Bad mastering on The 10th Ann.Edition of The Holy Bible? - Forever Delayed

zaza_3121 · #1 30-12-2011, 17:08

I've been reading few articles about the loudness war and they all say that the 10th Anniversary Edition is mastered pretty badly, ie.no dynamic range, terrible amount of clipping etc. There are few records where I can hear the bad mastering job (Coldplay, I'm talking about you..), but I can't hear anything wrong on The Holy Bible. Yes, it's louder, but that's all.

What do you think?

Dancing Kirby · #2 30-12-2011, 17:11

There never was much dynamic range on Manics CDs in the first place for the loudness war to meddle with. That's what I think.

zaza_3121 · #3 30-12-2011, 17:18

Yeah, I agree. The only really dynamic album is the GT, but it suffers from other issues. The questio is: do you mind there is no dynamic range on their songs?

I'm starting to have a feeling that the whole Loudness War drama is overhyped. There are albums that are pretty loud and sound bad, but on the other hand there are bands like Radiohead and I've never had any issue with their music being over compressed (and it is at times). Sometimes I think that music should be listened, not viewed by the waveforms images.

darkanddivine · #4 30-12-2011, 18:09

I agree Zazza, some people are so so anal about this stuff it must take all the joy out of listening for them. There are flaws in some of the Manics recording and masters, but at the end of the day there are no right or wrongs when it comes to recordings.

zaza_3121 · #5 30-12-2011, 18:17

^ Yeah, I got Slowdive's remastered and enhanced "Just For A Day" album as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend and after I saw the waveforms, I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted.. But I realised there are far louder albums and they're my favourites, so I don't give a damn anymore. This was the first time I read that Manics sound bad. My own recordings sound bad, not the Manics! :-D

tzb · #6 30-12-2011, 18:17

Absolutely. I think it's fine to be exceptionally anal about mastering quality if you're listening on a £1000+ setup in a silent, sound-proofed room, but beyond that it's just really tedious. It sounds infinitely better than the original release, and yes in 10 years they might be able to do better - but for now, it's perfectly good. I can't say I've ever noticed it sounding objectively bad, simply because compared to the original it's such a genuine improvement.

satankidneypie · #7 30-12-2011, 22:05

Im a bit anal about these kind of things (Degree in Music Tech and being a sound engineer doesnt help). But.....

If an album is meant to sound compact, dense, intense etc..why the fuck do you want dynamic range? The mastering fits the purpose, therefore in my humble opinion the mastering fits the purpose.

Worst mastering Ive heard in recent times is RHCP Californication, completely squashed in a style of music that should be dynamic.

I generally dont like mastering involved in the "loudness/volume war", but over compression sounds great on aggresive music.

satankidneypie · #8 30-12-2011, 22:07

must add the mastering/eq (as well as the general pressing) on the piccy disk is bloody aweful.

aivil · #9 30-12-2011, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaza_3121

^ Yeah, I got Slowdive's remastered and enhanced "Just For A Day" album as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend and after I saw the waveforms, I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted.. But I realised there are far louder albums and they're my favourites, so I don't give a damn anymore. This was the first time I read that Manics sound bad. My own recordings sound bad, not the Manics! :-D

Are you talking about that article on musicserver and Manic Sound Creatures? If so i wouldn´t take it very seriously

zaza_3121 · #10 30-12-2011, 22:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by aivil

Are you talking about that article on musicserver and Manic Sound Creatures? If so i wouldn´t take it very seriously

Whoa, another fellow Czech fan? :-) Well, that one was one of many. There're other articles, English articles, and they talk about it into the details.

Mr Richey · #11 30-12-2011, 22:44

I think it sounds great. Sorry!

aivil · #12 30-12-2011, 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaza_3121

Whoa, another fellow Czech fan? :-) Well, that one was one of many. There're other articles, English articles, and they talk about it into the details.

No, i´m not fellow Czech fan

. Have only read that czech article, will have to find and read the english articles too.

Scarecrow · #13 02-01-2012, 15:24

Holy Bible sounds fine on that issue. I don't think Manics have ever suffered from clipping or a lack of dynamic range. Metallica's Death Magnetic and Iggy Pop's 1997 remix of Raw Power are albums that have some serious distortion (not that I mind with the latter, both that and the original Bowie mix make the Stooges sound as intense as they deserve).

Whether or not I like the production on Manics albums is a different issue though. Not so much with GT as it couldn't have worked differently, but half of EMG at least. And maybe some of Postcards.

Dext37 Fielding · #14 02-01-2012, 15:49

Of Walking Abortion is over mastered imo.