Jimmy Page has been overseeing the remastering of Led Zeppelin's back catalog, with 1975's Physical Graffiti due out Feb. 25. The guitarist recently revealed in an interview that the new stuff sounds better than the originals. With today's technology, the sound isn't compromised like it was a few decades ago, Blabbermouth notes.
According to Page, when a Zeppelin LP was pressed back in the day, the sound quality suffered as the production moved further away from the master recordings. When a band or artist remasters their material today, those issues can be corrected.
What happens is, with these albums [is] that you find that the first test pressings are pretty good, but once they get them on the production line, then the quality, sort of, it starts to disappear a bit — or lack. With all of the advance of technology, that has sort of, preceded the point that we can ... that I can revisit the albums and re-cut them; then it gave the opportunity to give the best possible quality at this point. And really, actually — by hi-fi standards, this in, like reviews in hi-fi magazines — [they say] they're better than what the original ones were; which of course, that's always the object of the exercise.
Page went on to say that he isn't interested in re-recording the music. He just wants to present it again at a higher quality. The reissues feature outtakes and alternate versions of some of the band's greatest tunes.
"I really wanted something whereby totally reflected what was going on at that point of time — of the time capsule, if you like, of when these things are being recorded. That's what the idea was of this," he said.
Remastered versions of the four Led Zeppelin albums and Houses of Holy are currently available.
