[Decipher]

I bought this album the week it came out and noticed the clipping right away. Great album otherwise, but it's really hard to listen to in my truck's CD player. I notice it the most in there.

I saw this today and can't help but post. I LOL'd.

[Moloch]

Indeed, unless you have shitty speakers (i.e most pc speakers) the clipping is quite noticeable, especially on a decent pair of headphones, like my grados.
The first track on the album I was wondering of the erm.. rip I got was bad, when james palm mutes it's even worse. amazing. Btw anyone else think the first track seems to be the worst when it comes to clipping?

[Mattayus]

fucking hell, this thread was on like page 3 last time i looked.

I haven't listened to the album yet, is the clipping really that bad? It's weird, I find it hard to believe that a band that huge, with a producer that well known and that revered would produce an album that clipped by accident. It must be an intentional statement, a 'fuck you' to the loudness war perhaps? Or maybe they're trying to start a new trend - "this band's so heavy you can't record them without it clipping!"

i dont know, but this whole thing doesn't really wash with me. I think it's intentional and is probably supposed to go with the feel of the album

[F1Filter]

Originally Posted by Mattayus

I haven't listened to the album yet, is the clipping really that bad?

Yes, it's fucking horrible. I don't know about anyone else. But I have the CD solely to justify downloading the "remastered" versions online. Because it really is that flipping lousy.

i dont know, but this whole thing doesn't really wash with me. I think it's intentional and is probably supposed to go with the feel of the album

If this hasn't been posted yet. METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Breaks Silence On 'Death Magnetic' Sound Quality Controversy - Sep. 29, 2008

Although Lars, IMHO, has no business commenting on sound quality when it's been know for quite sometime that he's got a very bad case of tinnitus. Of course he can't hear all the clipping. He's got no more hearing left in that frequency range!

[playstopause]

^

So there you go.
Like Darren expressed, it's an "artistic direction" they chose to take.

[TomAwesome]

Okay, I finally gave the album a listen. I'm on the last track now. The limiting sucks, and the clipping is a lot more audible than I expected, but I don't think it's really as bad overall as everyone keeps saying it is. The limiting/clipping seems to be a lot worse in some parts than others. On the last track I'm listening to right now, for instance, it's pretty bad. The first track was pretty bad, too. A lot of this album gives me some ear fatigue and a little bit of a headache, but I've honestly heard other albums that sound a lot worse. There have been several albums that I couldn't even force myself to listen through because the compression/limiting was messing with my head that badly. However, the really obvious clipping is new to me.

Having put that into relative perspective, though, I still have to say that this album is very poorly mixed. It's sad that such a big budget band can't get a proper recording.

[damigu]

Originally Posted by F1Filter

If this hasn't been posted yet. METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Breaks Silence On 'Death Magnetic' Sound Quality Controversy - Sep. 29, 2008

i like how everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else.

ted jensen is saying "it wasn't my mastering, the final mix i got was already that way."

and at the end of this article, lars is saying, "rubin wanted it loud and lively and we tried it his way."

no one is willing to accept responsibility for this abysmal production!
i'd be denying responsibility for it, too.

[Stealthtastic]

Originally Posted by damigu

i like how everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else.

ted jensen is saying "it wasn't my mastering, the final mix i got was already that way."

and at the end of this article, lars is saying, "rubin wanted it loud and lively and we tried it his way."

no one is willing to accept responsibility for this abysmal production!
i'd be denying responsibility for it, too.

Cant blame them, especially rubin, admitting crap producing would be suicide.

[Korbain]

the band, the mixer, the producer, the whole team should be shot for that! lol that is sooooooo bad! Common fucking sense lol. what were they thinking "ok up everything 109db"

[Moloch]

I hear they actually wanted it to be closer 140Db- i.e a jet plane, but the mixer told him that wasnt technically possible on a cd so he did the next best thing- compressed it to hell and even let it clip.. massivly.
Btw for those of you that has metallica's whole catalog on their computer- listen to a track from black album(or any album really) and then any track from this one.. amazing how much louder (and shitter sounding) it is. Btw I was somewhat surprised that the black album is actually quieter than AJFA given it's slick production- I looked at Foobar's replay gain values for the two albums, opened it up in nero wave editior to confirm, kind of funny I think that the slick production (in comparison) is actually quieter than their older albums, i expected it to be a bit louder and compressed, i think the (triggered?) snare sound is one reason I figured it was more compressed then it seemed to be.

[Mattayus]

I think the Black Album was quiet because it was a very dynamic album. It has 10 x more layers than the previous albums, so to even compress and raise the volume a little bit would sound crazy.

[oompa]

relating to topic, the black album is production-history within metal, in many people's (and my) opinion, probably the best production ever within the genre

[damigu]

Originally Posted by oompa

relating to topic, the black album is production-history within metal, in many people's (and my) opinion, probably the best production ever within the genre

possibly the best production within metal at the time, yes. it seems to be among of the first time that they took the clarity, openness, and definition of pop production and applied it to metal.
though i would hesitate to say "ever"--i think that many metal albums today have even better production that is fuller and richer sounding, better utilizing surround channels, etc. but metallica's self titled was definitely a big step forward in metal sound engineering.

[Moloch]

Originally Posted by Mattayus

I think the Black Album was quiet because it was a very dynamic album. It has 10 x more layers than the previous albums, so to even compress and raise the volume a little bit would sound crazy.

Well the snare makes it seem not dynamic at all (same sound everytime...).
Btw devin townsend uses a shitload of layers in his SYL and DTB albums yet he compresses teh living shit of his stuff.

[Mattayus]

Yeah but he's working with equipment that's nearly 20 years more advanced than the Black Album days don't forget. Production capability has come a long way since then

[Moloch]

Compression is still compression

[Lucky Seven]

Last thing I listened to before getting this album was that J-Metal band, Loudness. \m/

[Harry]

Originally Posted by F1Filter

Yes, it's fucking horrible. I don't know about anyone else. But I have the CD solely to justify downloading the "remastered" versions online. Because it really is that flipping lousy.



If this hasn't been posted yet. METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Breaks Silence On 'Death Magnetic' Sound Quality Controversy - Sep. 29, 2008

Although Lars, IMHO, has no business commenting on sound quality when it's been know for quite sometime that he's got a very bad case of tinnitus. Of course he can't hear all the clipping. He's got no more hearing left in that frequency range!

It's sad, but true (if you excuse the pun).

I wanted to shit bricks when I saw the comment by that guy RudeBill


"also, 12,000 signatures of complaint out of nearly a million cd's sold in the US alone, that's an extreme minority. Shut up already."'


I don't understand how anyone can say the opinions of 12 000 people that actually understand the concepts of mixing and mastering is less meaningful than 988 000 people who haven't complained because they are too ignorant in the first place to know there is something wrong with the mix and mastering of what they are listening too.
The more this "it's cool to be the ignorant majority" mentality abounds, the worse we can expect the future of music to be and even the whole of society to be.

Let's hope something good can come out of all of this eventually.

[garthfluff]

I want what ever set up Lars is running in his car (the best listening environment...) that doesn't make this CD sound like ass.

[TomAwesome]

Originally Posted by garthfluff

I want what ever set up Lars is running in his car (the best listening environment...) that doesn't make this CD sound like ass.

It's called severe hearing loss.

[damigu]

Originally Posted by Mattayus

Yeah but he's working with equipment that's nearly 20 years more advanced than the Black Album days don't forget. Production capability has come a long way since then

that's just an excuse, and not a good one.
i have *RECORDS* from the 70's that have better production than most metal from before the mid-90's. 20 years before metallica's self titled, the equipment was already capable of doing better than what was on that album. so it was just a matter of getting the right staff in the tracking/mixing/mastering room.

it isn't about the equipment (to a point, anyway)--it's about the ears and musical understanding of the tracking/mixing/mastering engineers, and the producer's "vision" and how much he may or may not force it on the engineers.

[TonalArchitect]

YOU'VE BEEN BRICKWALLED!

YouTube - Rick Roll

We’re no strangers to recording
You know the rules and so do I
Total compression’s what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t want dynamics running too wild

I just want to ride the zeros
Gotta make the record bland

Never have to turn it up
Gonna have to turn it down
It clips and limits and it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Nuance is gonna die
It won’t hurt you

You’ve heard dynamics for so long
Come on they’re boring… Are you too weak to say it?
Besides we both know what’s gonna go on
You bought this disk and you’re gonna play it

And if you ask me if it’s clipping
Don’t tell me you can’t hear.

Never have to turn it up
It’s way too loud
It clips and limits and it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Nuance is gonna die
It won’t hurt you

Never have to turn it up
Gonna have to turn it down
It clips and limits and it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Nuance is gonna die
It won’t hurt you

Ohhh squash that wave
Ohhh squash that wave
Never gonna let
Never gonna let
Let it breath
Ohhh squash that wave
Ohhh squash that wave
Never gonna let
Never gonna let
Let it breath

Limiter’s been going for so long
It sounds like broken Glass but we’ll never say it
Besides we both know what’s gonna go on
You bought this disk and you’re gonna play it
I just want to ride the zeros
Gotta make the record bland

Never have to turn it up
Brickwalled at the mix down
So much distortion that it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Dynamics are gonna die
It won’t hurt you

Never have to turn it up
It’s way too loud
It clips and limits and it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Nuance is gonna die
It won’t hurt you


Never have to turn it up
Gonna have to turn it down
It clips and limits and it hurts you
It’ll make you cry
Make you just ask “why?”
Nuance is gonna die
It won’t hurt you

[Ror3h]

Originally Posted by TonalArchitect

YOU'VE BEEN BRICKWALLED!

HOLY LOL

[steveljohn8]

yes i like the music,but you know there is some discrepancy in it so anyway but thank you for your sharing this topic here.

[drmosh]

Originally Posted by steveljohn8

yes i like the music,but you know there is some discrepancy in it so anyway but thank you for your sharing this topic here.

so you resurrect this thread to say essentially nothing?