Metallica Fans Upset Over “Death Magnetic” Compression

[bandphan]

http://www.cepro.com/article/metallica_fans_upset_over_death_magnetic_compression/

but Lars is ok with it, he has been doing some critical listening in his car

 

[Gimpy Ric]

I'm waiting on my CD to be delivered as I ordered it from Amazon. From what I've heard on on XM Radio, Lars sounds like crap, to put it nicely. Even their older stuff sounds better to me, like Master of Puppets for example.

Try and find that petition to have it remixed. I'll sign it.

Ric

 

[jamie2112]

Lars is a tool. Even the crew who has been with them forever says he is a total A**. It sounds great from what Lars says. Sooooo far from reality this Toolbag is. He is a mediocre drummer as it is and now even more people in the buisness will take him for what he is. A joke. The record sounds like absolute crap. It is unlistenable to me and the mastering really had nothing to do with this, It was Rubins engineer who made the final mixes wayyy to hot. Rick Rubin doesn't ever touch a knob,he doesn't mix himself he has his studio croney do it. I am sick of these "big budget " bands with their million dollar recordings who make terrible recordings and then tell fans they sound great.PHsss what a bunch of crap....I have a few buddys who work for Metallica and if it weren't for the money they would be touring with someone else as Lars is a total control freak and constantly *****es at the crew when the littlest thing is wrong or out of place....This is the real world..Stuff happens get over it. Sorry for the rant but Lars is a TOOL....

 

[Matt34]

Did you see there was a link to a Metallica fan club where one of them wrote Ted Jenson who *mastered the album. Here was his response to the fan:

Thanks for writing.



I’m certainly sympathetic to your reaction, I get to slam my head against that brick wall every day. In this case the mixes were already brick walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice it to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here. Believe me I’m not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else.

 

[jamie2112]

Did you see there was a link to a Metallica fan club where one of them wrote Ted Jenson who mixed the album. Here was his response to the fan:

Ted Jensen is a Mastering engineer. He did not mix the record......

 

[Adam]

Jamie, I love reading your thoughts on this stuff, as you are a man in the business.

 

[Matt34]

Ted Jensen is a Mastering engineer. He did not mix the record......

LOL, I get them mixed up cause I don't know the difference.

 

[jamie2112]

LOL, I get them mixed up cause I don't know the difference.

The mastering engineer takes the finished mixes and "masters" them. Meaning he makes all the final eq and compression to make the recording as polished as possible.The mastering engineer is mixing a 2 track stereo mix and does not bring individual levels up or down. The mix engineer is the one who actually "mixes" all the sounds you hear meaning levels of instruments and vocals. I don't really know how to explain it in laymans terms but that is the gist of it...

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Jamie, I love reading your thoughts on this stuff, as you are a man in the business.

Yeah I'm glad Jamie is around to explain this stuff to us laymen. Thank's Jamie!

 

[jamie2112]

No problem Ric ....your penguin scares me....

 

[Djizasse]

For all you guys disgusted with this, take a look at the soundtrack of Guitar Hero III. It has a much better mix.

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

 

[Adam]

For all you guys disgusted with this, take a look at the soundtrack of Guitar Hero III. It has a much better mix.

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

Been there, done that.

Just kidding with you, Djizasse! Thanks for the additional link.

 

[gus6464]

At least after this fiasco if they ever decide to come out with another album it will definitely not sell as much.

Hey jamie what can we use to test to see if a record is compressed heavily or not? Is there a free app or something out there I can download to check and see if some of my Spanish albums are just as compressed?

 

[avaserfi]

At least after this fiasco if they ever decide to come out with another album it will definitely not sell as much.

Hey jamie what can we use to test to see if a record is compressed heavily or not? Is there a free app or something out there I can download to check and see if some of my Spanish albums are just as compressed?

Audacity is the best bet for free: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

[itschris]

What actually happens to the sound when you compress it? What's the result? How does a compressed song sound vs uncompressed?

I play guitar a bit and I have a Line6 effects setup. I have a compression setting that I use all the time. It makes things sound different, but I'm not sure what's actually happening. I have a PRS Custom 22 and a Fender Hot Rod Delux amp. The sound is completely different when using just compression vs plugged straight into the amp.

Jamie, can you give some insight on what's actually taking place.

 

[jamie2112]

At least after this fiasco if they ever decide to come out with another album it will definitely not sell as much.

Hey jamie what can we use to test to see if a record is compressed heavily or not? Is there a free app or something out there I can download to check and see if some of my Spanish albums are just as compressed?

Andrew just got it for you. Audacity is the best free program out there to test your recordings. I have it on my mac even though I have a ton of other programs at my disposal I still use Audacity to record live at shows It is very easy to use and there is a tutorial with the program for new users...

 

[avaserfi]

What actually happens to the sound when you compress it? What's the result? How does a compressed song sound vs uncompressed?

I play guitar a bit and I have a Line6 effects setup. I have a compression setting that I use all the time. It makes things sound different, but I'm not sure what's actually happening. I have a PRS Custom 22 and a Fender Hot Rod Delux amp. The sound is completely different when using just compression vs plugged straight into the amp.

Jamie, can you give some insight on what's actually taking place.

Check this out: http://avsoundlab.com/articles/dynamic compression.htm

You can read the article then check out the sample files to hear the difference for yourself. Do note, this is just compression with no artifacts. It seems that in practice most compressed music also have significant artifacting (like clipping) that occurs as well. The end result of just compression is a lack of life like musical reproduction. Everything sounds subjectively flat and when the clipping and other distortions are added in it just sounds like noise.

There are current efforts to expand upon this study thanks to Jamie, actually.

 

[jamie2112]

I am sorry I would answer you Chris but Andrew did it again. I am in a studio in NYC tring to finish this damn recording for VH1 and I have to drive back to MD in a little while, like 30 minutes. I will get with you later Chris if you still need some understanding of Compression. I am popping in and out on this forum tonight and now I have to sign off and finish this. Andrew I am getting that out to our mutual buddy tomorrow....Have a good night guys...

 

[gus6464]

Ok so here is the measurement of a song from the new Dido album.

Is it safe to say that this is for the most part a well made recording and that it doesn't exhibit much dynamic compression at all?

 

[gus6464]

Here is Muse - Supermassive Black Hole for a comparison

Yikes! No wonder I hate the way their cd's sound and why they sound 1000000x better live.