User:Kelvin 101/Remaster

Remaster (and its derivations, frequently found in the phrases digitally remastered or digital remastering) refers to quality enhancement of sound and/or picture to a previously existing recording.

Mastering
To understand the concept of remastering, it is beneficial to understand that often a pyramid of copies would be made from a single original "master" recording, which might itself be based on previous recordings. For example, sound effects (a door opening, punching sounds, falling down the stairs, a bell ringing, etc.) might have been added from copies of sound effect tapes similar to modern sampling to make a radio play for broadcast.

A master is the recording which experts state will be the definitive copy that is duplicated for the end user usually into other formats i.e. LP records, CDs, DVDs etc.

Problematically, several different levels of masters often exist for any one audio release. As an example, examine the way a typical music album from the 1960s was created. Musicians and vocalists were recorded on multi-track tape. This tape was mixed to create a stereo or mono master. A further master tape would likely be created from this original master recording consisting of equalization and other adjustments and improvements to the audio to make it sound better on record players for example.

More master recordings would be duplicated from the equalized master for regional copying purposes (for example to send to several pressing plants). Pressing masters for vinyl recordings would be created. Often these interim recordings were referred to as Mother Tapes. All vinyl records would derive from one of the master recordings.

Thus, mastering refers to the process of creating a master. This might be as simple as copying a tape for further duplication purposes, or might include the actual equalization and processing steps used to fine-tune material for release. The latter example usually requires the work of mastering engineers.

With the advent of digital recording in the late 1970s, many mastering ideas changed. Previously, creating new masters meant incurring an analogue generational loss; in other words, copying a tape to a tape meant reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. This means how much of the original intended "good" information is recorded against faults added to the recording as a result of the technical limitations of the equipment used (noise, e.g. tape hiss, static, etc.) Although noise reduction techniques exist, they also increase other audio distortions such as azimuth shift, wow and flutter, print-through and stereo image shift.

With digital recording, masters could be created and duplicated without incurring the usual generational loss. As CDs were a digital format, digital masters created from original analog recordings became a necessity.

Remastering
Remastering is the process of making a new master for an album, movie, or any other creation. It tends to refer to the process of porting a recording from an analogue medium to a digital one, but this is not always the case.

For example, a vinyl LP originally pressed from a worn-out pressing master many tape generations removed from the "original" master recording could be remastered and re-pressed from a better-condition tape. All CDs created from analogue sources are technically digitally remastered.

The process of creating a digital transfer of an analogue tape remasters the material in the digital domain, even if no equalization, compression, or other processing is done to the material. Ideally, because of their high resolution, a CD or DVD (or other) release should come from the best source possible, with the most care taken during its transfer.

Additionally, the earliest days of the CD era found digital technology in its infancy, which sometimes resulted in poor-sounding digital transfers. The earliest days of the DVD era were not much different, with early DVD copies of movies frequently being produced from worn prints, with low bitrates and muffled audio. When the first CD remasters turned out to be bestsellers, companies soon realized that new editions of back-catalogue items could compete with new releases as a source of revenue. Back-catalogue values skyrocketed, and today it is not unusual to see expanded and remastered editions of fairly modern albums.

Master tapes, or something close to them, can be used to make CD releases. Better processing choices can be used. Better prints can be utilized, with sound elements remixed to 5.1 surround sound and obvious print flaws digitally corrected. The modern era gives publishers almost unlimited ways to touch up, doctor, and "improve" their media, and as each release promises improved sound, video, extras and others, producers hope these upgrades will entice people into making a purchase.

Music
Remasting music for CD or even digital distrubtion first starts from locating original analog version. The next step involves digitise the track or tracks so it can be edited using a computer. Then the track order is chosen, this if often engineer worry about because if the track order is not right it may seem sonically unbalanced. When the remastering starts engineers use software tools such as a limiter, equalizer and an compressor. The compressor and limiters are ways of controlling the loudness of a track. However this is not to be confused with the volume of a track, which is actually controlled using the listener. Although to understand compressors and limiters work you need to first understand dynamic range and how it works.

Dynamic range of an audio track is measured with calculating variation between loudness and quietest parts of a track. In recording studios the loudness is measured with negative decibels, zero designates the loudest recordable sound. An limiter works by having a certain cap loudest parts and if that cap is exceeded it automatically lowered by the set ratio set by the engineer.

After the limiter, equalizer and an compressor have successful been applied engineer use an equaliser tool to acquire tonal balance, while remastering the track engineers will tweak faders so that audio is more fatten bass sounds and this will keep the track balanced.

Criticism
Remastered audio has been the subject of criticism. Many remastered CDs from the late 1990s onwards have become casualties of the loudness war, where the average volume of the recording is increased at the expense of clarity and dynamic range, making the remastered version sound louder at regular listening volume than an uncompressed version. Some have also criticised the overuse of noise reduction in the remastering process, as it affects not only the noise, but the signal too, and can leave audible artifacts. Equalization can change the character of a recording noticeably. As EQ decisions are a matter of taste to some degree, they are often the subject of criticism.

Film
To remaster movie digitally for DVD and Blu-ray, Digital Restoration Operator's must scan in the film frame by frame at 2,000 pixels across. Some studios scan at resolution of 4,000 or even 6,000 to future proof for higher resolution Scanning a film at 4,000 pixels generates at least 12 Terabytes of data before any editing is done.

Digital Restoration Operator's then use specialist software such as MTI's Digital Restoration System (DRS) to remove scratch and dust from damaged film, restoring the film to its original colour is also included in this process.

As well as remastering the video aspect the audio is also remastered using such software as ProTools to removed background noise and boost dialogue volumes so when actors are speaking they are easier to understand and hear. Audio effects are also added to make the movie more enjoyable as well as 5.1 surround sound, which allows for sound to be heard from multiple speakers.

A good example of a restored film is the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The film was scanned in at 4,000 pixels and had to be scanned 3 times because it was a black and white movie with Technicolor thus having to be scan Cyan, Yellow and Magenta film, the software then merges all three together.

The three reel of film Cyan, Yellow and Magenta had suffered shrinking and the software that was used morphed all three different size film into the correct alignment. The software used could detected dirt on the film and remove it but during the restoration it recognised Dorothy's ruby slippers as red dirt and removed them.

Restoring this movie make it possible to see what couldn't be seen before when Scarecrow says "I have a brain" Burlap is noticeable on his cheeks and before it was not possible to see a rivet between then Tin man's eyes.

Hong kong legends Restoration featurette

Video Games
Remastering a video game is more difficult than remastering a film or music, the video game's graphic shows its age. This can be due to a number of factor like for example Television resolution get bigger. Its for this reason that the classic games that are remastered have their graphics redesigned or their original graphics rerendered at higher resolutions that High Definition television use.

A good example of a game that has had it graphics redesigned is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary which takes a game originally released on XBOX 15 November 2001 and then released on XBOX 360 15 November 2011. The core character and level information is exactly the same as Halo: Combat Evolved.

A good example of a game that has had its original graphics rerendered at higher resolutions is Hitman HD Trilogy which contains two games with high resolution graphics Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Contracts both were originally released PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The original resolution was 480p on XBOX and with the remaster 720p on XBOX 360.

Criticism
There is some criticism whether new graphics of an older game at higher resolutions make a video game look better or worse than the original artwork. Some older arcade games are available on the old styled joystick that plugs into our TV's, a question in a article by cnet.com asks "Is upgrading the graphics on older games like colorizing black-and-white movies?". This question is asking is it like a form of vandalism to tamper with the original artwork, cnet.com also went on to say its article that remastered games when ran at 1080p don't look like they were made for 1080p resolution.