Who knows? Shirley has posted on his diary about record executives. In the end, Sanctuary is a big small label, a corporate entity. Shirley and even Harris probably have have little control over that. The mastering engineer, in most cases works for a big outfit like Sterling Sound, and their client is the label.Stormwatch said:
Popular music has been in a Loudness War for several years, and it's not just the major labels. Mastering engineers, the vast majority of them, have fallen prey to this culture of LOUD over quality. Even 15 years ago any engineer would hear, say, Dance of Death, or Greater of 2 Evils, and say, "that's a piece of shit". The louder things got, the more people, the average listener, got fooled into believing it was "better", and label business schmoes think, "it has to be loud", and now even the engineers think it. Ever notice how loud and distorted FM radio sounds? Nowadays, that's really all remastering is: turning up the levels, squashing the peaks, compressing everything. It's better than the old product because it's ROCKS HARDER! My ass. It's all bullshit, all of it.
I guarantee you that the old 1988 South of Heaven, turned up on a good system, would blow away the maximised, squashed to hell remaster, every time. If I switch from the 2001 remaster of Number of the Beast to the old Capitol CD, sure, it's quieter, but if I turn it up on a good system, I guarantee it will be a more satisfying, punchier experience.
