Yeah I'd agree with that. I've recently heard the vinyl reissue of 2009 and the mastering is much better than the Creation CD.

It's much less compressed, with better dynamic range. You can really hear the difference on the drums - each hit has more 'punch' than before. The same goes for the 2009 vinyls of DM and WTSMG. But I think BHN shows the greatest improvement. Wish they'd remaster them like that for CD or lossless download. (Maybe they'll do that for the 20th anniversary of DM?)

Some data on the mastering of BHN here: www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=9797

And on other Oasis releases here: www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php?search_artist=Oasis

Yeah, it's a shame that the way the original CD was mastered softened the impact of the drums in particular. Granted that BHN has a very dense sound due to the huge number of overdubs, but the brickwall mastering didn't help (IMO).

All Around the World is another song that stood out as sounding much better on the 09 vinyl - the acoustic intro is quieter, so that when Alan White's drums crash in they have a force absent on the CD. You can also hear a lot more of what's being played in the outro, including lead guitar and backing vocals that are hard to hear on the maxed-out CD. Same goes for Champagne Supernova on MG - the instrumental section is clearer, with less distortion.

Not sure if you're familiar with his work, but I think it'd be great if someone like Steve Hoffman got the chance to remaster Oasis' albums for CD or hi-res download. Sadly a lot of remastered classic albums are just maximised in volume to compete in the loudness wars. His approach, instead, is to get the best possible quality from the original master tapes, and preserve the full dynamics of the recording. I have the Paul McCartney and Zombies CDs mentioned at the end of this article on his work and the quality on them is just stunning. www.stevehoffman.tv/dhinterviews/Tape%20Op%20Magazine.htm

The Turning without the loudness.

rcknrollstar Yes, sadly those two 2009 vinyl reissues (along with the vinyl re-issues of rest of the Oasis catalogue) were limited editions, which now go for very high prices. £50 each is a typical price for them. The lowest price for the box set is currently £399.99 on Amazon UK. Mad! It's a real shame, as it means that the best sounding versions are hard to get hold of.

That's why I'd love to see Oasis' albums to be reissued on a digital format (CD, SACD, or lossless download) with at least the same quality of mastering as those vinyls. I suspect it'll be a while before that happens though, and there's no guarantee that reissues wouldn't be even more compressed than the original CDs (like the Stop the Clocks and Time Flies compilations were).

Hopefully not though. I think there's a growing awareness of the downsides of brickwall mastering, and with any luck a trend towards more dynamics in music (Elbow's album Build a Rocket Boys! is a good example of a modern CD with good dynamics).

Actually the new remaster of Band on the Run is a nice example of a catalogue reissue done right, as there's an option to download an uncompressed ('unlimited') transfer of the original master tape, for maximum dynamics. Sounds great. That could be an option for a future Oasis reissue. Who knows...

jim that's brilliant, thanks for uploading it! Excellent blog.

I wonder if any unmastered versions of early Oasis tracks have ever surfaced on the collectors' circuit (i.e. non-brickwalled versions of the final mixes). I think the closest I've heard to that would be the instrumentals on the Stop the Clocks collection, which sound great. I was really impressed by The Masterplan and Some Might Say in particular.

Going back to Be Here Now, this quote from Noel on its production came to mind when I was reading that Steve Hoffman article I linked to earlier:

"It's the sound of ... a bunch of guys, on coke, in the studio, not giving a fuck. There's no bass to it at all; I don't know what happened to that ..."

I wonder if the lack of bass on the CD had something to do with the fact that they monitored their mixes very loud on a concert PA system (I remember reading that the band had to leave Abbey Road because they could be heard in the nearby classical studio - maybe something to do with the huge PA?). Anyway, Steve Hoffman has this to say on the effects of mixing at a high volume:

"Another thing I want to mention while I have this little soap box is never mix really loud. Mix at a lower volume. Mixes that are loud are thrown off by the equipment going into hypershock. You'll never get the right amount of bass. The bass always tends to distort loud, and it starts to sound louder, so you turn down the bass. But when you play it at a normal volume, there will be no bass. Your ear is totally compressing it as it's playing back and you're not getting the full picture. Try mixing it at a normal volume. If your mix sounds lousy at a normal volume then you're doing a lousy mix. Fix the mix. The end. [laughs] The readers are gonna hate me, but it's true! What can I say?"

Maybe that's where Be Here Now's bass went:) That said, I think the vinyl reissue sounds a lot fuller than the CD, so someone (Miles Showell at Metropolis Mastering, I think) did a good job correcting for it there.

In case anyone's looking for the remastered vinyl editions released in 2009 by Big Brother Recordings, here's the detail on each of them from discogs.com:

Definitely Maybe: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Definitely-Maybe/release/1861005
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Whats-The-Story-Morning-Glory/release/1862015?ev=rr
Be Here Now: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Be-Here-Now/release/1862001
The Masterplan: www.discogs.com/Oasis-The-Masterplan/release/1879879
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Standing-On-The-Shoulder-Of-Giants/release/1879869
Heathen Chemistry: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Heathen-Chemistry/release/1879874
Don't Believe the Truth: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Dont-Believe-The-Truth/release/1865972

Only one I couldn't find an individual listing for is Dig Out Your Soul, which may have simply been a repress of the 2008 version listed below, rather than a new mastering done in 2009: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Dig-Out-Your-Soul/release/2387388

And here's the listing for the box set: www.discogs.com/Oasis-Untitled/release/1866555

A real shame they didn't keep them in print, given the prices they're going for now! Hopefully there will be an equivalent quality digital reissue at some point...

Wait, someone explain this to me... like in detail?

I have the Be Here Now album, and I like it a lot. Some of the songs do sound a bit clashy or slushy... of sorts.

I do believe this is the way it was supposed to be recorded maybe? It just fits that time period and the band's state of mind and attitude. It's very ballsy record.

So the vinyl does sound better? What is brickwall mastering? I'm guessing it's where you can't change it up in a editor?? Help me out

Would like to hear this from the vinyl somehow.

The vinyls are just better full stop. Have had these since 2009 but it's only now I've gotten to listen to them properly (Definitely Maybe is blasting through a PA system as we speak ). Thank God I bought these when I had the chance. They go for over 300 quid now (for the box set that is)

Yes, the vinyl remaster of Be Here Now is much better, IMO. There is more punch to the drums and, overall, a more natural tonal balance (the treble is less harsh and the bass is deeper - you can hear these differences clearly on tracks like DYKWIM? and IGBM!).

I posted this about brickwall mastering in an earlier thread on the forum. Hope it's of some use and people don't mind a repost!:


Brickwalling is the name given to a mastering technique that maximizes the average volume level of a track, greatly reducing the difference between its softest and loudest parts. There's a very good explanation of the process in this YouTube vid (watch in 1080p and with headphones on to get the full effect):



If you listen to a CD which hasn't been brickwalled - such as Nirvana's Nevermind - you'll hear that it has lots of shifts in volume (a wide dynamic range). Looking at the waveform of track 1, Smells Like Teen Spirit, in an audio editing program like Audacity you would see (as well as hear) that it has peaks and troughs, which correspond to different volume levels at different points in the song (i.e. the riff at the start is relatively quiet, whereas when the drums kick in, it is much louder). These dynamic shifts in volume are vital for conveying the impact of the music, especially the 'punch' of the drums.

Here's a high-quality YouTube upload of Smells Like Teen Spirit where the user has included old-school VU (volume unit) meters, which show you the varying levels of the song. Watch in 720p for best sound quality:



Shifts in volume level are largely removed by brickwall mastering, which raises the whole track to roughly the same maximum volume level. The resulting waveform looks like a rectangle (or 'brick wall') when viewed in an audio editor, hence the name of the method. Owen Morris talks about how he used this method when he mastered the original release of Definitely Maybe in this clip:



(the bit about brickwalling is at 8.13). For what it's worth, I would have preferred it if he'd done a brickwalled master for jukeboxes and a more dynamic one for the CD release.

I think the difference between original and brickwalled versions of the same track will be clearer if you listen on good headphones or a hi-fi system if possible.

All the best,
David.

Edit: The Wikipedia article on the loudness war will give you more detail, if needed: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

And there are some very well-written articles on mastering engineer Ian Shepherd's site:
productionadvice.co.uk/loudness-war-infographic/
This one has a good comparison between two U2 tracks, showing the difference made by brickwalling:
productionadvice.co.uk/loudness-war-secret/#more-2781

Thanks, glad it's of interest! Yes I'd say the first two benefit noticeably too. I've added the data on the following pages, so you can see the difference to the UK CD versions:

DM: www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=9613
MG: www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=9614
They're a big step up, and I think they prove that there's scope for an even better version on a digital format at some point in the future.

One of the most improved tracks on DM is Slide Away, on MG Cast No Shadow and Champagne Supernova really stand out as having better sonics.

cool, thank you for the info.

As such an important person in the history of the sound of oasis, and modern music, owen morris is both revered and cursed at the same time. some people love what he did but i'm in the camp that he went too far....not that i could even tell when i first heard DM. i just thought it sounded mega and clearly what he did, did what he wanted it to do, and 15 years later...my hearing sucks!