Occasionally, a classic song will be brought “back to life” through usage in a movie, television show or even a commercial. The best producers in the world are hired to take the original tracks (sometimes more than 100) and run them through some studio magic to make them more “useable” on modern devices. When you see the word “remastered” on a classic song, it was typically in the hands of a studio mad scientist who understands how to plate a classic to fit the modern taste, and modern equipment.
While it may border on the verge of blasphemy to think of bands like “The Beatles” and “Queen” being altered in any way, 10 minutes in the presence of a brilliant engineer will help you understand why it’s necessary. First, the newer sound systems emphasize bass and not all songs were keen to it. Second, when you enhance and compress old audio, you start to hear strange things. A cough, a cigarette being lit (it was the 60s, completely different time), the tinny sounding replay of a musician’s personal monitor. All these things can be smoothed over through frequency manipulation. These small imperfections are magnified 1000 times through a pair of HD ear buds. And that brings us to the returning Detroit Red Wings.
The Wings, for al intents and purposes, were picked part and examined for 5 days in practice. Small imperfections that translate into large mistakes will have been gone over in video sessions. Perhaps a bad line change or mixed up assignment that led to a scoring chance. Possibly a bad decision on a pass that led to a short handed opportunity during the power play. All those tiny inconveniences that we all see in HD or 4K and seem so obvious in the living room don’t look nearly the same live. My wife, in fact, commented at how much clearer the game has become on a big screen. “That has to be affecting attendance”. To a degree, she’s absolutely right. But, the on ice product would be a bit more to blame in this case.
So, will a remastered Red Wings team bring a 4K performance to match our viewing options tonight? It certainly won’t be a remix, as the coaching staff is sticking to their guns based on projected lineups. Your can read my thoughts about those
here Interestingly enough, Mlive reported a bit of a rebuttal to the criticisms regarding Filip Zadina’s usage.
Mlive link
Essentially, Jeff Blashill pitted Zadina vs Fabbri and said that Fabbri is a better player right now. No argument there, but the coach failed to acknowledge why Zadina is down on the third line instead of working with Athanasiou and Filppula where Glendening is slotted. The coach also mentioned that Malkin will be a tough top line matchup, but avoided saying anything about the second line. It’s frustrating to hear a partial explanation sometimes.
The on ice experience tonight could show a great deal of promise with improved clarity. Or, an unwanted Jabba the Hut could slither his way onto the screen causing 90s audiences to hurl beverages and popcorn. Remastering is a tricky beast. When not done well, the best of the original is completely decimated leaving fans wondering why someone spent hours working on making something worse. Let’s hope that’s not the case tonight.
Detroit comes to tonight’s game vs Pittsburgh ranked 31st in three categories. Goals for (2.1), Goals against (3.93) and penalty kill of 72.6%. The Power Play hasn’t fared much better at 13.8% and stands 27th in the league. In short, nothing about Detroit’s performance so far this year will get them past an ailing Pittsburgh squad. In net, Tristan Jarry, the “backup”, is 7-4-0 with 1.82 GAA and a gaudy .943 SV%. Matt Murray is 9-5-4 with 2.84 GAA and .897 SV%. Jonathan Bernier has been the Wings most steady presence with 3.34 GAA and .891 SV%. Not very promising, but far better than the injured Howard who’s posted a 3.94 GAA and .887 SV%.
In short, something will have to be markedly improved for Detroit tonight to see a win. A win would probably mean that the top line broke out for 4 or 5 goals and Detroit stayed out of the box for most of the game. However, depending on what the squad worked on, there is hope that we will see better attention to detail tonight. We’ll take a look after the game to see if the remaster was worth waiting for.
Thanks to everyone who stops by to read and comment. Keep it coming!
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»