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#331 Re: Guns N' Roses » Bob Ludwig talks a little bit about mastering Chinese Democracy » 678 weeks ago

Well the big glaring stupid issue with the dynamics debate is the Digital to Vinyl problem. Most modern albums are cut to a hard drive and that cut more often than not will feature compressed dynamics. Compression usually happens in the mixing stage. So the tracks are recorded, and then mixed (that included compression for the most part when working with digital) and that makes the basic album ready product. After that most albums are sent for mastering where the dynamics are manipulated further.

There's a lot of people out there buying Vinyl that has been cut from a compressed digital recording. The dynamic range is practically the exact same as it would be on CD.

On top of this is the problem of sampling rate. When you play an instrument the sound wave hits your ears and your brain works like a camera taking in that sound at a certain rate, with a certain "shutter speed" your brain takes snapshots of that sound.

Mp3  and CD's are designed to make use of this fact. When you listen to an mp3 or a CD you aren't hearing a perfectly continuous sonic signal. You are hearing tiny little splices of what that original piece of music sounded like one after the other at a really fast rate.  44100 per second is the standard for CD. They give you just enough to allow your brain to fill in the blanks and your brain does even if you are hearing something for the first time, it just fills in the blanks between splices.  This keeps files sizes down. Otherwise music (which has theoreticaly infinite dimensions) could not fit on a CD or in an Mp3.
With analogue systems like vinyl there is a continuous sound being produced so instead of the sound being spat out at one rate and your ears picking it up at another, it's just a question of your ears picking up this continuous sound wave. Because of that you get better audio resolution and a better sense of the dynamic range.

Back to Vinyl again. There are PLENTY of old Vinyl records from back in the day that had compression added during the mixing phase. PLENTY.


Dynamics and Compression aren't the problem. Mastering is the Problem.
If an album is mixed well it shouldn't need to be mastered. Simple as that.

Digital isn't the problem either. There is a thing called the "quantisation" problem in digital systems. It's when you are trying to represent a sound wave that is made up of an infinite amount of points using a finite amount of numbers you are never going to be able to perfectly recreate the original soundwave so digital systems estimate soundwaves and don't give a perfect recreation. That could be a problem BUT digital systems have such high resolution now that the human ear cannot pick up the difference between analog and digital.

The real problem here is people who don't know what they are talking about acting as tough they do.


So...... a quick recap.

1. Mastering is bad.
2. No living human could tell the difference between a well mixed unmastered Vinyl and a well mixed unmastered CD.


monkeychow wrote:

Nevermind that most people ignore the real crimes against audio purity - lossy compression formats, and that most playback devices are inadequate these days. So I find it odd...people seeking out an original master, ripping it to mp3, and listening to it on their $1 junk shop ear buds....then telling everyone it sounds better than the re-issued mix wink

Hell yeah Monkey. Well said.
I personally don't care much for hi quality audio, which I can tell you the people I work with find quite weird as Sound Design and audio is my job.
You can't beat the sound of a cheap guitar overdriven through ripped amp cones under a whiskey stained gravel voice.

#332 The Sunset Strip » The Sword » 679 weeks ago

Lomax
Replies: 2

Hey guys. Was watching some Maiden on the youtube and Ads popped up on the side of the screen about a band called The Sword. They're not new but they are still making some really great sounding hard rock and metal music.
They sound like a more tight and more maidenesque Ghost check it out.


#335 Re: The Sunset Strip » Skid Row » 683 weeks ago

Son of a Gun wrote:
Riad wrote:
Son of a Gun wrote:

OK, whatever, we believe what we want to believe. Let`s end it here.


You sir are an insecure assbag.

Anothet butthurt fanboy get a grip asshat.

There's rules here take a look at them. You agreed to them when you signed up. If you're not happy with that go yell at strangers on Xbox Live.

#336 Re: The Sunset Strip » Skid Row » 684 weeks ago

Son of a Gun wrote:

OK, whatever, we believe what we want to believe. Let`s end it here.


You sir are an insecure assbag.

#337 Re: The Sunset Strip » Volbeat » 684 weeks ago

Son of a Gun wrote:
Smoking Guns wrote:

I cannot believe the love you guys are showing. They are as bad as Shinedown.

No, they`re very overhyped and overrated but they are n`t half as bad as Shinedown and Sevendust trash.

Not at all.

Volbeat are a very specific type of music geared to a very specific kind of music lover. I have never heard a band with their kind of sound before in my life. The way they seamlessly blend old-school rockabilly and metal is just great.

Rockabilly purists hate them.
Metal/Hard Rock purists hate them.

People who genuinely like good fun rock n roll love them

#338 Re: The Sunset Strip » Volbeat » 684 weeks ago

My Body was a great rock tune. Good to hear they're covering it. To be honest it's a better fit for Volbeat, the lyrics and singing style already sound like Mike

Volbeat are one hell of a band. Better than original GNR in my opinion 16

#339 Re: The Sunset Strip » Device (band) » 684 weeks ago

He must have gotten fired from America's Got Talent

#340 Re: The Sunset Strip » Def Leppard » 684 weeks ago

RussTCB wrote:
Riad wrote:
RaZor wrote:

So something being commercially successful makes it crap? :-/

No. But I think he means they sacrificed quality for appeal at points.Maybe in the terms of 80s rock they did, but to me it sounds cohesive and heartfelt throughout.


That's why I singled out Adrenalize. I think that Pyro and Hysteria was still Def Lep doing Def Lep songs, but it just so happened that some of those songs became ginormous hits. After that, I think everything they did was focused squarely at trying to recreate the same sound for the same success.

Yeah I agree. Adrenalize was just annoying on so many levels.

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