Jimmy Page hopes he’s dealt with the problem of poor-quality Led Zeppelin MP3s – and that he’s also made his latest remasters future-proof.
The latest in his series of re-releases is classic album Physical Graffiti, launched last month complete with a companion disc featuring additional material from the studio sessions from four decades ago.
And he says that, of all the current formats, MP3 is the one that he finds “most annoying.”
Page tells Kerrang Radio: “I wasn’t listening – but I’d be confronted with Led Zeppelin music on MP3. It almost sounded like it had been remixed, and not very well at that.”
He regrets that his efforts to achieve “transience and depth” in the original productions seemed to have been lost. “They were mixed in stereo with a depth-of-field to them, with everything in focus,” he says. “To have it squashed down is not how it was intended to be.
“It’s the jiggery-pokery that goes on. But if you review the situation of how things are listened to, and approach vinyl, CDs and digital separately, it’s not one size fits all. I wouldn’t do that – not at this point in time.”
As for the future, Page reports: “We’ve got high-resolution files for whatever’s going to come down the line. It was essential to do that, to make sure you don’t have to remaster again for a number of years.”
