Masterdisk Chief Engineer Andy VanDette On Remastering Rush Albums For iTunes

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Andy VanDette, Masterdisk's Chief Engineer and the person who handled the remastering of Rush's earlier albums for their Sectors Box Set along with Rush's sound engineer Rich Chycki, was recently interviewed by Ars Technica about the challenges of mastering music for iTunes. Throughout the interview, Andy repeatedly cites Rush's back catalog as an example. From the interview:
"...[I] recently completed a project remastering the bulk of Rush's back catalogue. As part of the process, VanDette created special versions of each song specifically for uploading to the iTunes Store. He described the often lengthy, trial-and-error process of trying to make iTunes tracks sound as close as possible to polished CD remasters..."

"... The constraints of vinyl aren't a concern when mastering for a CD, so it's possible to boost overall levels as well as low frequencies without ruining the rest of the mix. "While remastering the classic Rush albums, I added as much LF as I could, always aware not to cloud the classic 'ping' on Neil's snare, muddle Geddy's voice, or bury Alex's guitar," he said..."

"...these are some finely balanced mixes, even 35 years later," VanDette said. "I wanted to make sure the listener still heard the classic album come through, without it being too loud, boomy, or modern sounding..."
To read the entire article, click HERE.

For more information on the remastering process of Rush's back-catalog of albums, check out this November 2011 interview with VanDette on the subject: Andy VanDette On Remastering 15 Rush Albums.

Thanks to Ed from RushIsABand for passing along the news.

Comments

  1. It's amusing that someone has to "master" a recording down to such a low-quality format as what iTunes offers. Even their HD offerings are still low-def. Apple owners seem to love convenience for quality.

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