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Topic: Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ? (Read 444361 times) previous topic - next topic
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Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #25
I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans, the guitars sound completely over-processed and very muddy, and all dynamic range is squashed. It's by far my worst-sounding CD.

Two other CDs from my collection come to mind:
Foo Fighters - One By One: the distorted bass drum sound is just awful.
Slipknot - Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses: waaay too loud, lots of clipping.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #26
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Has anybody listened to ***hole by Gene Simmons yet? It's really loud, -12 dB replaygain for the album and -14 dB on the title track. It's not that bad really, exept that they made it as loud as they possibly could. Quieter songs with piano on them sound strange and there's highly audible clipping everywhere.
I could try to provide samples if anybody is interested, but I'm on a 56k connection at the moment so lossless would be difficult...
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242781"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I'm listened that crap and sounds horrible, lot of clip. 
The 3 worst that I listened
1) Metallica - St. Anger
2) RHCP - Californication
3) Rush - Vapor Trails

I haven't buy a CD since 1998, but at job (I'm radio DJ) I listen a lot of CD everyday and all of then are poorly mastered, for me is a pain in the ears have to listen rock/pop in the last years. 
MPC: --quality 10 --xlevel (v. 1.15s) (archive/transcoding)
MP3:  LAME 3.96.1 --preset standard (daily listening/portable)

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #27
Hahaha... you guys must be joking... or do you all know just those few albums and do you parroting one after another just to look being in?! You seem to know everything about nothing.
Just my 2 cents.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #28
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I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet.


St. What? Metalli-who?  Seriously, though, I don't know many old-time Metallica fans who actually bought that album (or anything after Load, for that matter), so that's probbaly why nobody is mentioning it. Or maybe people just want to forget about it? Metallica has bigger problems beyond crappy mastering, and despite the fact that I bought my first Metallica record in 1988, I don't plan on making St. Anger (or any other post-Black album) a part of my collection.

And actually, their history of bad mastering goes back much further than St. Anger......And Justice For All sounds quite bad, but for very different reasons.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #29
St. Anger is bad...but not that bad.

forgot to mention another cd

System of A Down by System of A Down is also VERY loud/Badly Mastered

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #30
Quote
Hahaha... you guys must be joking... or do you all know just those few albums and do you parroting one after another just to look being in?! You seem to know everything about nothing.
Just my 2 cents.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242828"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Erm... what's your point?

I did buy those three CDs I mentioned, and I did think they sound horrible before I read about them on HA. I don't know what you're insinuating...
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #31
Quote
I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans, the guitars sound completely over-processed and very muddy, and all dynamic range is squashed. It's by far my worst-sounding CD.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242826"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I suggest getting the release that includes the DVD where they play the album live in the practice room, and making yourself an audio CD of that. Lars plays a much less awkwardly-tuned drumset and it's an overall better sound.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #32
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Quote
I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans, the guitars sound completely over-processed and very muddy, and all dynamic range is squashed. It's by far my worst-sounding CD.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242826"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I suggest getting the release that includes the DVD where they play the album live in the practice room, and making yourself an audio CD of that. Lars plays a much less awkwardly-tuned drumset and it's an overall better sound.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242848"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, I know. I almost always play the ripped audio from the DVD instead of the original audio CD. But since the OP asked for badly mastered CDs, I had to mention this one.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #33
 Hi, for me this is the worst mastered album:

LENNY KRAVITZ - Greatest Hits

Dynamic range is extremely low, and the sound is very distorted.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #34
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Deep Purple - Deepest Purple (Best Of)


They tried to remaster the tunes, and they sound so thin and crappy. My vinyls sounded better.
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I have to agree on The Deep Purple. Black Knight has a 'farty' clipping sound on one channel. I don't know what they were thinking when they remastered this.

Also, I agree with the guy who posted about the two Opeth albums - they sound bad compared to "Blackwater Park" . I wouldn't say it is the worst mastering I've ever heard, though - far from it.

Some other disappointments for me:

Nick Cave & Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream (Vinyl)
Cynic - Focus (CD)
All 'Cradle of filfth' albums (CD)
McCoy Tyner - New York Reunion (SACD)

Note, I'm NOT criticising the music here - I was just disappointed with the sound.
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I must admit I hate what they've done to black night on my Deep Purple - In Rock [1995 Anniversay Edition] it just sounds muffled, so I prefer to listen to the Vinyl my dad has instead. I'm not one of these vinyl is better than CD crowd but if they dont make the CD version any good i'll gladly listen to the vinyl version instead.

Dok Lorenz
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. (Oscar Wilde)

Doktor Lorenz

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #35
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What about Iron Maiden's "Dance Of Death"? I don't know how bad it is compared to the other albums mentioned here, but I still think it is bad. What do you folks think?
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I can't say as i've not brought the album yet, but since I have all the early albums I wanted upto Fear Of The Dark [exc. live ones] I'm happy with what i got since i more of the old stuff they did.

Dok Lorenz
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. (Oscar Wilde)

Doktor Lorenz

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #36
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Their 2004 EP, Feedback is perhaps a hair bit better, but I'd say that it sounds pretty similar in terms of production/mastering to Vapor Trails. So, the trend continues 
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242733"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I might have ears of tin now, thanks to all of that heavy metal in the 80s, but I didn't think Feedback was nearly as bad as Vapor Trails. I've only listened to it once or twice though and there was background noise.

I just don't get it with Rush...they must know that no one is pleased with the mastering on their albums and yet nothing changes.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242792"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Blame Atlantic....


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I can't believe nobody mentioned St. Anger by Metallica yet. The drums sound like garbage cans, the guitars sound completely over-processed and very muddy, and all dynamic range is squashed. It's by far my worst-sounding CD.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242826"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I suggest getting the release that includes the DVD where they play the album live in the practice room, and making yourself an audio CD of that. Lars plays a much less awkwardly-tuned drumset and it's an overall better sound.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242848"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


After my first listen of St. Anger,  threw the dvd and and was amazed at how much better this sounded.  Made a nice little audio cd out it, and that's all I've ever listened too.
"You can fight without ever winning, but never win without a fight."  Neil Peart  'Resist'

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #37
There was a parody of St. Anger going around on the 'net for a while. The funniest part of it was the picture that went along with it showing a metal folding chair miced up and used for the "snare drum" sound. =D

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #38
Quote
Hi, for me this is the worst mastered album:

LENNY KRAVITZ - Greatest Hits

Dynamic range is extremely low, and the sound is very distorted.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242859"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I only heard one track from that one, the new song "Again", and the distortion is awful. If you're saying they did that to all of the tracks, that CD would get my vote as well.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #39
The worst one I own is "Honkin' on Bobo" by Aerosmith.  I was realy happy to see it on the shelves because I think it is a good idea, but it is so loud and poorly mixed that I can't listen to it.  There is no texture to the music at all.  It just sounds like a wall of noise.

Anybody want it?

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #40
I have to agree in regards to Nevermore-Enemies of Reality. The album sounds like it was encoded with old school Xing mp3 and copied back to cd, i couldn't believe how bad it sounded when i heard it.

Metallica-And justice for all was an album that could've been done better, the bass is completely clobbered in that album, of course from what i hear its because the bassists wasn't present during post-production.

How about most old school black metal, Immortal coming to mind for there first 3 or 4 albums.

Flotsam and Jetsam - No place for disgruise, could use some work.

Emperor - Into the nigthside eclipse, such a shame, its so good

Covenant of Norway - In times before light, atleast until they re-released it

the list goes on....

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #41
I would like to add 2 albums to this horror show:

The Strokes - "Room on Fire": clipping, compressed to death => unlistenable
Oasis - "(What's the Story) Morning Glory": an early example (1995) of how to ruin music; very tiring "wall of sound"-sound  .
Proverb for Paranoids: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers."
-T. Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow)

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #42
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Their 2004 EP, Feedback is perhaps a hair bit better, but I'd say that it sounds pretty similar in terms of production/mastering to Vapor Trails. So, the trend continues 
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242733"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I think there's a qualitative difference between the two albums.  Vapor Trails sounds like a mistake--there's audible clipping and the 'dynamics' don't bear much relationship to the music.  Feedback, however, is just intentionally loud--the dynamics have all been squashed, but there's little clipping and the loudness bears a relationship to the music.

Feedback is still particularly fatiguing to listen to, but at least it sounds intentional.

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #43
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Metallica-And justice for all was an album that could've been done better, the bass is completely clobbered in that album, of course from what i hear its because the bassists wasn't present during post-production.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242896"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

It could be been done better but on my current system I find it quite listenable (I love the album as a whole). It was hard work to listen to on my older (cheaper) system.


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Oasis - "(What's the Story) Morning Glory": an early example (1995) of how to ruin music; very tiring "wall of sound"-sound  .
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242897"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

There was a documentary on the making of Definitely Maybe in the UK a few weeks ago. The producer was interviewed and claimed he was one of the first to completely ruin the dynamics of a CD and push everything into the red and seemed to be proud of that fact.
daefeatures.co.uk

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #44
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Hi, for me this is the worst mastered album:

LENNY KRAVITZ - Greatest Hits

Dynamic range is extremely low, and the sound is very distorted.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242859"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]



I didn’t realise until I bought the original 1993 Album Are You Gonna Go My way at the weekend and compared the title track.  On the Greatest Hits the guitar doesn’t sound the same; the notes are a blurred mush.  I have now ordered all his early CDs and may make my own version of Lenny’s Greatest Hits using these.

I thought Morcheeba Parts of the Process sounded flat and compressed.  Probably OK in a noisy bar.

I also noticed they even try to Remaster full digital recordings from the 80s and 90s.  MJ Bad and Madonna Like a Virgin were 16bit Digital recordings.  I can’t see them squeezing anything more out of these tapes.  I guess they just put them through a compressor and or turn the treble up.

Another DDD CD is Original Dire Straits Brothers in Arms.  I prefer this to the Remastered as it has more life even if its slightly too bright (I sometimes turn the treble down 1 click on this CD).  The remastered 1996 CD sounds like a noise reduced analogue tape.  Am I the only one who prefers the original?

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #45
holy resurrected thread, batman!



...that is a pretty cool idea, tho, to make your own master of a best-of album using original releases (although, that could be pricey $$$ )


later

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #46
Is there anyone who has a copy of Jack Johnson -In Between Dreams? I haven't checked the RG value for this album, but it has to be the LOUDEST album I've ever listened to?...If anyone has it, could you post the value, thanks

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #47
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Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication would have to be the worst mastered CD as far as volume goes for me.  It clips like crazy and is way too loud.

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I was gonna say the same... such a shame cause the songs are amazing... but the clipping is so bad I returned the album!!! no joking

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #48
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Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication would have to be the worst mastered CD as far as volume goes for me.  It clips like crazy and is way too loud.

[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=242752"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I was gonna say the same... such a shame cause the songs are amazing... but the clipping is so bad I returned the album!!! no joking
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=320568"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Cool! What did you say? And how did they respond?

Whats is the worst mastered CD [your opinions] ?

Reply #49
Interpol - Antics

Some tracks have -12dB w/ replaygain and just sound awful compared to hearing them live.

-Joe