As for Be'lakor, the album would sound much better with more dynamic range. DR7 is better than DR6 or 5, but it's still not great. The other major problem with the sound of that album is the amount of clipping, and there's not really a simple way to show that (we're not going to post waveforms for each review), we just have to point it out in the section of the review covering sound quality. In an upcoming post I'm going to delve much deeper into what digital clipping is and the kind of damage that it does.
I was just pointing out how you were complementing that album on the "great" dynamic range, and then criticizing it because of all the clipping (I agree the DR could be better). I can definitely see how you're trying to educate people and I think that's awesome! Keep up the good work.
BTW, it would be cool if you included a small pic of a song in an Audacity screencap with "show clipping" enabled, so we could see just how bad the clipping or brickwalling is without having to measure it ourselves.
I was just pointing out how you were complementing that album on the "great" dynamic range, and then criticizing it because of all the clipping (I agree the DR could be better). I can definitely see how you're trying to educate people and I think that's awesome! Keep up the good work.
BTW, it would be cool if you included a small pic of a song in an Audacity screencap with "show clipping" enabled, so we could see just how bad the clipping or brickwalling is without having to measure it ourselves.
So your going to do a review! Right on!
Maybe some BMEs are not going see the genre as authentic due to the slightly different style..... idno? It's like a segment or a part of true BM( some think BM ended completely years ago in the early 1990s?)
It is almost like an evolution of the true genre really. They defiantly are sincere here though.
So would you be freaked out if you were walking around the Tasmanian woods and ran into Striborg wearing his cape? Maybe walking by the cave and hearing his blood-curdling screams emanating out? OK..........then this guy comes walking out with the cape on..........?
There was always this mystery with all of them. You didn't know who they were or what they were like.
Hey macrocheesium, that's a great idea. We actually did that on our About->Dynamic Range page. Check it out and PLEASE PLEASE give us feedback!
Btw, click the dynamic range score too!
Just read through it--I think it does a good job of explaining DR to someone who isn't familiar with audio. Can't think of anything that you forgot.
Maybe you could also throw in number comparisons between masters if that info is available? I don't know how much you trust these kinds of databases but I've found these websites to be very helpful: http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php?search_artist=metallica&search_album=death+magnetic
I was just pointing out how you were complementing that album on the "great" dynamic range, and then criticizing it because of all the clipping (I agree the DR could be better). I can definitely see how you're trying to educate people and I think that's awesome! Keep up the good work.
BTW, it would be cool if you included a small pic of a song in an Audacity screencap with "show clipping" enabled, so we could see just how bad the clipping or brickwalling is without having to measure it ourselves.
"Jens Bogren’s mix does a good job of highlighting Be’lakor’s critically important leads and guitar harmonies over the boiling riffs below. Less successful is John Richardson’s bass, which rarely makes its presence felt. The drums similarly are somewhat lost, with very little impact from the kick drum. I suspect the master (also handled by Bogren) has much to do with this. The album is simply far too loud, and the rampant clipping really damages what could be a fantastic aural experience given the level of musicianship on display. Of Breath And Bone really cries out for a vinyl edition or high-res release with the shackles of dynamic compression removed."
I was complementing the mix, which has to do with the way the album was recorded and how it sounds from a tonal sense. The mix usually has nothing to do with dynamic range unless it's already bricked when its sent to the mastering engineer, which was the case with Death Magnetic. The engineers choose how much headroom they want to mix with. I never said it had great DR, it doesn't. DR7 is just less bad than DR6 or DR5. You can make a fairly good sounding album with DR7 or DR8, OSI did with Fire Make Thunder. To make a GREAT sounding album though, I believe you need a minimum of DR9, but double digits are always better.
The problem with posting pictures of waveforms is that a lot of albums are not always the same throughout, so its hard to pick a "representative" track. For an album that has mild clipping in one or two areas in one track with the rest of it clean for example, do we just show that? Or do we pick a random track? Or pick one that doesn't clip because that's how most of the tracks are? Also, you could easily produce a track that measures DR3 with no clipping, just set the limiter for something like -0.10dB. That's still pretty much guaranteed to sound terrible, clipping or no.
It's also possible that a picture of a waveform with tons of clipping will just turn people off to an album without listening, just like your complaint about the DR score. I wouldn't guess from listening to Bilocate for example that it clips like it does. In Mourning on the other hand sound clipped to hell. We hope that our pieces on sound quality (usually the second to last paragraph of each review) will give the reader the best idea of what an album sounds like and whether its worth their attention.
What's nice about the DR score is that it's a simple, easy to understand, repeatable objective result. Albums that are DR6 and below get a special indicator because we believe that's simply excessive loudness regardless of the circumstances, and albums that are DR9+ get a gold star for doing it right. We don't rate albums one way or another because of the DR score, it's ultimately just a data point that we think is helpful information.
That's also part of the reason that we're reviewing vinyl editions specifically - not because vinyl is what the cool kids listen to but because of the potential for vastly improved dynamic range over CD, and the score helps us point that out. https://www.metal-fi.com/osi-fire-make-thunder/
Thanks for the feedback though, we're always looking for ways to make the site as good as it can be.
I pointed some of my non-audiophile friends and bandmates to the site and they all asked "what is Redbook?" and didn't associate the term with an album review.
EDIT: Oh, another small niggle. When the reader opens a review. The word "Redbook" and the current date are posted over the album cover. This makes about 30% of the album cover invisible. I, for one, really enjoy seeing what the cover looks like when I read a review. The bigger the image the better! Sometimes the cover says a lot about the band and the album.
EDIT2: One more thing and then I'll shup up and go enjoy your reviews: The header of the website, or the lack thereof actually, in combination with the font used for "metal-fi" make the overall layout a bit empty and bland. This is a matter of taste ofcourse, but with a more iconic logo and a vibrant header image the site would look a little more mature in my opinion.
Yeah you know what, I think is time we do a few articles that point out some of these sites. We are definitely aware of the database above and use it often (though everything we list is measured by our own personal copy via the TT meter).
Master information AFAIK really doesn't exist unless you have direct access to the engineer/producer of the album.
I pointed some of my non-audiophile friends and bandmates to the site and they all asked "what is Redbook?" and didn't associate the term with an album review.
That is true and Dave has mentioned that to me. Perhaps we should change this to CD to be a bit more friendlier to the non-audiophile (despite that is the audience we are shooting for).
EDIT: Oh, another small niggle. When the reader opens a review. The word "Redbook" and the current date are posted over the album cover. This makes about 30% of the album cover invisible. I, for one, really enjoy seeing what the cover looks like when I read a review. The bigger the image the better! Sometimes the cover says a lot about the band and the album.
EDIT2: One more thing and then I'll shup up and go enjoy your reviews: The header of the website, or the lack thereof actually, in combination with the font used for "metal-fi" make the overall layout a bit empty and bland. This is a matter of taste ofcourse, but with a more iconic logo and a vibrant header image the site would look a little more mature in my opinion.
I was complementing the mix, which has to do with the way the album was recorded and how it sounds from a tonal sense. The mix usually has nothing to do with dynamic range unless it's already bricked when its sent to the mastering engineer, which was the case with Death Magnetic. The engineers choose how much headroom they want to mix with. I never said it had great DR, it doesn't. DR7 is just less bad than DR6 or DR5. You can make a fairly good sounding album with DR7 or DR8, OSI did with Fire Make Thunder. To make a GREAT sounding album though, I believe you need a minimum of DR9, but double digits are always better.
There is a slight misunderstanding here. I meant on the forum, not the Metal-Fi review.
I'm with Negakinu on changing "redbook" to "CD". I've only heard that term once before, a few months ago, and I had no idea what it meant. I don't know why you guys are using it TBH.
If you aren't familiar with grindcore or your not a big fan but an open minded individual, check out Pig Destroyer's latest:
Check out the song "Eve" first and wait to about 3:20 mark. WARNING: Your neck is going to get sore.
If you want more, then go back and listen to "The American's Head" and wait to about the 1:47 mark for Hull and company to decimate you. My full review is here.
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Sometimes the cover says a lot about the band and the album. 
