Metallicas "Death Magnetic" and the Loudness War

[Brikar99]

I've heard about this trend before, but I've never really seen much "mainstream" attention paid to it - the idea that new release CDs are are heavily compressed, sacrificing sound quality for "loudness" so that you don't have to turn up the volume on your stereo quite so high.

Here's an interesting look at the recent Metallica album, "Death Magnetic", which was simultaneously released as DLC for "Guitar Hero III".

http://mastering-media.blogspot.com/2008/09/metallica-death-magnetic-sounds-better.html

http://mastering-media.blogspot.com/2008/09/metallica-death-magnetic-stop-loudness.html

People started noticing that the sound quality of the songs in GH3 was much better than on the CD. I have to agree.

What do you guys think? Is the trend of loudness over quality worth it? Or should we just deal with having to turn the nob a couple more notches?

 

[msbae]

Regardless of how they record the master, I'll turn the knob a few notches anyway. If it's too damn loud, you're too damn old... or your ears are bleeding...

Also, I don't believe the sound quality of this disc is any less high-quality than the other MetallicA albums that were recorded with digital equipment.

Something tells me this is the result of an audio snob or two...

To be completely open and up-front about everything, the files were mp3s - not the best sources

I'm not a big Metallica fan

Those quotes just say it all...

Also, I don't have any Guitar Hero games or fancy audio equipment. How could I know about the album being 'distorted'?

 

[Brikar99]

Well for one thing, Rob Trujillo's bass comes through much clearer. I can actually pick him out and focus on the bass line in the Guitar Hero tracks, whereas he mostly disappears when I listen to the CD.

 

[Aldo]

I've always noticed differences in GH tracks vs. the actual song (whether it's on CD, record or what have you). Usually the instrument parts are mixed a tad louder for the games, because that's the whole point, you're playing a guitar (or in the case of Rock Band, drums too).

 

[Chindogu]

I totally noticed this the first time I listened to the album. So did most people I know that were listening to it. And that was before I even knew there was this "huge" out cry from fans about the issue.

Personally, I think music should sound decent on any kind of middle level consumer audio equipment. This album does not and that is the main reason I've found it hard to get into. I just watched the making of DVD yesterday and the songs sound so much better to me while they were doing the actually tracking and pre-final mix playbacks of the songs. The drums had far more definition and I could actually hear what Rob was playing on the bass, all of which was totally lost on the album.

But Metallica albums have, for the most part, always had pretty crappy fidelity. I hope that they go back and remix there early albums, and now this one too, some day. I would love to hear a properly mixed version of ...And Justice For All.

 

[msbae]

I want to hear the Black Album on Vinyl, just to see what that would be like...

 

[Canadave]

Regardless of how they record the master, I'll turn the knob a few notches anyway. If it's too damn loud, you're too damn old... or your ears are bleeding...

That's not the issue. The issue is that music is often mastered artificially loudly, meaning that the clarity and detail of the music can be lost.

This video describes the problem fairly well, and [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQyPF3TwNT4&feature=related']this one[/url] compares a re-released version of a Smiths song to the original.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

*ahemVAPOR TRAILSahem*

 

[JonathonWally]

I want to hear the Black Album on Vinyl, just to see what that would be like...

It's good. It's not like it's mixed any differently. And like all vinyl, depends on how good your needle is and your actual turntable.

If you can't find a good vinyl store near you, you can always order it online. I may head down to my awesome record store next week and pick up Death Magnetic on vinyl, just because I'm a completist and have all Metallica's albums on vinyl.

I would love to hear a properly mixed version of ...And Justice For All.

Well. according to James and Lars, it is mixed properly, they just hated Newsted.

 

[Brikar99]

I would love to hear a properly mixed version of ...And Justice For All.

Well. according to James and Lars, it is mixed properly, they just hated Newsted.

At the time, yeah. They were intrested in "pushing" the guitars and the drums as much as possible. But in the years since, Hetfield at least has come out and admitted that he doesn't quite care for the way the album sounds, and I've seen at least one televised interview where the band said they wouldn't mind going back and redoing it.

 

[SalvorHardin]

Wow...I found and just listened a GH3 rip of Death Magnetic.

It's truly amazing how much better it sounds than the Cd retail version.
I did not expect it.