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The Who - Real Good Looking Boy / Old Red Wine (Remastered):

This page will provide you with step-by-step instructions how to remaster these two songs from "Then And Now" (2004)

 

Background:

When this CD came out in 2004, I was upset and angry how these (2) two new songs ("Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine") sounded. They both suffered from what seemed to be a frequency shift, causing the sound quality to be harsh and difficult to listen to. The only way to make them "listenable" was to convert the CD quality WAV files to MP3s. While that worked, it wasn't an ideal fix by any means. Since I had successfully fixed Lifehouse, and these tracks suffered from similar issues, I thought a similar fix would work - and it did!
 

Wave Form And Sound Samples Of "Real Good Looking Boy" Before and After Remastering

Real Good Looking Boy (Before)   Real Good Looking Boy (After)  

Tools:

I used the following:

Audacity and...

Full Bucket Frequency Shifter plug in (Install Instructions) and...

Nyquist Channel Mixer plug in (Install Instructions) (Same VST install instructions as above)

Then And Now (CD)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Overview:

I worked with WAV files. If you burn the CDs your computer, use WAV files.

What you are going to ultimate do, is shift the frequency, add reverb, widen the stereo ("Old Red Wine" only) and then restore amplification (at a slightly lower level).

Instructions:

1) Load "Real Good Looking Boy" into Audacity ("Old Red Wine" requires an extra step).

2) Double Click on Wave Form (background will change from grey to white - this is the same as "select all") and from the "Effect" Menu, select "Frequency Shifter" (use the settings as pictured below)

With the Frequency Shifter, you will enter the following settings:

* Minus 2.5HZ (you can enter this from the Factory Present menu (on the lower left corner)

* LFO Wave: Ramp Down (See above and "turn" the knob accordingly)

* Volume Reduction -9.6db (See slide bars above)

Your wave form will shrink like this (note the background remains in "select all" mode):

3) From the "Effect" Menu, select "Reverb".



Use the settings above. I experimented with different settings, but the 15% level (and as above) seemed to be the best fit. What this does is add some ambiance and reduce the harshness.

4) From the "Effect" Menu, "Amplify" and change whatever Amplification value it defaults to, to 8.0. 

5)  Ready to save your remastered track!

From the "File" menu, Export / Export Selected / [Name File/Track - i.e. "19 Real Good Looking Boy"] / File Type (Here you choose 16 bit Wave (CD), etc. and then enter your meta data).

That's it! It's all very simple. From here you can burn your tracks onto a CD, keep them on your computer, put them on a thumb drive, etc.
--------------------------------------------------

"Old Red Wine"

You will complete the exact same steps as above, except after completing [Step 2 - The Frequency Shift]:

2a) From the "Effect" Menu, select "Channel Mixer" (which you installed as per above before you got started).

There are several choices for the Channel Mixer, you select "Wide Stereo" and hit "OK". This effect does two things: It brings out a lot of the buried instruments and at the same time, makes the sound quality less harsh. I've tried remastering with (and without).

After completing the "wide stereo", continue on to steps 3 through 5 above.

Final Comments:

Lastly, if you have never done this before, be very careful with sound volumes. Don't screw up and turn the volume way up - you can hurt your ears (just like any other LOUD music situation). By accepting these instructions above, you agree to waive any of your rights for liability of any kind. 

Enjoy!

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