Hey there,

I have the Sticky Fingers Collectors Edition from Virgin that I got 1994. What is the difference in terms of sound to the 2015 one? Will we notice a difference? I always find that Mick is a little low in the mix in the 1994 one.

Cheers
Schwonek

1994 edition was remastered by Bob Ludwig who did the 2002 ABKCO remasters (60's albums) too. It sounds quite good though a little muffled IMO. The collector edition is absolutely great in term of packaging.

The 2015 reissue is actually the same as the Universal remaster made by Stephen Marcussen in 2009. This remaster has a brighter sound with more background instruments revealed. It's also louder and is highly compressed in terms of dynamic range. Which means Moonlight Mile and Sister Morphine sound as loud as Brown Sugar and Bitch.

For me, the 1994 Virgin editions remains the best way to hear Sticky Fingers and all post-1971 material. For the most part (a few exceptions aside), the ABKCO 2002 remasters, remains the best way to hear the sixties material.
I have only bought the new Sticky Fingers edition because of the great bonus material.

Really sorry they chose to use this highly compressed master for the 2015 reissues. I've heard they sound pretty good but I suspect that is mostly because they are such great songs and initially recorded and produced so well. My ears just get fatigued listening to these "loud" masters.

It's the more quiet passages and notes within the tunes and their relation to the louder ones which was an integral part of the performances and original recordings and it's somewhat criminal to allow a mastering engineer to change them, imo.

peace

I agree with the disappointment over the high compression. However, unless my ears have deceived me I would say the vinyl sounds excellent. I had to turn the knob almost double to get the same loudness as the bonus record. Hope this info helps some of you. Cheers.

unless my ears have deceived me I would say the vinyl sounds excellent.

It's possible they used a less compressed version of the 2009 remaster for the vinyl. The 2009 remasters were also used for the Singles 1971-2006 box set but some tracks are less compressed than on the regular CD's...
Also, most likely the vinyl was cut from a high resolution digital master, which can highly improve the sound quality.