poor quality commercial cd/ improve sound?

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wolfy
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:33 pm

poor quality commercial cd/ improve sound?

Post by wolfy »

so, i have some early cds , reissues made to replace vinyl , by the relevant companies when cds were first introduced. Some have terrible sound quality compared to the original vinyl [and need to be reissued as remastered ] .
Is there anything i can do in amadeus to improve the sound, eg. import and enhance in some way ?

Eddie
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:16 am

Post by Eddie »

I would guess that depending on the specific problem, you could use plugins to improve the sound.
Is it an equalization issue? CDs sounded harsh to me when they first came out, due to higher frequencies that were not as evident in other media such as tapes and records.
Or is the sound too clean?

The first thing that comes to mind -based on my memory of the earliest CDs- is the use of some type of saturation emulating tube, tape, analog consoles, etc., but it will really depend on the specific album or song.
Some options:
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2011/04 ... t-plugins/

This was a good example of noise bleed in different tracks:
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/ ... er_listen/

Unfortunately the videos were removed, but the noise was evident. For example, you could hear vocals or drums in a guitar track. If that noise was removed for the CD mix, there's little you can do to get it back and it definitely had an effect on the overall sound.

Your CDs are already mixed and mastered, but some equalizers and compressors may add some "analog color" even when used lightly.

Be mindful of comparing the original CD and the processed sound at the same level. A volume increase may give you the wrong impression that the sound has improved. Also, a little goes a long way. Overusing the plugins can result in sounds that are tiring on the long run, even if the initial impression is a positive one.

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