Lo-Fi Remastering examples

Back To Music remastering has no digital processing or any additional file rewrites. The sound you hear is as close as possible to the analog original with all its pros and cons.

Prewar USA pop orchestras, 78rpm shellac rip

Brunswick, Decca, Ellington Duke, Fitzgerald Ella, Pop, Remastering from shellac records, Victor, Webb Chick
Anton Stepichev


American pre-war records with very good sound. Clinton has a great chorus of saxophones, the orchestra is good, but Bea Wain sings so-so, Ellington orchestra emits a powerful rhythm energy with perfectly played and recorded solo on the clarinet in the middle, Ella lively and perky, can be compared with the previous version. The last two records – subtle tenors, fashionable in the 1920s, The Westerners – acoustic record, the most intelligible, but its charm in digital form is almost completely lost.

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Soviet gramophone Records, 78 rpm shellac rip

Leningrad Sovnarkhoz, Los Panchos, Mikhailov Piotr, Nogisky Zavod, Pop, Remastering from shellac records, Shmelev Ivan, Tsfasman Alexandr
Anton Stepichev

Examples of the sound of Soviet records at 78 turns. Pre-war "Separation" and "I am endlessly sorry" have the most full and clear sound, what wonderful melodies! Los Panchos at 78 can be compared to the LP of the same age: on 78s the top is cutted, but they sound musically better. Such impressive filigree playing and recording of guitar in “Mad Love”!

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Billie Holiday ‎– Solitude, 1956 LP mono rip

Clef, Holiday Billie, Jazz, LP Remastering, Peterson Oscar
Anton Stepichev


The album is a prime example of Clef's recordings in the mid-1950s. The wholeness of the sound is somewhat lacking, but on successful tracks the vocals are still clear and tremulous – "You Turned The Tables On Me" and "You Go To My Head" are recorded cleanly and sound comfortable, in the second case only the piano failed.

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Billie Holiday – vol1, 1954 Jolly Roger LP mono rip

Holiday Billie, Jazz, Jolly Roger, LP Remastering, Wilson Teddy
Anton Stepichev


Re-release of 1930s-40s records on the pirate label Jolly Roger, 1954. The recors are cut from home made tape copies with very large HF losses, which can be estimated by listening on YouTube to the one remastered from the original tape – I’ll Never Be The Same. I didn’t want to mess with such LP, but then I decided to leave it as an example, and the songs are good, the best times of the great Lady Day. Also listen to Teddy Wilson’s solo on the same I’ll Never Be The Same, it is a balm for the soul. What a pity I have no original.

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Organ music, 1960th lp mono rip

Aprelevsky Zavod, Bach Johann, Boelman Leon, Braudo Issay, Classical, Clerambault Louis, Leningrad Sovnarkhoz, LP Remastering, Melodia, Reinberger Josef, Schweitzer Albert
Anton Stepichev


For all its power, the organ is vulnerable to intangible distortions made by the sound recording even more than its smaller acoustic brothers – the organ’s soft notes is poorly discernible, and the loud chords desperately screams in all the registers, the higher the register, the more desperate it shout. In my opinion, the organ sounds quite comfortable only on some very old records, they, thanks to the LO-FI recordings of those years, can convey to the listener the sublime mood inherent in church music. The 1960s Soviet records presented here are not ideal technically, nevertheless you can feel the heavenly beauty of them, especially if you listen to the tracks using an old tube receiver as an amp.

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I.S. Bach – Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould – 1959 LP mono rip

Accord, Bach Johann, Classical, Gould Glenn, LP Remastering, Piano
Anton Stepichev

Reissue on the 1955s USSR Accord, the quality varies from track to track, the sound is sometimes not fully disclosed, but magical honey notes, expressive and caressing the ear, arise here and there. Gould is certainly a wizard!

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J.S.Bach – Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 – Glenn Gould, LP mono Rip ‎

Bach Johann, Classical, Columbia, Gould Glenn, LP Remastering, Piano
Anton Stepichev


From the 3-lp set only the first (1968) and the third (1972) records have been found, from each one I took three most successfully recorded tracks. The result was an example of how the thoughtless replacement of recording equipment with a more modern one leads to the degradation of sound, in this case – the loss of natural timbres of the piano on the record of 1972 (tracks 4, 5, 6). In general, the sound of the entire second book of the WTC makes worse impression than the first (1965).

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J.S.Bach – Glenn Gould, 1960th USSR LP mono rip

Accord, Bach Johann, Classical, Columbia, Gould Glenn, LP Remastering, Piano
Anton Stepichev

On tour in the USSR Gould was recorded several times, including a live performance of the Three-Voice Inventions (1960) and a partita #2 (1962) with a well good LO-FI sound. Inventions convey the magic of the piano Gould better than studio recordings, we can only guess how great it sounded live. Rondo and sarabande from the second partita recorded somewhat tougher, there are noticeable detonations in the saraband. At the end of the list there are two finest Columbia 1964 studio recordings of inventions. The magic there is noticeably less.

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J.S.Bach – Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, F.Gulda – 1972 LP mono Rip

Bach Johann, Basf, Classical, Gulda Friedrich, LP Remastering, Piano
Anton Stepichev

The German LP MPS-Basf 1972, in general recorded and mixed poorly – there are many preludes with a level of -10db, and subsequent overloaded fugues, most tracks sound disembodied and cold. F. Gould, to my taste, plays WTC too monotonous and rigid, especially it concerns fugues, but a couple of well-recorded preludes clearly demonstrate that at the piano the master of his craft.

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I.S. Bach – Well Tempered Clavier – Part I, Sviatoslav Richter, 1973 LP mono rip

Bach Johann, Classical, LP Remastering, Melodia, Piano, Richter Sviatoslav
Anton Stepichev

The recording was made in 1970 in one of the churches of Salzburg. Microphones are set far from the piano, the sound is dull and over echoed but rather plastic and conveys the sacred nature of the music very well. Richter plays thoughtfully, his version of WTC is imbued with light sadness and philosophical reflections.

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