[10068]

For me, it's 10,000 Days by Tool. I have to turn my volume waaaay down (from about 12' to about 8') to listen to that album painlessly on headphones.

Here's a good description of 'hot' by a fellow Head-Fier: Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriuslyCold /img/forum/go_quote.gif hot refers to the mastering or rather the practice of boosting the average level of a recording by means of dynamic compression during the mastering process. the result of this is a loud sounding CD (as opposed to one that you can turn the volume up to your desired loudness)

Here is some reading for those interested: [size=xx-small](thanks to SiriuslyCold and BetaLyr)[/size]
MediaMonkey Online Help - Volume Leveling
Loudness war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Turn Me Up! | Bringing Dynamics Back To Music

 

[joe]

"hottest" album? I've never stolen a CD. Then again, maybe we have our definitions messed up. That's what I get for living in Detroit.

 

[LuckyKarma]

Mine are all pretty consistent as far as volume.. A few weeks ago I would have replied with Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy because I nearly blew my eardrums every time a song from it came on. Turns out the volume was just doubled through iTunes

 

[Jaska]

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Let Love In album, at least inasmuch as brightness/"hot" treble is concerned. It's absolute torture with Grados.

 

[BetaLyr]

I doubt anyone has ever heard of them (especially because they recently disbanded), but Better Than Knowing Where You Are by Spitalfield is pretty loud.
QotSA's self-titled album is a close second.

Wow, I just noticed that Muse's albums are pretty quiet.. Well, at least Black Holes & Revelations, Absolution, and Origin of Symmetry.

 

[rhythmicmoose]

"Californication," obviously. For some reason, the Editors first album and Justice vs. Simian's "We Are Your Friends" are also mastered absurdly loud.

 

[Arainach]

I have 2 tiers: My Deutsche Gramaphone Classical discs and "everything else". I have to turn my receiver 15-20dB higher on those discs (especially the Mahler symphonies) than I do for everything else. None of my discs have ever stuck out as considerably louder than the rest.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmicmoose /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Californication," obviously. For some reason, the Editors first album and Justice vs. Simian's "We Are Your Friends" are also mastered absurdly loud.

I really don't understand the thinking behind recording something hot. It can cause clipping, makes it harder to find a comfortable listening volume... just unhelpful and frustrating. Leave it to pop culture to demand everything in excess

 

[TheMarchingMule]

"Nine Lives," by Aerosmith. Good songs, but my gosh, the mastering...

 

[Mike_TNT]

"Raw Power" by The Stooges. Try it on with some 325s and raw power is sure to come running to you. Yeah!

 

[tru blu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike_TNT /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Raw Power" by The Stooges. Try it on with some 325s and raw power is sure to come running to you. Yeah!

You beat me to the punch. I remember having it on some years ago and being astonished when I looked over at the LED equalizer. It looked like my old receiver was screaming for mercy. I'd never seen every single level maxed out before.

 

[mercbuggy]

Green Day - American Idiot....pretty hot

 

[eraser_svk]

System of a Down - Hypnotize

matchlessly hot, as you can see (track : Stealing Society)
almost constantly clipping

 

[SiriuslyCold]

Rush - Vapor Trails
RHCP - Stadium Arcadium

Good news: I read that CDs have appeared bearing the Turn Me Up logo or URL. there's hope yet

 

[xenithon]

It is a toss-up between Katie Melua's Call Off The Search and Alanis Morissete's Under Rug Swept.