"Remastering" older tracks?

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"Remastering" older tracks?

Postby Freewave » 04 Dec 2013 11:06

I'm working on on an album that should be out shortly BUT a lot of the tracks i am including are from back in the day when i first started. Several were mastered kinda low, rendered in 16 bit, and I don't have a few of the original projects anymore to play with so I'm stick with the completed WAV. So i'm trying to determine if its possible to "remaster" these (putting them back in FL maximizer or another program) to up the volume to match my current tracks so they are slightly louder, slightly better eq'ed to fit the album or if that will only accentuate or worsen the flaws and audio quality to re-render. So I wanna know if I'm screwed, if there's options but only go down a particular route, or if i should be ok doing so. Would appreciate any help or guidance. :sad:
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Re: "Remastering" older tracks?

Postby CitricAcid » 04 Dec 2013 11:38

Every time I've seen people ask questions about mastering on music forums, the consensus has been, "Don't do it yourself." Mastering is apparently a tough skill to learn/master and is best left to professionals.

But we're all hobbyists here for the most part, so we do it ourselves anyways. That being the case, it would be best if you had the unmastered wavs of your tracks (i.e. no limiter applied and some headroom in the mix). Then you could very reasonably remaster them, no problem. If you don't have the unmastered versions, you might not be able to do much. I don't see adding another limiter over the top of the previous one doing much good, and with the dynamic range already gone, a lot of your EQ-ing and other tweaking options might be gone, too.

But hey, nothing wrong with giving it shot, right?
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Re: "Remastering" older tracks?

Postby the4thImpulse » 04 Dec 2013 17:44

I agree with Citric, find the unmastered version if at all possible. If you are working with an already mastered track then certainly give it a shot, put a limiter on end of the chain and try to cut away with the EQs as much as possible. Multi band compression is a great tool as well, use it.

There is no real right or wrong, if you get it sounding any better, no matter what you've done, then you've won.
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Re: "Remastering" older tracks?

Postby ChocolateChicken » 04 Dec 2013 22:15

I have been in this same situation as you, Freewave, and I indeed simply opened up the lossless file into my daw and remastered it as best I could when I didn't have the original unmastered file. 4thimpulse and CitricAcid are both right about it being better to find the original unmastered file, but if you don't have said file then it certainly isn't impossible to master it again and get good results.

Another option, if you're willing to put in the time and effort, is to completely remake the song with all your experience that you've gained since you first produced it.
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Re: "Remastering" older tracks?

Postby JayB » 05 Dec 2013 03:13

As long as the sound of the files isn't distorted or pumping already there's always a chance of improvement. Besides that: what the others said.
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Re: "Remastering" older tracks?

Postby Freewave » 05 Dec 2013 13:18

Thanks guys appreciate the help. I'll do my best and luckily none were brickwalled but they def do need a volume boost. I'll see if i can use my ears and just do my best to match the volume and quality of the "good" recent tracks.
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