Hi David. I don’t want to sound like I’m telling you what to do with your music, but let me point out a couple things.
Older CDs in general have a lower volume level because they have more dynamic range than modern mastered albums. This means they have more difference between the soft and loud parts. For more info see [a href=“http://www.loudnessrace.net/]loudnessrace.net[/url]. Once you increase the volume level of the CD (for example, by using the wave hammer plugin in SoundForge) you will decrease the dynamic range of the recording. This is a much bigger problem than low volume. If you want the music louder, just turn the volume up on your playback device. On the other hand, once you compress the dynamic range of the music, there is NO knob you can turn which will bring it back!…
Hi David. I don’t want to sound like I’m telling you what to do with your music, but let me point out a couple things.
Older CDs in general have a lower volume level because they have more dynamic range than modern mastered albums. This means they have more difference between the soft and loud parts. For more info see [a href=“http://www.loudnessrace.net/]loudnessrace.net[/url]. Once you increase the volume level of the CD (for example, by using the wave hammer plugin in SoundForge) you will decrease the dynamic range of the recording. This is a much bigger problem than low volume. If you want the music louder, just turn the volume up on your playback device. On the other hand, once you compress the dynamic range of the music, there is NO knob you can turn which will bring it back!
Hiss is evident in older recordings due to analog tape recording. It is part of the recording. There is no way to separate the two without causing audible degradation of sound quality due to artifacts caused by noise removal plugins.
EQ is a matter of personal preference. If you like the music more when it’s brighter, then go for it.
If you just want to play around with remastering, fine. Just be sure you hold onto your old CDs. Once you read some things about the quality of many modern remasters compared to their original counterparts, you’ll probably be glad you did.