bol.com, they sent me a message they shipped it on thursday, which means I should have had it yesterday.

Didn't get anything though, got on the phone, and they told me i will probably get in on Tuesday....

I'm a bit pissed off that it takes 4 days to ship something for 150 kilometres...

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

 

[sony]

So, it has been remastered after all?

Anyway, i won't be enjoying anything this weekend it seems.

I ordered the expensive box set (not the über expensive one) from Dutch retailer bol.com, they sent me a message they shipped it on thursday, which means I should have had it yesterday.

Didn't get anything though, got on the phone, and they told me i will probably get in on Tuesday....

I'm a bit pissed off that it takes 4 days to ship something for 150 kilometres...

I know what you mean, i hopefully get mine(deluxe box) on monday if the post makes it, they are pretty slow!!! So i have to enjoy the pics and video from here until then

 

[digitize]

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

Oh Lord, Mikal.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Can we all just agree on two things:

1. Neither party will convince the other, on this the 29th go around for this particular argument. Both sides have their opinions, and won't give up ground; fair enough. You've all made your points, so for fucks sake, can we please, for the love of god talk about how good the music is! This leads me nicely on to point two...

2. Achtung baby fucking rocks!!!

The 'Baby' Love is Blindness is amazing, possible the darkest u2 song i've ever heard.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how great all these 'out takes' sound!

 

[digitize]

2. Achtung baby fucking rocks!!!

Do you have a source for this?

 

[Nick66]

Can we all just agree on two things:

1. Neither party will convince the other, on this the 29th go around for this particular argument. Both sides have their opinions, and won't give up ground; fair enough. You've all made your points, so for fucks sake, can we please, for the love of god talk about how good the music is! This leads me nicely on to point two...

2. Achtung baby fucking rocks!!!

It's not a matter of "opinion". U2 isn't calling the album remastered. If people can't agree on that, as an absolute, base minimum on which to draw a conclusion, they're not operating from a place of reason.

Otherwise, people can just make up whatever definition for whatever terms they wish, which is essentially what's going on here. Yes, a new master was created when they tweaked the levels, but it's nowhere near what they did for all the other reissues. That's a fact, not an opinion. U2's not calling it a remaster. They fact that some people want to say "It's remasterd to me"...well, there's really no reasoning with that.

Because, believe, me, if U2 used the word remaster, I'd be hearing no end of it. It's basically a lot of people who don't even want to respect even what U2 says about their own product because admitting that they might have been wrong is apparently impossible for them.

Agree 100% on point 2.

 

[Nick66]

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

Just curious....how old are you?

 

[Galeongirl]

So, it has been remastered after all?

Anyway, i won't be enjoying anything this weekend it seems.

I ordered the expensive box set (not the über expensive one) from Dutch retailer bol.com, they sent me a message they shipped it on thursday, which means I should have had it yesterday.

Didn't get anything though, got on the phone, and they told me i will probably get in on Tuesday....

I'm a bit pissed off that it takes 4 days to ship something for 150 kilometres...

Wow that's weird. Usually Bol.com is really fast with their shipping.

I'm still waiting for Universal too, they said it was shipped out of the UK on wednesday, but the tracking codes they gave me aren't working. I don't have much faith in Royal Mail either.

 

[u2boy_nl]

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

Ah, i guess that debate is settled then.

 

[Galeongirl]

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

Is that a confirmed rumour?



Or did Bono lie again?

 

[Nick66]

Is that a confirmed rumour?



Or did Bono lie again?

Bono's not the liar here.

 

[Galeongirl]

Bono always lies. But he's still okay, though.

 

[u2boy_nl]

Wow that's weird. Usually Bol.com is really fast with their shipping.

That's what i thought too!

I immediately cleared a shelf thursday evening...

Now that empty shelf is going to annoy me all weekend...

 

[alanah]

 

[mikal]

Just curious....how old are you?

Why?

 

[Galeongirl]

That's what i thought too!

I immediately cleared a shelf thursday evening...

Now that empty shelf is going to annoy me all weekend...

Very cool display! Shame it's empty though. I don't have any room to display mine. My shelves are all full too. Oops.


I'll be buying a new shelf then monday I guess.



Can I request a pic when you got it finished?

 

[Nick66]

Yes. Confirmed remaster.

Ah, i guess that debate is settled then.

U2boy, you've been lied to.

U2 says no remaster.
"mikal" says remaster.

You decide.