Is remastering better than a remake?
The difference isn’t entirely clear-cut. It’s more of a spectrum, really. Generally speaking, remaster = better graphics but basically the same gameplay, and remake = the entire game has been rebuilt from the ground up. The core gameplay, design, and story remain unchanged, making remasters less resource-intensive compared to remakes. While remakes aim to refresh and reimagine the original, remasters preserve the original experience, ensuring it meets modern technical standards.
Which is better, remastered or original?
Some remasters are better, but often, original pressings are where the gold lies! The answer varies according to the album and the pressing, due to many technical factors, but remastered records are often worse than excellent, lightly played original pressings, and in my experience, only occasionally better. Remastering isn’t always better. Sometimes remastering is just gimmicky, used by people who don’t know what’s going into the process but think the marketing sounds good. Why would you want to remaster an album? Maybe the first time, it was mastered for a CD but poorly and now they want to get it right,” says Katz.