Editing Remaster (section)

=== Music ===
Remastering music for CD or even digital distribution starts from locating the original analog version.<ref name="How Stuff Works CD/DVD remaster">{{cite web|title=How do they remaster CDs and DVDs?|date=13 October 2008 |url=http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/remaster-cds-dvds2.htm|publisher=howstuffworks.com|access-date=24 March 2013}}</ref> The next step involves digitizing the track or tracks so it can be edited using a computer. Then the track order is chosen. This is something engineers often worry about because if the track order is not right, it may seem sonically unbalanced.<ref name="How Stuff Works CD/DVD remaster" />

When the remastering starts, engineers use software tools such as a limiter, an equalizer, and a compressor. The compressor and limiters are ways of controlling the loudness of a track.<ref name="How Stuff Works CD/DVD remaster" /> This is not to be confused with the volume of a track, which is controlled by the listener during playback.

The dynamic range of an audio track is measured by calculating the variation between the loudest and the quietest part of a track.<ref name="How Stuff Works CD/DVD remaster" /> In recording studios the loudness is measured with negative decibels, zero designating the loudest recordable sound. A limiter works by having a certain cap on the loudest parts and if that cap is exceeded, it is automatically lowered by a ratio preset by the engineer.<ref name="How Stuff Works CD/DVD remaster" />

==== Criticism ====
Remastered audio has been the subject of criticism.<ref name="Remastering The Guardian">{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Tim|title=How CDs are remastering the art of noise|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jan/18/pop.music|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=16 May 2013|date=18 January 2007}}</ref><ref name="Remastering how stuff works">{{cite web|title=Complaints with Remastering CDs|date=13 October 2008 |url=http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/remaster-cds-dvds3.htm|publisher=[[HowStuffWorks]]|access-date=16 May 2013}}</ref> Many remastered CDs from the late 1990s onwards have been affected by the "[[loudness war]]", where the average volume of the recording is increased and dynamic range is compressed at the expense of clarity, making the remastered version sound louder at regular listening volume and more distorted than an uncompressed version.<ref name="Remastering The Guardian" /><ref name="Remastering how stuff works" /> Some have also criticized the overuse of noise reduction in the remastering process, as it affects not only the noise, but the signal too, and can leave audible artifacts.<ref name=Levine2007>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity |magazine=Rolling Stone |title=The Death of High Fidelity:In the age of MP3s, sound quality is worse than ever |last=Levine |first=Robert |date=December 26, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230101658/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity |archive-date=December 30, 2007}}</ref><ref>Interview with Steve Wilson in Preston 53 Degrees venue, date 20/4/07.</ref> Equalisation can change the character of a recording noticeably. As EQ decisions are a matter of taste to some degree, they are often the subject of criticism. Mastering engineers such as [[Steve Hoffman (audio engineer)|Steve Hoffman]] have noted that using flat EQ on a mastering allows listeners to adjust the EQ on their equipment to their own preference, but mastering a release with a certain EQ means that it may not be possible to get a recording to sound right on high-end equipment.<ref name="Remastering The Guardian" /><ref name="Remastering how stuff works" /> Additionally, from an artistic point of view, original mastering involved the original artist, but remastering often does not. Therefore, a remastered record may not sound how the artist originally intended.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}