Metallica and the loudness war
Sep 18, 2008 at 4:08 PM Post #16 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif
If you honestly feel that way I feel for you. There is some incredibly well produced and recorded metal out there. Genre should have exactly zero to do with it.


When did I say that I don't listen to well-recorded albums?

Now, if you honestly don't listen to albums that aren't "audiophile-approved", I feel sorry for you. You're missing out on a lot of great stuff.
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Sep 18, 2008 at 6:16 PM Post #17 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
When did I say that I don't listen to well-recorded albums?


You didn't say that, but you did say this:

Quote:

Two words that should never be uttered in the same sentence: "audiophile" & "metal".


I guess I need you to tell me what the heck it is you were trying to say. And while I could care less about anyone's approval of what I listen to (audiophile or otherwise) I will freely admit that there are albums that are recorded so poorly as to be unlistenable. Is the CD version of Death Magnetic that bad? Close, but I would have still listened to it occasionally. Is the Guitar Hero version that much better? Absolutely and I'm able to enjoy the listening experience much better as a result.
 
Sep 18, 2008 at 9:51 PM Post #19 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I guess I need you to tell me what the heck it is you were trying to say. And while I could care less about anyone's approval of what I listen to (audiophile or otherwise) I will freely admit that there are albums that are recorded so poorly as to be unlistenable. Is the CD version of Death Magnetic that bad? Close, but I would have still listened to it occasionally. Is the Guitar Hero version that much better? Absolutely and I'm able to enjoy the listening experience much better as a result.


If I didn't make myself clear, let me do so now. Audiophile complaints about sound production in metal are silly and besides the point. The whole point of metal is to be loud, distorted, and obnoxious. And this is coming from a DIYer (that's how I first came to this forum - has anyone here looked at my website?) who has built speakers, DAC's, and has generally cared about audiophile "stuff" for many years. But when it comes to metal? Nah. You'll never catch me whining about compression. There has never been a great metal album that I didn't like, simply because of the poor production. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but is it possible that so-called "melodic" metal groups appeal more to the audiophiles among us than "regular" metal heads? Just a thought. I hope that clears up any confusion.
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Sep 18, 2008 at 10:56 PM Post #21 of 42
I still sense a disconnect - nobody said anything about not liking the album. the reason people are complaining is because they like the album/songs/band but they can't listen to it for an extended period of time. If they didn't, why would they bother?

It's not an audiophile thing- I don't believe all those people (6,292 at this point) who signed the Metallica petition are audiophiles; they are more like fans who have heard the difference between the retail CD and the GH3 version of DM. Most of them hang around metallicabb instead of head-fi, I imagine. It's telling a lot of them are feeling it more via headphones

point is, if you had both which would you prefer listening to?
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.



Even Rolling Stone magazine doesn't think audiophiles are the ones complaining
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 1:22 AM Post #22 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The whole point of metal is to be loud, distorted, and obnoxious.


Uh, no it's not. Loudness can be controlled by you, the end user, with your volume control. The only distortion that should ideally be happening is the tubes in the guitar amps. Obnoxious is at the discretion of the band. There's plenty of good metal that's not obnoxious (I don't think it is, anyway. My grandmother would probably think it is).

If your definition of metal has narrowed down to brootal death and kvlt black... then yeah, say what you want about quality. But regardless of metal subgenre, crap recording is crap recording, and most of the time it gets in the way of the music, rather than complementing it.

Just to clarify, I don't think metal recordings need to have the dynamic range of classical symphonies or anything like that (though where it's happened like that, I like it). But I don't think there's a sole redeeming thing to be said for clipping and distortion at the DAC level (or simply baked in because the waves have all been flatlined).
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 1:44 AM Post #23 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by PWilson /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Uh, no it's not. Loudness can be controlled by you, the end user, with your volume control. The only distortion that should ideally be happening is the tubes in the guitar amps. Obnoxious is at the discretion of the band. There's plenty of good metal that's not obnoxious (I don't think it is, anyway. My grandmother would probably think it is).


Actually, yeah, it is. The term "heavy metal" started out as a descriptor for really, really loud distorted guitar-driven rock.
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 2:41 AM Post #25 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriuslyCold /img/forum/go_quote.gif
guitar distortion <> clipping distortion


This
Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Actually, yeah, it is. The term "heavy metal" started out as a descriptor for really, really loud distorted guitar-driven rock.


I think you're really missing the argument here
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