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What annoys you the most about badly mastered recordings?

post #1 of 27
1/11/11 at 12:00pm
Thread Starter 

I've been realizing a lot more these days that no matter how high the bitrate an mp3 file has, or whether the song is ripped directly from a CD into lossless, a badly mastered recordings still sound bad! I sometimes even found lower bitrate mp3 files provided a sort of a safe haven for me, as it somewhat blurred out the annoyance (the random ticking sound, static noises in the background are the ones that kills the experience for me...) I found on lossless files!

 

So, the topic of this tread is, what BUGS you the most in badly mastered music, in your listening experience?

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post #2 of 27
1/11/11 at 1:27pm

Snare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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post #3 of 27
1/11/11 at 1:51pm

Loss of dynamics caused by use of compressor. Ruis to many records these days.


Edited by jonas5 - 1/11/11 at 1:53pm
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post #4 of 27
1/11/11 at 1:59pm

Clipping

compressed dynamics

bad channel imbalance

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post #5 of 27
1/11/11 at 3:46pm

Instrument separation. In a lot of pop music all of the sound just melds together and the entire song/album just sounds like an enormous block of noise.

 

Oh and over-emphasized treble.

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post #6 of 27
1/11/11 at 4:07pm

instrument separation, dynamics

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post #7 of 27
1/11/11 at 4:34pm

Vocalists that sound as if they're standing behind the band.

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post #8 of 27
1/11/11 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 

Other than the bad mastering, I think I'm further limited by my ath-m50 to hear any instrument separation, as it is a closed headphone...I really want to try out the HD650s for their natural sound and great soundstage.

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post #9 of 27
1/11/11 at 5:57pm

Drums! 

If I can't feel the drums I get board. 

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post #10 of 27
1/12/11 at 4:20pm

vocals not matching the live or recorded instruments, high emphasis on treble


Edited by jbluzb86 - 1/12/11 at 4:22pm
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post #11 of 27
1/12/11 at 8:16pm

Digital distortion is my biggest beef with many new recordings, its so ugly.

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post #12 of 27
1/12/11 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 

I got one. Revisiting Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion's "The Prayer" duet reminded me how much I hate static noise in recordings...Otherwise a beautiful music... I can't believe there is just so much distortion. Actually, I'm planning to return my ath-m50 I have right now and get a new pair as a replacement, just to check if it is the recording and not my headphones...Going down the kbps gives me less static noise, but there's also less life to the song! AHHHHHH Curse you bad recording studios and whoever's doing the studio job -_-

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post #13 of 27
1/13/11 at 10:08am

My biggest gripe is definitely sharp treble, snares hurting your ears as well as hi-hats. I guess snares because they hurt worse especially on a phone that doesn't hide anything/shows what's there.

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post #14 of 27
1/14/11 at 2:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fatcat28037 View Post

Vocalists that sound as if they're standing behind the band.



This. Good example is Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for cutie. Compared to the aural beauty of Transatlanticism it's a huge step backwards. I can hardly hear Gibbards sweet voice :(

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post #15 of 27
1/14/11 at 7:39am
Thread Starter 

I notice this generally in albums of a British Indie band called One Night Only...I wouldn't say the voice is behind the band, but it so not prominent that it just blends in with the instruments...

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