Sound distortion

I saw this post on the Rega Turntables group on facebook, not because I like listening to Led Zeppelin myself but because of the technical issues that the writer was complaining about.

He was wondering why the vocals and drums in the louder moments of his Led Zeppelin and The Doors remastered vinyl records sounded harsh. Moreover, sound distortion was increasing towards the end of a side.

Some of the replies sounded convincing and interesting enough to me. For example, one opinion was that the latest records do not have the best dynamic and if the music had all been recorded very loud they might sound distorted. Often, they were also recorded close to or slightly above the limit (above zero decibel most of the time). This would then distort. Further more, if the last songs on each side were generally loud they could also have higher peak levels, dynamics that give distortion and aggressive highs. These were some disadvantages of buying remastered records, They are louder, they distort and they sound aggressive in the highs compared to the original pressing. Plus, the current remasters are made from decades-old master tapes. They were never going to sound quite as good as the original pressings.