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Has appetite ever been remastered?


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Yes it has once, by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in the nineties. We are lucky that Appetite was originally mastered by a quite respected mastering engeneer, and that it wasn't remastered in a modern way (understand sonically brickwalled). Considering how Barry Diament's original and still in print CD mastering was quite perfect, the difference in price is really not worth it. Stick to your normal CD version. Same for LIES.

The gold discs for the UYIs are different beasts, less compressed than the usual CDs, they sound better. Very hard to get for a decent price, though.

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If only the prices of these remasters were more reasonable. Appetite especially is one I'd kill for. By today's standards it's not horrible - I've definitely heard far thinner sounding albums. Still, it's pretty thin and dry when you crank it.

I mostly hate the reverb and the drum sound. There is a dry mix if Mr brownstone however that sounds terrific.

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I remember when they used to sell that Mobile Fidelity CD in Best Buy in the mid-90s for like $29.99. It seems that nobody wanted to buy them for $30 then, it's kind of outrageous those people are asking over a hundred bucks on eBay now. I mean the market sets the worth of something, there are no bids on any of those so clearly they aren't worth as much as they are asking.

Personally I wouldn't even pay $5 bucks for a physical CD these days. Hell, I wouldn't even pay $5 for the digital download when the Mobile Fidelity is free on piratebay. I've bought AFD twice, and was scammed for $30 by GNR/UMG when I bought CD vinyl so the last thing I'm giong to do is give more of my hard earned money for a record I already own, twice over.

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  • 6 months later...

It's cool to read Barry Diament giving details about his mastering work on AFD. Not even he can assure that AFD has or hasn't been remastered. Some of his words taken from "stevehoffman.tv" forum:

Someone earlier in this thread suggested the CD has not been re-mastered since the original release. I don't know for sure but if that is the case, it suggestes the current CD is sourced from my work.
I believe remastering is motivated at least as much and likely considerably more by commercial opportunity than anything else.

(I've got gear today that is so much better, I could remaster almost anything I've done and get better quality from it -- assuming the originals are still in good condition.)

Best regards,
Barry
Edited by uruguns
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That MFSL thing is kicking around on the net. I had it in .flac form for a while for both Appetite and UYI.

Not sure if I really noticed. Remaster those damn Illusions albums I feel like they aged worse than Appetite.

Edited by Ant
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Yeah the only thing you'd really do it other than destroy it by brickwalling the mix (which I can do if anyone's really that interested) is properly re-mix it and take the 80s reverb off the drums to power it up a bit.

But thankfully Axl is against brick wall mastering as he released CD with full dynamics on it.

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Since we are talkin remastering, I have come across demos remastered by Alan Niven such as WTTJ, Heartbreak Hotel, Jumpin Jack Flash, Mama Kin, Move to the City, Nice Boys and the electric version of Your Crazy. All studio quality versions. Have these been out a long time? Never heard any of you mention them before.

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If only the prices of these remasters were more reasonable. Appetite especially is one I'd kill for. By today's standards it's not horrible - I've definitely heard far thinner sounding albums. Still, it's pretty thin and dry when you crank it.

you can download them

btw i don't think any of the classic albums needed any remastering

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Wait, wait. CD is brickwalled to an extent aswell! Axl chosed the less brickwalled version out of 3, but on some songs it still is!!!

AFD, Lies and UYI MFSL CDs are the real deal when it comes to full dynamics and audiophile quality!

CD is NOT brickwalled. The dynamics are here, no clipping. The mix is indeed very busy, but it's not brickwalled at all. Mastering-wise, ChiDem is perfect.

Concerning the MFSLs, while I agree that they are the best CD versions of the UYIs, I think that the standard discs of both Appetite and Lies are better than the MFSL versions. Plus they were mastered by Barry Diament, whose work is highly revered among audiophiles.

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If only the prices of these remasters were more reasonable. Appetite especially is one I'd kill for. By today's standards it's not horrible - I've definitely heard far thinner sounding albums. Still, it's pretty thin and dry when you crank it.

Are you mistaking thin for loud? thin to me would generally mean laking bottom end and a lot of focus on the treble end. When I play Appetite on my ear phones or through a stereo it sounds great, full and it doesn't (most importantly) clip because the levels are mixed/mastered beyond a reasonable level... i.e todays standards, one thing I love about CD is that Axl chose not to go for a loud mix.

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