Horribly mastered albums

GospelTruth

I have to agree that a lot of the new stuff out there is way to loud and loses dynamics as a result. I used to think the remasters sounded better, but over time I find that more often than not, they can be more fatiguing to the ears.

I don't know if I stumbled on this site here or somewhere else, but here's a good place to look if you are trying to determine what version of an album to purchase.

http://dr.loudness-war.info

Put your artist/album combination in and see what's out there. This isn't the only thing to consider, but it does provide a good indication of dynamics on each album. You can also click on any album and it will give you the dynamic range of each song. There is a way for you to upload your CD information to this database as well, but I'll have to remember how you do that as this database is user driven.

As an example, here's the releases of Def Leppard, Hysteria over the years. The 2006 remasters are not kind to dynamic range compared to the original release.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=Def+Leppard&album=Hysteria

Anyway, good place to start when you are looking to purchase CDs (or other formats).

Michael

AsSiMiLaTeD

cfrizz wrote: »

I'm just the opposite, most of my cd collection are greatest hits albums, most of them sound pretty good to me. Are some of them mastered loud...yes, but I simply turn down the volume and enjoy.

Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. Once a CD has had the loudness treatment there's no going back, it's been ruined. Engineers get CDs louder by compressing their dynamic range, and that process is both destructive and permanent - the volume know can reduce the db but can't replace data that is no longer there.

AsSiMiLaTeD

A bit more of my take on the loudness thing...

There is also a misconception that everything with some dynamic range compression is completely worthless. There are plenty of albums out there with some dynamic range compression that sound great, the trick is getting it right. There are also some albums that are obnoxiously quiet as well and these albums could actually stand a small bump. Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue is an outstanding album with superb sound but is very quiet, I've not seen the graph of this album but I'm sure the volume could be increased a bit without sacrificing one single bit of dynamics or sound quality in any way.

IMO the ideal range is when none of the peaks are cut off, but still loud enough to make use of the full spectrum where the peaks cover the full range.

headrott

Yes- Yessongs (Laserdisc and DVD). The CD(s) are a little better, but still terrible.

GospelTruth

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

There is also a misconception that everything with some dynamic range compression is completely worthless. There are plenty of albums out there with some dynamic range compression that sound great, the trick is getting it right.
...
IMO the ideal range is when none of the peaks are cut off, but still loud enough to make use of the full spectrum where the peaks cover the full range.

Agreed. There are a few that I like on the remasters (Joe Satriani comes to mind), but more often than not, they can be worse. As you stated, there are some CDs that I have as well that seem rather "quiet" and could use an increase in volume without sacrificing dynamics. When ripping those CDs to my server, I experiment with normalizing the volume on those tracks and usually that helps.

soundfreak1

Thank god I love jazz, it allows me a good selection of music on DMP, WINDAM HILL, telarc lables, always very well mastered cd's.

gudnoyez

Rush Vapor-Trails was horrific so bad I never played it all the way through they corrected that issue with a new remaster of Vapor Trails another Bad one the new Queesryche with the new singer very good but sounds awful, another the new Judas Priest terrible I can't tolerate it, it's to the point where something new from and old band is not worth getting and anything from a new band is the same.

voltz

Head East LIVE old vinyl -Little Feat waiting for Columbus on new 180 g & Foghat Live old vinyl - are all excellent live albums

Toolfan66

Any album that says Back to Black, avoid them at all cost, I pick up clean originals or new Mobile Fidelity..

sandworms

Peter Gabriel, Us, I tried listening to this the other day and nearly threw it out. I looked for other releases and picked up the remastered version, it sounds a little better but I'm sure he put out a better disc than what I'm hearing

gudnoyez

sandworms wrote: »

Peter Gabriel, Us, I tried listening to this the other day and nearly threw it out. I looked for other releases and picked up the remastered version, it sounds a little better but I'm sure he put out a better disc than what I'm hearing

I agree the Gefen release of Us the original isn't compressed its just dull lifeless like you put a blanket over your speakers or stuffed your ears with cotton. I can tell you order the UK version of the remaster sounds way better I like it got to get my digging in the dirt fix my favorite Gabriel tune and now with my new copy of Us my favorite Gabriel effort.

Jhayman

I have to agree "US" is not a very nice recording..
I actually thought something was wrong with my system.
I am Happy that others have noticed this as well as I, which leads me to believe I have a a Good Ear..
On that note, I bought Steve Earle Copperhead road and it's a very Good recording..

Mike Reeter

cfrizz wrote: »

I have yet to come across a bad Eagles cd, they have always done an outstanding job in the studio.

And very good live recordings also, Hell Freezes Over sounds better than most studio work.

BeefJerky

Adele - 21

This is too bad because it's a very good album from a very talented singer. The vinyl version is actually a bit better and less distorted, but still not exempt from the loudness wars.

steveinaz

BeefJerky wrote: »

Adele - 21

This is too bad because it's a very good album from a very talented singer. The vinyl version is actually a bit better and less distorted, but still not exempt from the loudness wars.

Agreed, way too HOT on levels.

mikey1987

Mike Reeter wrote: »

And very good live recordings also, Hell Freezes Over sounds better than most studio work.

That was a great live album. Right up there with Waiting for Columbus.

Msabot1

steveinaz wrote: »

Agreed, way too HOT on levels.

. You are not kidding...this is a quality effort from a very good artist...I would love to get ahold of a good old analog LP of 21.....

Mike Reeter

Msabot1 wrote: »

. You are not kidding...this is a quality effort from a very good artist...I would love to get ahold of a good old analog LP of 21.....

Unfortunately there is no such thing, I bought my wife the LP and is dull and lifeless, no dynamics. It's was cut from a digital master, and very poorly at that...shame

BKphoto

new release of AC/DC Back in Black is horrible....ZZ top live album my wife got me sounds like they made the recording with a hand held tape recorder

Sci-fi Polk Guy

Up to just about ten years ago, most of the gospel music CD's were not very well mastered. They sounded compressed; not very much dynamic range at all. Today, however, that has changed. I'm pleased that I am getting a high quality product and wonderful music as well.

[Deleted User]

Oh yeah, I got rid of mine right away. I think my hair was still singed from the concert.

gudnoyez wrote: »

Rush Vapor-Trails was horrific so bad I never played it all the way through they corrected that issue with a new remaster of Vapor Trails another Bad one the new Queesryche with the new singer very good but sounds awful, another the new Judas Priest terrible I can't tolerate it, it's to the point where something new from and old band is not worth getting and anything from a new band is the same.

GospelTruth

Sci-fi Polk Guy wrote: »

Up to just about ten years ago, most of the gospel music CD's were not very well mastered. They sounded compressed; not very much dynamic range at all. Today, however, that has changed. I'm pleased that I am getting a high quality product and wonderful music as well.

I guess it depends on what you consider "gospel" music. If you consider it to include the Christian music scene, I have to disagree on this one. I would say most Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) follows the trend for all recorded music in that it is over compressed and lacks dynamic range. I have music from the 80's and early 90's that is well recorded and sounds great. However anything that I have in the last 10-20 years has suffered from the loudness wars to some extent or another.

Go to the Dynamic Range Database website (http://dr.loudness-war.info/) and navigate to the Links section and download the Windows software. You will get the DR-Meter application and can pull your music into that application and see what the overall dynamic range is as well as the dynamic range for each song on any album you have in a supported format on your PC. You can upload your results as well, contributing your information for others to see.

Maybe you like the way CDs are mastered now and if that's so, I'm happy for you. I wish I could enjoy them like you. However, I don't consider most CCM well mastered music today.

steveinaz

Most Country music seems very well mastered. Quite a few are HDCD as well.

Mike Reeter

steveinaz wrote: »

Most Country music seems very well mastered. Quite a few are HDCD as well.

Some of my best sounding music is by Travis Tritt, Kenny Chesney and yes, Merle Haggard.