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"death magnetic" slated for garbage mastering...
Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:42 pm
by claw
was at work today and got forwarded some articles regarding the new metallica cd "death magnetic"
seems that the cd version of the release was brick wall mastered, distorts, and generally sounds like shit.....though arguably, thats metallicas 'sound' and nothing had changed at all
heres the funny part though....the versions of the same songs used for the video game guitar hero were mastered less heavily

so....have a look at this pic comparing the 2 wav forms...top is the less mastered version for guitar hero, bottom is the commercially sold cd.....and read the public statement from the mastering house in this article
http://mastering-media.blogspot.com/200 ... etter.html
could this lead to the public finally understanding that loud does not equal quality?
heres a youtube a/b of the masters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyIACDCc1I
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:20 am
by spencertron
interesting,
The mastering engineers claimed the album was already in a bad state before they got it. they're suggesting they didn't cause this. although the A/B would suggest otherwise. it's confusing.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:59 am
by black lotus
i heard the album and thought overall it was produced like shit. snares are too loud, vocals are too dry, etc. the whole things sounds really bad, imho. a couple tracks are alright, but overall it was incredibly weak. this information doesn't really surprise me at all, but is more like a testament to the loudness war.
if you haven't read about it, check this link out:
http://www.turnmeup.org/
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:50 am
by abZ
That looks like it would hurt to listen to. For more than one reason. To think when I was a kid, I thought Metallica was the best ever. They should have disbanned when Cliff died. Actually I dig Garage Days and Justice, but after that they are dead to me. At least dance music isn't the only ones that are victims of the loudness wars. All I listen to anymore is stuff from the late 60's to mid 70's. It's amazing how beautifully recorded those albums where compared to today. Shame on everyone.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:04 am
by misk
metallica can fucking blow me to begin with. they suck ass, and i wont listen to any of their shit.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:09 am
by Sharmaji
it's like asking rick rubin to save nixon.
"I can't help this man. he's already dead."
Fuck you, metallica. So entertained to hear they're pleased to get the hype from having one of their shitpile tunes leaked via les interwebz. Oh the irony.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:32 am
by misk
i would go out of my way to pirate metallica tunes just because it would piss them off.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:50 am
by whineo
abZ wrote: I thought Metallica was the best ever. They should have disbanned when Cliff died. .
really? I thought the black album was great
Justice for all and Master of Puppets were sick as well - were these Jason Newsted days?? Pretty sure Justice was not sure about Puppets?
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:48 am
by Disco Nutter
Oh... my... God! My girlfriend wanted me to buy her this cd. Seeing this... Maybe she won't get it soon...
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:30 pm
by abZ
Whineo wrote:abZ wrote: I thought Metallica was the best ever. They should have disbanned when Cliff died. .
really? I thought the black album was great
Justice for all and Master of Puppets were sick as well - were these Jason Newsted days?? Pretty sure Justice was not sure about Puppets?
You must be younger. When the Black album came out we were all like WTF? Cliff's last album was Puppets, he died on that tour. Jason came in and did Garage Days and then Justice. Although I can't hear any bass guitar on Justice.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:42 pm
by monstrous
abZ wrote: Although I can't hear any bass guitar on Justice.
thats cuz Lars wanted his bassdrum louder apparantly, in those days if you wanted 1 part loud another part had to be quiter.
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:12 pm
by setspeed
abZ wrote:Whineo wrote:abZ wrote: I thought Metallica was the best ever. They should have disbanned when Cliff died. .
really? I thought the black album was great
Justice for all and Master of Puppets were sick as well - were these Jason Newsted days?? Pretty sure Justice was not sure about Puppets?
You must be younger. When the Black album came out we were all like WTF?
yes! the black album was shite!
well, in some respects it was great i suppose - it was certainly 'of it's time', it sold bazillions and lifted metallica into the stratosphere. but when you listen to everything before it, it seems like they suddenly turned into middle aged men overnight. if i wanted acoustic balladry and mid paced plodders like enter fucking sandman i'd buy a neil young record. metallica were supposed to be balls-out thrash band. what happened? - this was more my thought process, anyway!
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:22 am
by james fox
setspeed wrote:if i wanted mid paced plodders like enter fucking sandman i'd buy a neil young record
yeah you might want to keep the receipt for that one mairte

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:18 am
by whineo
setspeed wrote:abZ wrote:Whineo wrote:abZ wrote: I thought Metallica was the best ever. They should have disbanned when Cliff died. .
really? I thought the black album was great
Justice for all and Master of Puppets were sick as well - were these Jason Newsted days?? Pretty sure Justice was not sure about Puppets?
You must be younger. When the Black album came out we were all like WTF?
yes! the black album was shite!
well, in some respects it was great i suppose - it was certainly 'of it's time', it sold bazillions and lifted metallica into the stratosphere. but when you listen to everything before it, it seems like they suddenly turned into middle aged men overnight. if i wanted acoustic balladry and mid paced plodders like enter fucking sandman i'd buy a neil young record. metallica were supposed to be balls-out thrash band. what happened? - this was more my thought process, anyway!
was more in to Kirk Hammets Solos tbh as they were just about managable to play reading from the guitar tab books lol
Puppets blatently the best album
Cant say that I was really feeling much thrash, was more in to my alternative
Re: "death magnetic" slated for garbage mastering.
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:33 am
by phobang
claw wrote:could this lead to the public finally understanding that loud does not equal quality?
I don't know, do you finally understand what I keep telling you now?

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:40 am
by phobang
The first album that I really noticed was unlistenable was this Rush album I had. Normally records from the 70's and 80's sounds pretty warm and clean, but this was rough rough rough.
An yea, Black Album was the death of Metallica.. the only good song on there was Don't Tread On Me. The rest of it was FAIL Blog material.
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:11 pm
by black lotus
phobang wrote:The first album that I really noticed was unlistenable was this Rush album I had. Normally records from the 70's and 80's sounds pretty warm and clean, but this was rough rough rough.
An yea, Black Album was the death of Metallica.. the only good song on there was Don't Tread On Me. The rest of it was FAIL Blog material.
it's easy to say black album was the death of metallica. unless you're older than 25, or have older siblings who were into metallica, chances are black album was the first metallica you ever heard. it was for me and i liked it.. until i got into their older stuff. even still, i will hear it and it is nostalgia for me. i can't slate it too much. everything after black is complete fuckall, however.
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:19 pm
by phobang
I'm older than 25. Black Album was completely selling out everything they had previously stood for. Musically, sure the production was on point... there was a good producer behind it. I didn't like the juxtaposition of Black Album and real METALlica
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:23 pm
by black lotus
phobang wrote:I'm older than 25. Black Album was completely selling out everything they had previously stood for. Musically, sure the production was on point... there was a good producer behind it. I didn't like the juxtaposition of Black Album and real METALlica
i actually think load was the real death of metallica.
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:41 pm
by phobang
black lotus wrote:phobang wrote:I'm older than 25. Black Album was completely selling out everything they had previously stood for. Musically, sure the production was on point... there was a good producer behind it. I didn't like the juxtaposition of Black Album and real METALlica
i actually think load was the real death of metallica.
Ugh. Now in comparison to Load, Black Album is the best shit that ever happened. That's VERY bad shit right there.