How can an audio engineer take a thirty-forty year old song that was recorded on analog tape? How is the data extracted and processed?
In: 42
Remastering music for CD or even digital distribution first starts from locating the original analog version. The next step involves digitising the track or tracks so it can be edited using a computer. Then the track order is chosen. This is something engineers often 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, an equaliser, and a compressor. The compressor and limiters are ways of controlling the loudness of a track. This is not to be confused with the volume of a track, which is controlled by the listener during playback.
The dynamic range of an audio track is measured by calculating the variation between the loudest and the quietest part of a track.[1] In recording studios the loudness is measured with negative decibels, zero designating the loudest recordable sound. A limiter works by having a certain cap on the loudest parts and if that cap is exceeded, it is automatically lowered by a ratio preset by the engineer.
disclaimer: copied this verbatim from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaster, the first result when searching for “remaster” on DDG, just to show OP didn’t even try to look it up themselves. At least they could have mentioned they looked it up but didn’t understand the results they got..
I’m getting fed up with these low effort posts, here and on askscience, that could have easily been answered with minimal effort. They’re probably just karma farming posts and should be treated accordingly: -1
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