Californication sounds like $@#!
May 30, 2006 at 12:24 AM Post #16 of 42
californication would probably also not sound so bad if it werent so squashed and hot and clippy.

the sound of a recorded instrument (like a guitar) clipping as its played is VERY diferent from an album that clips. that bit of "music" adds a decent bit to the emotion of the music. but the constant clipping is just tiring and old.
 
May 30, 2006 at 12:28 AM Post #17 of 42
Try Zwan's album.Next to it even Californication seems decent
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May 30, 2006 at 1:08 PM Post #20 of 42
Yeah, all their albums are really bad - no dynamics , flat soundstage , no excuses really, also sonic youth albums are pretty terrible as well.. really takes the enjoyment outof listening when you have a decent rig..
 
Jun 1, 2006 at 11:06 PM Post #23 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by hungrych
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/sh...ad.php?t=80835

There is hope!
tongue.gif



Sort of. Looks like LP only, which kind of sucks. I think it would have made sense to digitise this remaster as well to preserve some copy of it in a stable fashion (and in an easy manner), and also because there are some of us who can't really afford the cost and impracticality of an LP rig. Meh, oh well. I know there are vynil fanatics that would want to torch me for it, but I kind of think it's a bit overhyped and that the CD format is capable of producing suitable fidelity for this particular release for many, if not most, listeners...'audiophiles' included.
 
Jun 2, 2006 at 4:22 PM Post #24 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sladeophile
I heard that when I bought the cd back in my high school days on my CAR STEREO! I mean, it was nice for a high school kid, but it is BAD when you can hear it driving down the road.

The term "hot" is a word used in the audio recording industry that means the audio was mastered very loudly, so loud that it fragments at the peaks, that's what is creating the crackling noise because that's what happens to digital sound when it is pushed too loud. Hot simply means the audio sounds cooked, as if it's bacon in a frying pan or fire crackling. If you do some studying of digital sound versus analog sound, you'll see that this is not a big deal at all on analog mediums but is extremely pesky with digital mediums like CDs.

Compressed means that the bottom loudness of the sound is knocked up higher so there is less dynamic range (the range between the loudest and softest parts of the song). Compression comes in very handy in some situations, such as a passage where a singer is too quiet to be heard in some parts, so you apply compression to make it audible over the other sounds. It's used a lot in recordings of musicals as well. It gets extremely overused with rock and pop music though. The new Flaming Lips album is a good example of something recent suffering from both being hot and compressed. A heavily compressed song sounds about equally loud all the way through, and it is pretty much the norm with modern rock recordings. It was necessary back in the days of cassette tapes, and unfortunately survived the transition to CDs, although it isn't necessary anymore. It's sad we haven't taken advantage of the great dynamic range that CDs offer us.

Unfortunately these two problems are ignored because of a few things. First is that these things make songs actually sound better on the radio. A song with a lot of dynamic range, such as classical music, is sometimes hard to hear on a radio, especially if you're driving. Compression takes care of that. Also, if a song is louder to begin with it will sound better on a radio, and you won't be able to hear the fragmenting because it's a poor source.

Second is the Ipod phenomenon. While we head-fiers use such things as the line out of the Ipod and an amp and nice cans to get the best sound possible, most Ipod owners use ibuds straight out of the jack. Most people also get lower quality mp3s to either save downloading time or save space. The more compressed a file is, the more it loses in SQ. The highs and lows get chopped off, so you can't hear the problems created by heavy compression and hot recordings.

Anyway, hope you don't mind my rant, but I absolutely DESPISE the engineers who master their recordings like this. They ruin good music, and the musicians are none the wiser. Really hacks me off. Hopefully I'll be able to counter some of these issues in my recording career.
Slade
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Nice Post, too true/sad
 
Jun 6, 2006 at 10:42 AM Post #25 of 42
Quote:

A heavily compressed song sounds about equally loud all the way through, and it is pretty much the norm with modern rock recordings.


Yes I agree, rock seems to be the worst culprit for bad recording and mastering - is this because they're all deaf or what?!?
I have a couple of remastered patti smith cds and the qualities pretty good considering they're 30year old recordings.. better than anything modern i have ,things seem to be going backwards in the quality dept as far as rock goes.

I don't really want to buy a turntable just so i can hear the chilli peppers properly - i don't understand why it's so hard for them to produce it right in the first place!
i mean i've got cd's recorded in home studios that sound better..
 
Jun 6, 2006 at 7:21 PM Post #26 of 42
I wondered exactly the same thing when I found Californication from my CD stack and listened it again after some years. It has weird crisping sound from time to time. Quite annoying. I've noticed same thing on new System Of A Down albums. Something to do with producer Rubin?
 
Jun 7, 2006 at 4:56 AM Post #28 of 42
Looks very cool. All that solid green on the top one make me wanna turn green! :sick:
 
Jun 7, 2006 at 8:00 AM Post #29 of 42
Just today I was wondering what was wrong with my headphones, I thought they were worn out. I decided to have a look here an surprise, its not even my crappy headphones that are causing the distortion. Lately I've been listening to a lot of older CDs, and I wasn't sure why. Sure enough the distortion and ...lameness... is caused by all my new music being over compressed. Here's an example,

1) Pearl Jam - Evenflow 1991
evenflow_sample.jpg


2) Pearl Jam - Spin The Black Circle 1994
blackcircle_sample.jpg


3) Pearl Jam - Life Wasted 2006.
lifewasted_sample.jpg


I wish the recording industry would stop treating music like a product, but rather respect it as the art it is. About 2/3 of my collection is from the early to mid 90's, when for some unexplained reason I quit buying CDs. Really, I have a bunch of rock and a variety of awful music from the early ninties. What have I bought lately? Just the Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums (all four), Wreck of the Day by Anna Nalick, and the new Pearl Jam CD (instigated my investigation in dynamic compression). The TSO and Nalick albums are very dynamic and sound great, I wasn't particularly interested in Anna Nalick, but it just sounded so darn good I bought it anyway. The music industry blames file sharing for lost profits, but by opening up my files in audacity I can SEE why I have quit buying music.
 
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