EMI defends Duran Duran remastering

[Slicing Up Eyeballs]

I know some of you have complained here about these issues...

[b]<a href="http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2010/07/14/duran-duran-remastering-problems-seven-ragged-tiger-reissues/">EMI defends Duran Duran remastering, won't replace CDs over 'Girls on Film' glitch</a>[/b]

[heddhunter]

I'm sorry but they could easily have repaired the camera clicks in about two minutes if they had really cared to expend the effort.

[moni]

Bastards they can keep their forthcoming remasters i will download them illegally instead[:(!] and i mean EMI not the band who having nothing to do with these reissues anyway.

[Rubellan]

Ha! See, being outspoken does occasional produce a response..., though as expected, no results. I'm happy to have been involved in getting the name of the reprehensible Andy Walter out there, which he so rightly deserves. How many of us are now going to see his name on a reissue and immediately be concerned? Probably most of us. I would love to hear EMI's comments on that dire Spandau reissue.

And in a typical corporate reaction, EMI claim no (major) fault with the product, and minimize an easily avoidable and repairable fault. It's funny they try to state that most comments have been positive, because most positive comments (which seem to reside solely on the U.S. Amazon site) are most likely from those blind praise fans. How many here have said they thought the remasters sounded great? I can't think of any.

And just look how many complaints there has been because of the low volume on those Thomas Dolby remasters. Oh wait, there aren't any! Not that EMI would acknowledge that, because big business never admits fault. They just minimize and make excuses for it. I'm sure behind the scenes at EMI there have been some... discussions about the remastering. Not that we would ever be privy to that, but hopefully we've made some non-verbally acknowledged impact. But then the only way to know will be the quality of future remasters.

[weirdo]

It would have taken a few seconds for the track to be corrected...i managed to do it...the proof is in the link below....i saved it as a mp3 snippet to enable a small size

http://www.mediafire.com/?oonmzmljmvn2nzm

deterioration or not it is an easy thing to fix...what kind of people are they employing...if i can do it with a minimum knowledge of audio editing programs i'm sure even a they could have done it.

if anyone has the cd backed up onto their hardrive and would like a lossless version of the messed up track how it should have been pressed reply here and i'll send you a link to my fixed remastered track

[moni]

There are thousands of compilations with Girls On Film on them so there is no excuse for this at all. Fuck EMI boycott the bastards that's what i say. First they come out with that copy control crap that fucked up nearly everybodys computer then they think they can get away with releasing rubbish like those Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet remasters. Andy Walters should be standing in a dole queue cause he hasn't got a bloody clue what he is doing.

[DJ Phoenix]

Morons @ EMI: If one of the fucking band members is complaining about the remastering quality, remove your rather large cranium from your ass, and fix them?

It's obvious EMI doesn't give a shit about the fans, or what they want, or else, they'd make a conscious effort to fix them? Fuck EMI, and, Im glad i didnt buy any of the DD re-masters,except for Arcadia.

"Keepin the '80s alive!"

[weirdo]

i did not use any other source than the botched up track to fix the shutter clicks so if i could do it with the same track why couldn't their engineer do the same upon noticing the deteriorating intro...

[FiveTenFifteen]

[quote][i]Originally posted by weirdo[/i]
<br>i did not use any other source than the botched up track to fix the shutter clicks so if i could do it with the same track why couldn't their engineer do the same upon noticing the deteriorating intro...
[/quote]

...which so clearly highlights the complete absence of any QA within EMI on these kind of remasters. My favourite bad example being the Brian Eno 'More Music For Films' remaster of a couple of years back which managed to include the same track twice - what would their excuse be for that? 'awww, all these ambient things all sound the same anyway'...? That one was recalled and replaced, so there certainly is precedent for this with EMI.

Glad to see this particular issue now making coverage in the mainstream media: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/ju ... ran-albums

[moni]

Here is a link to the fixed version of "Girls on Film" - Remastered

As EMI seem incapable of remedying the very bad glitch on the camera sound at the start of the track. I have taken the liberty of fixing it myself...


...This took me all of 10 minutes & some very basic engineering skills...


Unfortunately I cannot make this available to download as that would be illegal, but you can here how it should sound, and maybe the loverly folks at the label will follow my lead!!!


Please spread this to hear the "fixed version" of Girls on Film - Remastered.


http://andy-taylor-music.com/fr_interface.cfm

Kindest Regards,

[Bellenger1981]

LOL. I love you guys ... showing EMI how it's done! I find it absolutely hilarious how fans can fix this glitch in only a matter of minutes, yet EMI blames the glitch on tape deterioration, which I don't believe. ... As if the tape just suddenly went bad and they didn't have a backup copy. "Girls On Film" is on hundreds of compilations. Nice try, EMI! Anyone with any basic audio editing skills could have fixed that, and EMI knows this! I think that Per Gessle once said it best, EMI = "Every Mistake Imaginable".

This reminds me of the botched edits on Madonna's 'Celebration' collection from last year. No quality control whatsoever.

I've bought the Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet 2010 remasters. At first, I thought that some of you were exaggerating the problems ... well, that is, until I got my hands on them and heard them for myself. I will admit that I like my remasters to sound loud and compressed. I know that there's a lot of complaining on this board about audio compression and loudness wars, but in general I'm okay with "loud" recordings. It's when they become "harsh" that I have a problem.

With these remasters I realized that sometimes too much is too much. Most of the tracks are simply awful. They are so harsh and ear-bleeding!!! The Duran Duran ones are the worst ... they hurt my ears! Out of all the thousands of CDs in my collection I've never come across a louder, more harsh sound than these Duran Duran remasters. Some of the Spandau remasters are fine, yet some of them are just awful sound quality. What's up with the original version of "To Cut A Long Story Short"? It sounds like it's from an old cassette tape, yet the 12" sounds just fine. Again, no quality control whatsoever. How can anyone not question the audio quality? Didn't anyone listen to the remastered audio before sending the discs to the presses and question the mastering? It's such as shame since I think that the packaging of these discs is rather good.

Shame on you EMI for not admitting fault and for not replacing these ear-bleeding and poor quality discs.

[Andee1970]

I'm up for the adjusted girls on film remaster, if Mr Weirdo wants to mail it to me via ones profile....

[Andee1970]

Ha

just read the statement, hogwash

So come on then EMI what is your excuse for the shoddy Spandau remasters.........

In the words of the Pistols

EMI, goodbye..................

[korova1]

ah yes, another groovy example of how the big music businesses BS to fool the consumers. If the fucks in charge of these places would actually have any interest in the artistic product they are selling than perhaps it would be a different story. Most CEO's are riding the wave on the backs of catalogs for as long as they can so they can retire with as much as they can get their grubby little hands on before the biz comes to a complete halt.

Alas, bean counters are running the show more than ever these days... and to the counters - NOTHING matters except short term profit making and making that money FAST. Good people in the music world have been laid off, people relocated into different positions, people scared for their jobs... it isn't the same as it was even 5 years ago. Maybe this Andy guy was an accountant who got a job in the engineering department. But with all of the technology the studios have these days, a remaster like this one is unacceptable. These remasters are "short term profit" hack jobs by the bean counters for the Ipod kids.

If EMI was in any way thinking long term profit they probably could have given the DD catalog the same love and attention the Beatles did. People dropped ridiculous amounts of money on a box set for the Beatles because they knew it was done right and the sets were exceptionally done.. word of mouth spread and the reviews came in and the box sets sold out during a major recession... TWO printings!

Certainly there aren't as many DD fans as there are Beatles fans but the band was one of the label's premier acts for several years in the 80's (and that 90's album). The band deserved better treatment and the fans deserved better treatment.

Life goes on, but be prepared to see more and more and more and more of this stuff because quality control isn't something that fits into the corporate scenario these days. Even the indie labels like Cherry Red (who used to be a killer label) pull this shit all of the time. The best way to send a tiny tiny message to EMI and the rest of them is to not buy the fucking thing (or any of the questionable remasters for that matter). They will never see our point, the way biz deals with things nowadays is to deny there is anything wrong to make you the consumer feel like you're the one going crazy. I am very picky about what I spend my money on these days and if the reviews come down that the remaster sounds like crap, I don't buy it. Case closed.

[Andee1970]

I've ripped mine and got rid of them............back to Amazon....fuck it...

....and I still can't bear to listen to Spandaus JTG........makes me weep[xx(]