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Topic: Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ? (Read 447723 times) previous topic - next topic
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Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #75 –
Hoobastank - The Reason

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #76 –
I gotta give props to Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication CD. 
Parallel Universe is just horrendous, not to mention the distorted pops and clicks that seem to be everywhere on the album.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #77 –
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Other recent "dis-honorable mentions":
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (2004)
Wow this a Recording Of The Month in Stereophile!!! With four stars in sound... Are you sure?
Check this 
I didn't find the four stars, but this was in the body of the text:
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Producer Steve Lillywhite and a bevy of engineers have labored to give this disc's sound the kinds of space and detail that are rare in rock records.
Hmmm....  "space and detail", eh?  They must be listening to a different pressing than the one I have!

Waveform of Vertigo:

Smashy, smashy!


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This album is a great example of a good mix, recording and performance that is harmed in the mastering stage.
This is what happens so often these days...  A good band makes a good recording of good music, only to have it sonically brutalized by the mastering process.

Ah, well...  sign 'o' the times...

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #78 –
probably the worst mastered album I have:

Oasis - What's the story morning glory? (obviously a remaster) -12.52dB album gain 

the cliipping is so scratchy and harsh, its unlistenable in a few areas, particularly the title track, morning glory,  with a whopping -13.03dB reduction 

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #79 –
Have you ever heard new album of Limp Bizkit (The Unquestionable Truth Part I)? This is the worst remastered album, that I ever heard. It sounds like it was remastered from very low quality mp3 (like 96kbps).
Other are Metallica - St.Anger, Slipknot - The Sublimal Verses, first album of System Of A Down.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #80 –
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probably the worst mastered album I have:

Oasis - What's the story morning glory? (obviously a remaster) -12.52dB album gain 

the cliipping is so scratchy and harsh, its unlistenable in a few areas, particularly the title track, morning glory,  with a whopping -13.03dB reduction 
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Indeed, when I bought that album (I was 15 years old or so) I noticed these weird distortions through the entire album. I didn't know about clipping, compressing and limiting back then.

edit: What's the Story.. is probably the worst mastered CD I have in my collection.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #81 –
I have to add Faith No More - King for a Day Fool For a Lifetime. It's especially easy to hear in second track (Ricochet). Another Static-X's new album - Start A War. I'm not sure of it, because I have this album only on mp3 230-250VBR, but I can hear that there is no high frequency (like 18khz) and high frequency are disorted.

edit: i forgot to add Smashing Pumpking Greatest Hits. There is small amount high frequency (sounds like on crappy stereo) and without dynamics. Many songs are clipped.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #82 –
Now this is some serious clipping, Laura Pausini - Viveme (https 'cause the uni will block mp3 transfers  ), the song belongs to this album. The thing that shocked me the most is that instruments are not the problem, is her voice that's clipping.


Disclaimer: I do not own the original CD and have no way of really prove the source clips. I decided not to buy it after listening to several different mp3s at different bitrates that had the clipping, which leads me to the conclusion that the source is in fact clipping.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #83 –
I somehow fail to hear the clipping on that single piece.  How can it be distinguished?

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #84 –
The most annoying are:
from 7 to 9 seconds and from 18 to 21 seconds. Listen to her voice, and how it distorts badly.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #85 –
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Now this is some serious clipping, Laura Pausini - Viveme (https 'cause the uni will block mp3 transfers  ), the song belongs to this album. The thing that shocked me the most is that instruments are not the problem, is her voice that's clipping.


Disclaimer: I do not own the original CD and have no way of really prove the source clips. I decided not to buy it after listening to several different mp3s at different bitrates that had the clipping, which leads me to the conclusion that the source is in fact clipping.
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Wow 

This one is really awful  .

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #86 –
I think a misuderstanding is prevalent in this thread. Several albums mentioned, namely those by Oasis and The Strokes are purposely pushed to the limit and beyond with gain, compressed vocals, etc. This is evidenced easily merely by listening to the voices; Liam Gallagher's voice certainly has some grit with or without compression, but the effect only improves upon his strength, and the same is true for Julian Casablancas. The "problems" with these CD's are not due to faulty mastering, they are very much intentional, and, to my ears, desireable.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #87 –
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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Radiohead - Hail to the Thief.  I've had people argue both ways with me, but to me, I can't stand the lack of dynamics in 2+2=5 especially.  The drums might as well be tin cans.
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That one's a weird one, actually. For one, I wish I could get my hands on one of those pre-mastered acetates of the thing (check radioheadcds.com), as the pre-release tracks that leaked often sounded a bit better (barring the MP3 compression) than the versions on the actual album. Additionally--and I'm not around my CD to check my recollection here--I think some songs may be worse than others. IIRC, "We Suck Young Blood" had a lot of dynamic range.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #88 –
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I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans

lol thats exactly how I described it when I first heard it

Green Day - Insomniac always seemed very loud to me
Chaintech AV-710

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #89 –
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I think a misuderstanding is prevalent in this thread. Several albums mentioned, namely those by Oasis and The Strokes are purposely pushed to the limit and beyond with gain, compressed vocals, etc.
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Maybe the distortions are intentional, but in the case of Oasis I really don't like them (especially the distortion on the drums). I don't know if it is digital clipping, a choking compressor/limiter or otherwise, but I think it's awfull.

So, I don't think there's a misunderstandig here. Of course a lot of rock & roll bands try to emulate old tape distortions and saturation with their sound, and that's fine, but in the case of What's the story.. I think it's just too much. 

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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Radiohead - Hail to the Thief.  I've had people argue both ways with me, but to me, I can't stand the lack of dynamics in 2+2=5 especially.  The drums might as well be tin cans.

That's an example of an album where I can live with the intentional reduced dynamics, I think it is part of their sound. Even distortion sounds good when it's made by Radiohead

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #90 –
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I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans

lol thats exactly how I described it when I first heard it
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=321368"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

That specific drum sound has nothing to do with the final mastering, but with the tuning of the snare drum.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #91 –
Texas Is The Reason
the songs themselves are great, but the sound quality just sux.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #92 –
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Green Day - Insomniac always seemed very loud to me
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It is loud, but I think they didn't go overboard with it. I always thought that album was done pretty well for a punk record. It doesn't make my ears bleed when I listen to them and you can actually hear the vocals, guitar, bass, AND drums without difficulty.
iTunes 10 - Mac OS X 10.6
256kbps AAC VBR
iPhone 4 32GB

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #93 –
Regarding What's the Story...

I get an album gain of -9.00, but the album's hard limited at -3 db.  Normalizing would give a replaygain of around -12.  I guess they realized if they normalized, the CD would be way too hot for 1995 standards, so they decided to just not use the top 25% of the 16 bit sample range.  This tells us that the mastering decision was made to achieve a certain sound, and not for absolute loudness.

Of course, many people think that sound absolutely sucks.

Noel himself said in an interview this spring that he doesn't like the sound of Definitely Maybe or What's the Story any more.  "Trebly" he called them... heh... that's not the worst of the problems, mate.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #94 –
Dream Theater. I've not seen anyone mention their stuff yet, which maybe means that not many people listen to them. A prog-metal band who prides themselves on their technical proficiency (deservedly so, though many of their songs seem written to show off that proficiency). But many of their albums are mastered really loud.
The worst-sounding of them all is 1997's "Falling Into Infinity". The album gain is around 8.5 if I remember correctly, so not extremely loud compared to other hard rock, but the sound is so obviously compressed, very badly. It can be a pain to listen to on a number of songs, which isn't true for msot of their other albums, even other ones that are mastered just as loud or louder. It's really a curious thing for a band who likes to think of themselves as appealing to audiophiles.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #95 –
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The "problems" with these CD's are not due to faulty mastering, they are very much intentional...
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The problem is that all of this "faulty mastering" is intentional. I believe all of the aforementioned CDs sound exactly the way they were intended to sound.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #96 –
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Dream Theater. I've not seen anyone mention their stuff yet, which maybe means that not many people listen to them. A prog-metal band who prides themselves on their technical proficiency (deservedly so, though many of their songs seem written to show off that proficiency). But many of their albums are mastered really loud.
The worst-sounding of them all is 1997's "Falling Into Infinity". The album gain is around 8.5 if I remember correctly, so not extremely loud compared to other hard rock, but the sound is so obviously compressed, very badly. It can be a pain to listen to on a number of songs, which isn't true for msot of their other albums, even other ones that are mastered just as loud or louder. It's really a curious thing for a band who likes to think of themselves as appealing to audiophiles.
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I disagree.  Loud, yes, but some of their stuff I use for reference material (granted older than new).  ToT and Octavarium are quite loud.  However, IaW and SFaM are wonderfully mastered and rather high up there on my list.  I wouldn't know about FII.

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The problem is that all of this "faulty mastering" is intentional. I believe all of the aforementioned CDs sound exactly the way they were intended to sound.

Intended by the engineers, artists, labels, all?  I don't think all of the artists intended them to sound this compressed, but probably don't have much of a say due to contracts.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #97 –
The only benficial result of this topic(besides avoiding particular CDs if the reader is so inclined) would be to find out exactly why specific CDs sound the way they do. I have, I believe, made it clear that Oasis and Strokes albums have been recorded to sound the way they do. It is senseless to gripe about the way the music's authors decide to record it. It is reasonabe and possibly beneficial to complain if a record is ill-mastered by a careless or meddling engineer. Certainly the majority of problem records have this to blame. So, does anyone know if CDs mentioned earlier(Californication is an infamous example) have the former or the latter to blame? Record companies will listen to consumer complaints if they are given the right way. Audio enthusiasts are only increasing in number and, thanks to websites like this one, knowledge; one thing is certain: we want audio quality. MP3 popularity, in a way, has helped consumers in general by familiarizing us with bitrates, sample rates, etc., even though it has(in general) lessend our listening experience. Is there some sort of group that listens to and reviews CDs with an ear for their mastering quality? If a particular company has a reputation for poor discs, they should be told so by consumers like us(I hope . . .) who regard such releases with the utmost of disdain. They are businesspeople; if a few dollars more in mastering expenses will make them more sales, they'll bite. They just need to be convinced of the demand.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #98 –
I have never been able to sit through St. Anger. Its ugly and in a bad way not an artistic one.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #99 –
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I have never been able to sit through St. Anger. Its ugly and in a bad way not an artistic one.
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I still haven't sit through even one song on that album.
iTunes 10 - Mac OS X 10.6
256kbps AAC VBR
iPhone 4 32GB