# Tubular Bells remaster (2009) sounds terrible



## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

I have the original vinyl album though I usually now listen to it on YouTube, but today I listened off of Spotify and promptly gave up. Clearly the sound has been heavily compressed (in order to make it louder presumably) so when the (once) loud organ stabs come in near the beginning they fall flat - they just don't have the impact they do on the original. Then the build to the first climax...but there is no build...

Some music, especially acoustic music like this, shouldn't be messed with surely? Or is it just me?

The original version is still available on YouTube.


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2020)

janxharris said:


> I have the original vinyl album though I usually now listen to it on YouTube, but today I listened off of Spotify and promptly gave up. Clearly the sound has been heavily compressed (in order to make it louder presumably) so when the (once) loud organ stabs come in near the beginning they fall flat - they just don't have the impact they do on the original. Then the build to the first climax...but there is no build...
> 
> Some music, especially acoustic music like this, shouldn't be messed with surely? Or is it just me?
> 
> The original version is still available on YouTube.


Listening to the two side by side on my rips (not Spotify) I can hear what you mean about the organ stabs. On the other hand, the bass sounds fuller now it's further forward in the mix. On the other hand, it now seems to dominate all the other instruments. On the other hand, when the twin guitars come in at around 3.40ish, they sound better...

Some gains, some losses - not a lossless remastering!


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

MacLeod said:


> Listening to the two side by side on my rips (not Spotify) I can hear what you mean about the organ stabs. On the other hand, the bass sounds fuller now it's further forward in the mix. On the other hand, it now seems to dominate all the other instruments. On the other hand, when the twin guitars come in at around 3.40ish, they sound better...
> 
> Some gains, some losses - not a lossless remastering!


Interesting ta. Glad you at least found some positives.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm glad we've got eBay and Discogs so I can buy old CD editions which sound a lot better than so many of the remastered debacles.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

MacLeod said:


> Listening to the two side by side on my rips (not Spotify) I can hear what you mean about the organ stabs. On the other hand, the bass sounds fuller now it's further forward in the mix. On the other hand, it now seems to dominate all the other instruments. On the other hand, when the twin guitars come in at around 3.40ish, they sound better...
> 
> Some gains, some losses - not a lossless remastering!





starthrower said:


> I'm glad we've got eBay and Discogs so I can buy old CD editions which sound a lot better than so many of the remastered debacles.


Update - if you are using spotify from a PC then you can turn off the compression that spotify add: At the top of the screen on the right is a downward pointing arrow or chevron - click and go to Settings and then disable _'Normalize volume - Set the same volume level for all songs'_.

Mike Oldfield's remaster still sounds a bit odd - but this setting does make a difference (especially on classical music).


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

janxharris said:


> I have the original vinyl album though I usually now listen to it on YouTube, but today I listened off of Spotify and promptly gave up. Clearly the sound has been heavily compressed


This is a ridiculous complaint, considering you're listening to a Spotify sound file, not a CD.

Janxharris points out what can happen if you run a sound file through those sexy Spotify innards.

And why is Starthrower talking about different CD masterings, as if it applied to this?


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Spotify is good for sampling some unknown recordings.
You can only trust good ol' physical product.
Some services are more honest about the music they distribute though (Bandcamp comes to mind) but they do not carry major labels and not particularly into classical repertoir.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> This is a ridiculous complaint, considering you're listening to a Spotify sound file, not a CD.
> 
> Janxharris points out what can happen if you run a sound file through those sexy Spotify innards.
> 
> And why is Starthrower talking about different CD masterings, as if it applied to this?


Actually, as I implied in my previous post, Spotify don't actually change the sound (apart from the fact that it won't be CD quality wav file); the added compression is optional.

Not rediculous MR unless I have missed something?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

janxharris said:


> Actually, as I implied in my previous post, Spotify don't actually change the sound (apart from the fact that it won't be CD quality wav file); the added compression is optional.
> 
> Not rediculous MR unless I have missed something?


You said "_today I listened off of Spotify and promptly gave up. Clearly the sound has been heavily compressed." _This makes it sound like the compression was part of the file & couldn't be removed. Surely you can see why I would interpret it thusly.

Plus, I've had CDs in which compression was added which ruined it. This one in particular exists in a compressed and uncompressed version on CD.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> You said "_today I listened off of Spotify and promptly gave up. Clearly the sound has been heavily compressed." _This makes it sound like the compression was part of the file & couldn't be removed. Surely you can see why I would interpret it thusly.
> 
> Plus, I've had CDs in which compression was added which ruined it. This one in particular exists in a compressed and uncompressed version on CD.


Ok, my bad - I can see I wasn't explicitly clear. It's the remastering of the 2009 version where compression was applied.

I did write this:

_Update - if you are using spotify from a PC then you can turn off the compression that spotify add: At the top of the screen on the right is a downward pointing arrow or chevron - click and go to Settings and then disable 'Normalize volume - Set the same volume level for all songs'.

Mike Oldfield's remaster still sounds a bit odd - but this setting does make a difference (especially on classical music). _


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I had the same problem with DVDs of Rocky 48 and Police Academy 64


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