This technique has been used for years to create an album that "pops" on the radio. Since most people have crappy stereos (like in their cars), by dynamically cranking up the volume in the mid-range, you can make the song sound fuller. The problem is that for anyone that cares about quality and/or has some decent equipment, it sounds like ass, since all the loud parts have been clipped and all the quite parts have been amped up, and all the highs and lows have been nerfed.

Originally it was a style done with music production methods, now it's just done by some yahoo with CoolEdit Pro in post-production. Look up "wall of sound": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound

But it wasn't a "mistake". No way a huge album goes out the door without a few audio engineers reviewing it. They made a conscious decision to do this to it so it plays better on the radio.

Metallica has been doing that since "St. Anger."

Are you saying they think the sound quality on an 14-24 year old's video game TV set is better than most vehicles "Bose" sound system or home stereo or even a decent set of iPod headphones? Not very logical IMHO.

The recording industry makes specific mixes/release constantly for radio that are different from the album versions. There are Torrents full of them. :)

Do you honestly believe mistakes don't make it to production in the audio industry and that they might make a financial decision over a audiophile one?

I think the coders of Guitar Hero aren't as jaded, and actually care about the quality of their product as opposed to the producers of Metallica albums. Plus, they had access to the split tracks of the songs in order to make the game... so all they had to do was not intentionally ruin them before publishing the game.

As far as the quality of the album... I assure you, a big "mistake" like this isn't a mistake. If the general public is hearing the quality problem, it would have been caught before they printed a million of them. It's very likely, since it's Metallica, that they have intentionally jacked up the quality of the album so when it's made into an MP3 it really sounds like ass to discourage piracy.

And I *certainly* believe that the industry makes money a priority over quality. That's where this whole problem came from, and was the point of my 1st post!

I have had little interest in metallica for a long time now. Don't get me wrong, I love their old stuff and listen to it all the time. I think Reload was the last album that I enjoyed. Its easy to be disappointed with the new stuff because they set the bar so high to start with. The latest DM album is better than St. Anger for sure. I just really don't care for Lars.
In other Music for 08...

I just picked up Worlds Collide by Apocalyptica and I dig it!
Its a 4 member band made up of 3 Cello players and a guy on drums. They don't have a singer but, they feature several singers from other bands. Here are 2 songs that I really enjoy.

I'm Not Jesus ft. Corey Taylor(slipknot)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrlvOYUay_4

I don't care ft. Adam Gontier(Three Days Grace)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu9ux...eature=related

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I guess they were made popular by playing Metallica and other metal songs with their Cellos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqUXD...eature=related

I gotta agree with Scott here, I highly doubt that the CD made it to stores being "mistakenly" compressed so badly. A lot of newer albums are being recorded like this, and they seem to be getting worse and worse. I can barely listen to "Californication" or "Stadium Arcadium" from RHCP for the same reason, and the clipping on the new Metallica record is even worse.

MP3s and iPods have ruined autocross. Or something like that.

If anyone is interested I found this torrent for Death Magnetic ripped from GH3 in FLAC format. I just started downloading so I will see how it is. http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4399...dings_from_GH3)

its okay... there are some slow songs that some minor clipping is apparent, but to anyone other than an audiophile it would be perfectly sufficient.

How does this "clipping" sound to a normal person? I understand what you guys are talking about, but not sure how it sounds. Does the quality just suck ass if the volume is up too loud? I do remember when I first listened to the album thinking it sounded louder than my other cds at the same volume.

More like it sounds like it's cranked up too loud, even when it's not.

Check out this video. It will explain it to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

The GH3 rip has no clipping. Thats the whole point in anyone wanting to download it.

Men Without Pants new Full Length just came out this week.


/haven't heard it yet, no comments. I just wanted to commit that sentence to electrons.

I've been listening to Drum and Bass artists on Pandora (apple app.) lately. I'm really enjoying Pendulum's newest release "In Silico". It really reminds me of Prodigy. I also enjoy Future Prophecies - Warlords Rising.

Anyone else have any sweet electronic beats to recommend?

Chromeo is bad ass, but it's not new in '08.

Time for a new music in 09 Thread? Lamb of God's new album "Wrath" is due out in Feb.

Not D&B, but the latest Flash Brothers release is sweet. it's called Elements 03.

I've been listening to Kaskade's "Strobelight Seduction" and Ferry Corsten's "Twice in a Blue Moon". Both are pretty sappy-sweet club-sounding house/trance... but I'll be damned if every song but one or two on Kaskade's album aren't top-notch for sticking in your head, and the same goes for the 1st half of Corsten's album. I know their sound is basically the trance equivalent of Katy Perry, but it's a guilty pleasure.

Deede, I bet you'd love that Kaskade album since you liked Sasha's "Airdrawndagger".

BTW: thread title changed to remove the year... why not make this the official music thread!

Good call.

In Silico is pretty good. I was actually surprised to hear Granite on KWOD this weekend whilst driving through Sacramento.

Anyway, for similar drum and bass-ish electronic stuff you should check out John B - Electrostep. Came out in '06 and is an 80s Electro/New Wave inspired drum and bass. I was just listening to it again the other day, and forgot how fun that album is.

John B - I've Been Stalking You On Myspace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96g1Cz4eJs

The Prodigy has a new album coming out soon, March I think called Invaders Must Die. The lead single has been released, but a lot of people are deriding it for sounding too much like Pendulum (which in my opinion isn't really all that bad). Supposedly the rest of the album is going back on their Fat of the Land form (with the two singers coming back) as opposed to Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.

Prodigy - Invaders Must Die (single)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EIogaEwxY

Yeah KWOD has been playing that song and Propane Nightmares. (sponsored by propane, hehe)
I'm actually really enjoying that radio station. At noon on Fridays they play an all punk show that is usually very well put together. I heard the Cobraskulls whom are from Reno. Pretty cool to hear a group from there. I'm learning to enjoy punk music.

KWOD was my favorite radio station growing up.

They used to do this sweet late night show of all this underground electro/industrial/rave crap that was awesome. Its still playing on Sat. nights, IIRC. DJ David X.

Mildly interesting news for today, if you are feeling like taking a trip to the 90s again.

Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction released a free EP for their tour with unreleased songs from the two groups as well as the opening act Street Sweeper (Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Boots Riley of The Coup).

http://www.ninja2009.com/