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RE: AFAIK copying an analog tape to digital is a transfer, not remastering.

Why do you think mastering engineers like Doug Sax got so many clients, because they are exceptionally adept at such a simple process as transferring *without alteration* analog tape to digital? That is what I call preposterous.

Its blatantly obvious to anyone who actually has some knowledge/experience regarding mastering that mastering engineers are hired based on their ability to ALTER the final mix given to them to satisfy the desires of the producer/artist. Only a f'ing moron would pay the significant fees of guys like Sax/Grundman for a simple transfer.

I'm not convinced that's the case. Here is how I understand it (and as always, I stand to be corrected):

In the pre-digital days, the producer will work with the musicians and sound engineers to record, mix, and master the tracks. Often times the final master was a team effort, but regardless of how it got produced, the salient point is that everyone on the team was satisfied with how the final tape sounded. They all 'signed off' on it, and then went home.

Now, because the mass market was not into purchasing reel-to-reel tapes, the producer couldn't simply set the production line in motion and start making copies of the master tape, packaging them and shipping them to the stores. The producer had to first transfer the signal from the master tape onto the vinyl record.

But that transfer from the tape onto the vinyl record is not a straightforward process. If someone were to simply push the button and send the signal from the master tape into the lathe cutting machine, and then press the record using the resulting matrix, the record would sound vastly different from the master tape. So the special skill needed to cut the vinyl record consists of knowing your equipment, and knowing how to make necessary adjustments in order to produce a vinyl record that would sound as close as possible to how the master tape sounds.

That, apparently, is not an endeavour for the faint hearted. It takes a lot of know-how for an engineer to manipulate the process in order to produce a vinyl record that does not deviate from the sound stored on the master tape.

If we now wish to start selling CDs instead of vinyl records, the transfer from the master tape onto a digital file used for cutting CDs is a completely different kettle of fish. One would assume that it be a more straightforward process, as the digitization of the analog signal is not as finicky as turning the magnetic signal into physical grooves. So my assumption is that it takes less effort to digitize the master tape and produce a digital file that would sound similar to how the master tape sounds.

Now you shoot holes in my theory...



Edits: 05/09/17
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