New Metallica Album

[Full Monty]

James, so you think RHCP Californication, Stadium Arcadium SOAD, Hypnotise, Mesmerise Slayer Chris Illusion are "good sounding" albums? They have all been slammed for their sound quality, No doubt they contain good songs, and Rubin coaxes good performances from the artists, that is not being questioned.

Death Magnetic is Metallicas best release since AJFA, but it is a terrible sounding album, provoked comments from Well known sound engineers etc.

The albums he has been associated with over the past decade have all sounded very average due to the hot / compressed mixes (loudness war trend).

Many believe his right hand man Greg Fidelman is the culprit, as Rubin has stated he doesn't get involved with the technical mixing any more, just gives direction.

Stadium Arcadium was re-mastered by Steve Hoffman, after a petition signed by thousands of fans was circulated.

The petition to have Death Magnetic re-mixed has reached 7-8000 in just a week.

The problem stems from the record companies wanting to mix music as close to 0db as possible so it sounds loud on sh*tty average systems (car radio's etc)....The problem is that this squashes any dynamic out of the music, everything is the same level....In this case, the album audibly clips right through it.

I have a high end system (20+k), also have high end Grado headphones / amp etc) it is unlistenable on a good - detail resolving system.

[Full Monty]

But bare in mind, a lot of people judge sound quality from torrents they download, which are ripped from CDs and sound farkin crap to begin with!

that's the irony of this situation, the downloaded rips of the Death Magnetic songs from Guitar Hero 3 sound much better than the retail release. Certainly sets a precedent.

Its stated that the game developers received Stems of the final recording - separate instruments, well before the final mix was completed, due to the lead time required to put the game together.

They were then entrusted to do the mix themselves, and it sounds 100% better than the retail disc, and these are low bitrate .ogg files! that's how bad it is.

I honestly think it was a f*ck up in the final mix, I mean its that bad...My wife commented within 1 minute of putting the disc in for the first listen "WTF is wrong with the system?"

its interesting, that the Metallica official forum was completely overwhelmed with new members asking the same question about the dodgey sound quality...then surely enough, posts started getting deleted...It has totally been swept under the carpet, so not to affect sales.

The Mastering Engineer accredited to this album Ted Jensen came out and stated that the final mixes delivered to him were already brickwalled and smashed to hell. He has since been removed from the credits in the booklet. Doesnt want to be associated with it.

I reckon they will quietly phase in a revised master to production, so as to not have to re-imburse people who bought from the first few batches.

[R-SPEC]

I'm in total agreeance about the final mix, I was just saying Rick has nothing to do with it. He's definately the best producer in the world and caused a musical epiphany back in the 90s.

I haven't heard the Metallica album so I can't comment, but Californication sounded sh*thouse on CD, you only have to listen to the first track Around the World to tell how bad it was, and By The Way was a shocking mix too. Stadium Arcadium didn't sound too bad, at least the copy I bought when I was in the states about a week before it was released sounded awesome, and that was a prerelease radio station copy. Even on that one there are certain levels that are a bit off. I haven't heard the remastered copy before. You only have to hear the Peppers live to tell how it should sound on a CD. They write and record their songs basically the same way as they play on stage, then they go into a separate room and lay down the final track. I've adapted this into the bands I've been in/are in and it makes for such a better sound.

Even through the best sound gear, the sound is only as good as what you're hearing it from. Maybe they're doing it on purpose to sell more concert tickets hah

[mitchf6]

what an intense film clip.

yeah im with you on that one felt like I was watching a movie, but track 5 goes nuts best track on the entire album

unforgiven 3 is a let down completly..

[adzza17]

It most f*cken definately doesnt sound anything like the black album. That is one of the best recordings / production still to this day.

Death Magnetic has an issue with the mix, where the whole recording is compressed with limiters, constant clipping and audible distortion of the drums.

Its believed the problem is in the final mix, which Fidelman and Rubin are responsible. Tons of articles on the sh*tty sound issue already, Rolling stone, wired, various music production / mixing engineers have commented on it.

Its a real shame...I love the album, but its the worst sounding album I own, out of around 300.

go to metallicabb.com to read more about it, the forum is overflowing with upset fans.

If you want to hear how it was meant to sound, look for the Guitar Hero flac file rips on various torrent sites, it is how the album is supposed to sound, mixing etc much better, and it doesnt suffer the extreme compression / over loudness, so it breathes allot better.

There are reports that not all the release batches were produced from the same master disc, but the 1st and 2nd batches here in Aus are affected (I bought both, in the hope that they had fixed it).

Settle down

I'm not talking about the quality of sound

Talking about the music they play