[musical-kage]

Has the loudness war reached a new level of low?
 
I just got linked to No Doubt's new album "Push & Shove".
 
It does that alright. Listening to it, the mixing is terrible. The mix has been pushed so hard that even at low volumes, I can hear distortion when the mix gets heavy.
 
It is on Spotify too if anyone wants to give it a listen and tell me their thoughts.
 
Right from the get go, on Settle Down, at 0:45, distortion is apparant. It certainly isn't the bass style that is making it sound like that. It sounds... off, and is messing with the vocals too.
 
Can anyone give me a listen, and tell me its my ears? Not the mix that is terrible?
Or is this the future now?...
It's either that or Spotify has done a terribly bad job at ripping.
 
Its the worst I've heard anyway.
Sorry, I just needed to vent.

 

[musical-kage]

Anyone had a chance to listen to confirm my worries?

 

[StratocasterMan]

Well, it certainly got a pretty horrible rating over here:
 
http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=27489

 

[musical-kage]

I thought so...
 
Hopefully Spotify ripped the tracks a bit too excessively or something, because the quality on those are terrible.
You can easily tell there is plenty of clipping all over the place, and this is at full ~9 quality they rip at with Premium.
 
More must be at play though than simply the DB in that album, as I've listened to Ellie Goulding's new album, and even though that recieves a low score, minus one track, it doesn't really sound distorted to the ear
 

 

[eltocliousus]

Vocals on Settle down sound fairly fine for me, but it all does sound a bit mushy to my ears, but I've never been a fan of music with a lot going on anyway, and this track has an absolute bucketload going on, I hear a lot more distortion around 1:30 - 1:50.

 

[iamthem]

Sometimes when I listen to "pop" (popular) music I feel like slapping the idiot mixer/audio engineer who mixed the track. Bad mixing and excessive DRC ruins a perfectly good song.

 

[musical-kage]

Thanks for the replies, and yeah, so do I.
I've contacted Spotify Customer Support to make sure they know of the issue.
 
Haha, iamthem, I just think its daft to be honest that no one complains. Distortion shouldn't be apparant at all, and ruins the experience on music for me.
I notice it straight away
 
I've also noticed it on some of Emeli Sande's new tracks on her latest album, especially on 'My Kind Of Love' in the vocals on a lot of loud sections.
Emeli Sandé – My Kind of Love

 

[DivergeUnify]

I didn't really experience the loudness war until I compared The Cure's Disintegration remaster to the original 
 
The original can be cranked really loud and just sounds really fluid and ocean-like, has a hypnotic effect.  The remaster just sounds screechy and anal 

 

[wiinippongamer]

It's gone way too far for several years now.

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

Quote:

It's gone way too far for several years now.