Wow, Live's newer albums sound like crap...., NOT WHAT YOU THINK Options

[mattdm11]

this has nothing to do with bashing the band, per se....but with the state of cd mastering. submitted for your listening pleasure - two +live+ songs - mirror song, from mental jewelry, and simple creed, from V. i have done nothing to the tracks, except "equalize" them using mp3gain. mirror song was mastered at a decibel level of 92.4, and has minimal clipping (the effect of making the CD "louder", ruining the dynamic range in the process). simple creed was mastered at a staggering 99.9 dB. both have been reduced to a decibel level of 91.5 (technically, the way mp3gain works, mirror song is now 90.9 dB and simple creed is 90.8 - negligible difference). even though there is some clipping on mirror song, listen to how crisp everything sounds compared to the sludge that is simple creed. (as an FYI, simple creed is not even the "loudest" song on V - some tracks are over 100 dB.)

http://download.yousendit.com/A63C51C953CAAA7F (mirror song)

http://download.yousendit.com/8B5162D660812117 (simple creed)

its about time that fans start complaining about the way all these new cds are being mastered....hell, its driving me to vinyl its become so bad. its amazing that CDs recorded 15-20 years ago sound better than what comes out now....all for the sake of the loudness war. take a look at this 2 minute clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ


i stumbled upon this a few months ago, and to be honest, it has somewhat ruined my music listening. its so noticeable now...EVERY new CD is like this. ever wonder why californication sounded so bad? almost every song is over 100 dB - i think one song reaches 102 dB.

im curious as to what you all think.

This post has been edited by mattdm11: May 13 2007, 11:34 pm