Yeah, compression isn't the evil thing most audiophiles make it out to be. There's a reason why nearly every song gets compressed on the way out of the mixing console. It holds the mix together giving the sound weight and cohesiveness. Too much compression and it'll sound like the mix is caving in on itself. Too little makes it sound unprofessional and uncontrolled.

Most mix engineers I know (myself included) use an SSL G compressor on their stereo mixes. No matter what studio you go into their SSL buss compressor will usually have the same settings: 30mS attack, .1S release with a 4:1 ratio. 1-2dB of that on a mix really makes it stand up without crushing it. Without that extra bit of compression the mix doesn't have the impact or stability it should. That's not nearly enough to give those flatlined waveforms people like to post and complain about. It will still give you a very dynamic mix.

Also, most mastering engineers don't crush music with a compressor either. I've had my mixes mastered by many of these famous guys who get accused of stomping on stuff. If you look at their compressors you'd barely see the needle move. On reasonably good sounding tracks I doubt they do more than 1/2dB of compression, if they do any compression at all. The thing that gets people upset is the limiter. That's what leaves those flat toped waveforms.

But to say there's never a need for compression in mastering is silliness. You can't tell me there's never been a single song a certain couple of people, ahem, have mastered that wouldn't have benefited from some compression. That's just not true. That's just them applying their own restrictions despite what is best for the music. Are we sure they know how to set a compressor properly?

This is the most reasoned and reasonable description of the need and use of compression in mastering that I've ever read.

Excellent, and spot on, Jamie!

I agree-made it very clear as to what is done and what can still go wrong in the wrong hands, and that yes, compression is basically used all the time and is needed (how could it not be these days?).

For those of us who have no idea what is being said above , and that would include me, it means that you will enjoy these Queen remasters.

I got my box sets today! I'll begin listening to 'em this weekend!

Not that I doubted they would, but holy shit, these sound great!

When is batch # 3 coming out in the U.S. ?

Amazon has the Volume 3 box set showing as a November 1st release:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005K1VRII/?tag=imwan-20

So I assume the individual titles will be coming out in America on the same day (although they're not yet listed for pre-order).

Not sure but I received my batch #3 this week from England including "Deep Cuts 3" and they sound amazing.

Actually the only one that I do not have "Innuedo" (still waiting) so I'll played my Hollywood version after the 2011 remaster of "The Miracle" last night and had to stop after one track. It was so dull sounding I just moved on to something else.

Rick A.

I think The Game sounds like absolute shit. Way high-endy and louder than the others.

Yet, News of the World sounds excellent.

These are becoming hit or miss...

If you prefer a dark,dull & cloudy sounding version of "The Game", seek out the old Mobile Fidelity Gold CD.

Gotta disagree-I think they sound fantastic, or maybe I should say they sound better than ever, because a few of the early albums never sounded pristine to me anyway. But me personally, I would not say these were hit and miss other than the original recordings being that way.
But on this batch News Of The World sounds stunning. I think The Game sounds pretty good, but being as it was so modern sounding compared to the older albums it sounds louder anyway. But that's just me.

What about The Cosmos Rocks! by Queen + Paul Rodgers? When's that get remastered? Where's my Paul Rodgers love??!!!

I think there's 445 threads on here dealing with that.

446.

Listening to Jazz today and it is freaking incredible...my 3 favorite Queen albums are A Day at The Races, News of The World and Jazz. The sound on all of these remasters are just incredible. I wish the bonus material was a bit better, but what can you do.

Feel the exact same Mark. The remastering is amazing, the packaging is very nice, the bonus tracks a bit insulting. But, I've never heard these records sound like this and yes, News Of The World is brilliant (as are the others-ALL of them). When I hear songs like "Get Down, Make Love" and "It's Late" I'm still baffled at the truly unique genius involved in these recordings.
It's a cliche, but there will never, ever be another act like Queen an these remasters reinforce that idea.

I swear to you Pete, I was saying that to myself as I was driving to work and listening to Jazz this morning. Besides hearing things I've never heard before, a stray note here and there, their music was incredible. John's bass playing was very underrated. His bass lines on You and I are beautiful. One of the rare bands where both studio and live were great.

The remastering on Jazz is fantastic indeed.

So far, the only two I haven't enjoyed are A Day At The Races and The Game. Both suffer from more high end than they require, IMO.

But on the whole, these remasters are very good.

It still appears that the expanded edition of the "Live at Wembley" 2-DVD set(and a deluxe edition featuring the expanded 2-DVD set and the original[no bonus tracks] 2-CD set) will be UK-only, but luckily, the UK release has been manufactured as NTSC/All Regions. The DVD set features the previously unreleased Friday night performance. It was raining that night, but it was video & audio recorded to give the recording crew a chance to practice for the Saturday night show.

"It's Late" is in my top five favorite Queen songs and is simply a great rock song that should be better known than it is. It makes me happy to hear it sounding so good on this remaster.

A product image has now been posted for the Amazon exclusive Queen 40 Volume 3 box set scheduled for domestic release here in the USA on November 1st:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005K1VRII/?tag=imwan-20