Comments on: Metallica and The Loudness Wars
By ian on 09-26-08
Mainly correct, but actually it’s not the recording or the underlying production causing the problems.
The infinitely superior Guitar Hero 3 version of the record shows that the music was recorded and produced relatively well (and that Guitar Hero were sent the files prior to butchery) however, at the mixing stage the tracks were heavily compressed and “brick-walled” thus removing virtually all the dynamics and causing distortion throughout the entire record.
Fans have resorted to extracting and distributing the Guitar Hero version of the album, which although not perfect, is still superior. Wave-form analysis of the Guitar Hero versions have borne out this assertion as comparison of the retail CD and Guitar Hero versions show vastly different wave-forms.
An online petition has reached over 11,000 names since Sept 10th and given that not everyone who is unhappy will either take action or be aware of the petition, it is perhaps not such a tiny minority after all.
By i would rather not say on 09-26-08
The horrible mixing job of Death Magnetic is such that it has actually rendered the songs quite a bit different from those the band actually recorded. To put it bluntly: dynamically speaking, Death Magnetic is an exercise in mixing mistakes 101.
Given the importance of this record at this stage of Metallica’s career, I am shocked James and Lars allowed this mix to be delivered to Jenson in the extremely brickwalled state it was.
Given the ever expanding number of negative reviews damning the sound quality, Death Magnetic’s huge sale figures only attest to a younger generation’s conditioning via exposure to the inferior products of the loudness wars.
The dismissive tone abundant in a statement issued by Metallica’s management( defending the album’s sound quality)
it would seem Metallica may not care about too much beyond the successful money machine Death Magnetic has proven itself to be thus far.
Given the emerging popularity of the Guitar Hero version’s of the songs, I don’t envision CD sales will continue to bring in much more money. And can you really heap scorn upon the kids who are even now downloading Guitar Hero ‘rips’? With Death Magnetic in it’s present state, Metallica have actually encouraged what they once stood against, namely: illegal file sharing. Surely the irony of this will weigh heavily on the mind of lars Ulrich - if not, it should.
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