Way too loud!

[Tommy B]

I just read this review on a competitor's website and it got me thinking.

The songs on this debut album are not that bad sounding like a cross between Keane and Coldplay,but there is one major fault that ruins it for me.

The record level has been set way too high!
Even by the already too high levels of modern standards this album has been well over recorded.(Interestingly Keanes Under The Iron Sea is also too loud)And even when compensating with the volume control the sound still retains a certain "loud" quality in much the same way as an over recorded cassette tape use to if you didnt play proper attention to the VU meter and the peaks went well into the red.

I think record producers think we all own ghetto blasters or similar and boost up the levels to make their albums sound loud and impressive,but some of us listen to our music through expensive hi-fi systems and we want quality recordings that such systems demand.Not distorted over blown rubbish!

So,this album is now going to gather dust in my rack which is a shame as otherwise it`s not bad and as I live near Bournemouth where Air Traffic are from I wanted to like it and support a local band.

Only buy if you own any form of music playback system other than proper hi-fi.

I completely agree with him. Is anyone else fed up of awful quality recordings. I for one only buy CDs as I want a high quality source to play on my Hi-Fi and rip to lossless on my PC. However, I'm finding myself increasingly dissapointed by awful recording jobs of modern record labels. If I were going for a demo in a Hi-Fi shop there's no way in a million years I'd take any album released in the last few years.

The other thing they do is digitally process the recordings. The latest White Stripes album was ruined by digital distortion. I like my music to sound raw and pure, not processed and ruined. Kings Of Leon's last album was an example of a well recorded album. The bass guitar sounds absolutely awesome on my Hi-Fi.

Anyone else agree or am I being ridiculous

 

[Tommy B]

Obviously I don't have as much of a problem with danec/trance music because I listen to that extremely loud. What annoys me is when you buy a CD by someone like Damien Rice (which makes great gentle/background play) completely destroyed by poor mastering. (Edit: artists "like" Damien Rice, both his albums actually seem quite good to me )

simisker, that is an excellent youtube video. Thanks for sharing.

The depressing fact remains, that in this era of iPods and god-awful chart music (designed to be played loud) the problem will most likely only get worse Especially when more and more people are buying their music digitally and couldn't care less about quality. It's irnoic that one would expect sound quality to get better over time, not worse

I think I'll keep the Stranglers's old recordings when I go for demos in Hi-Fi shops in the future.

 

[Tommy B]

Is there a website that names and shames the record companies mainly responsible for doing this? Or alternatively the ones who I can rely on (in the future) to purchase my CDs from in good quality.

 

[Tommy B]

I know what you mean - it's not so noticeable on 9, but on 0 some of the recording is destinctly "garage" quality. I think it doesn't really detract from the album though as it makes it sound slightly more raw - I think a perfectly polished Damien Rice album would sound strange. He sounds better with a bit of crackle and distortion on the record I think

I'll admit that was a bad example as both albums seem OK on my Hi-Fi. What I mean is artists like Damien Rice (gentle music) whoose albums are ruined because of the poor mastering. I do think there is a good dynamic range on O though. "I remember" is really gentle and quiet, and then he starts screaming and it's so loud it makes you jump.

edit - OK, I'll take that original comment back. I've just given O another listen and the quality (ripped to lossless from CD) is pretty awesome.

 

[Tommy B]

O is a well mastered album imo. i still think the absolute best (mainstream) ive heard is metallica's black album, i really cant fault it. there are many many examples of poor albums. i remember a corrs album getting a slating because it was so compressed. the latest white striped album is pretty terrible, as said. RHCP's are guilty of it, metallica's St.Anger. Christ that's the worst thing ive ever heard.

As an enormous fan of The White Stripes, what I find most upsetting is Jack White used to go on and on about how he wanted his albums to sound raw and natural. Elephant apparently had no computers involved in the recording. The new album though is just awful.

How the hell can those record label CEOs just sit there and carelessly ruin their releases in such a manner?

According to someone on the Hydrogenaudio forums, the DVD-A releases of Porcupine Tree's albums are much better masters. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Tommy B]

In light of this thread I'm now going to sell all my modern remasters of classic albums on eBay and replace them with the originals.

Does anyone know a website which names and shames bad records, or awards good ones?

God it drives me crazy. People like myself spend hundreds on expensive Hi-Fi gear only to have the entire experience crushed.

 

[Tommy B]

OK. This is disgusting.

I decided to do my own experiment. I picked two songs.

1) Teenage Kicks (Ripped to lossless from The Sound Of The Suburbs, 1991)
2) Just Abuse Me (Ripped to lossless from Air Traffic's Fractured Life, 2007)

Both songs are loud and relatively heavy.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

Teenage Kicks: (Note: even this isn't the best example I could have picked to illustrate the difference between these two tracks)


Just Abuse Me:


The latter makes me want to line up and execute the people behind the album one by one. It would have been a great album.

 

[Tommy B]

I just don't understand it.

It's a bit like washing/polishing your car to perfection and then pouring tomato soup on it.

 

[Tommy B]

So are there no websites out there which rate albums with regard to all of this?