[Wil]

is it me or is this recording absolutely horrible?

Was listening to it thru my Senns HD-595 , Rotel RCD 1072 and Spark HA-1A amp and it was absolutely BRIGHT. My ears hurt. I swear.

I've heard that RHCP recordings have always been bad....is this true?

 

[tkam]

That wouldn't surprise me as "By the Way" and "Californication" are some of worst recorded albums of the past few years.

 

[xixco]

the CD is compressed to $#!+

if you were to look at the waveform, it would look like a solid wall for most songs. i know cuz i've done it. no bueno.

 

[jpr703]

It's not you. File that album under d*mn shame.

 

[zChan]

Oh. So it wasnt just me. The silibance was horrible. I thought my iPod was malfunctioning.

 

[james__bean]

Yeah pretty much all of the Chilli Peppers stuff sounds horrible. These albums manage to bring out some pretty bad sibilance in even my shure e2's.

 

[goldenear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wil is it me or is this recording absolutely horrible? Was listening to it thru my Senns HD-595 , Rotel RCD 1072 and Spark HA-1A amp and it was absolutely BRIGHT. My ears hurt. I swear. I've heard that RHCP recordings have always been bad....is this true?

The RHCP's are some cheap sons of bit ches when it comes to getting the studio production up to par. I always wondered if they do it to increase their bottom line profit. It is a damn shame, cause they are talented.

 

[RUSH fan]

It's probably from paying Rick Rubin all that money to lay down on their couch, to keep it from floating out into space.

 

[chadbang]

I always felt the Red Hot Chili Peppers-Greatest Hits was a contradiction in terms.

 

[gloco]

Hmm.

I always found the tracks on "What Hits" to sound bright, albeit punchy and free of heavy-handed compression, which is a good thing.

I always felt that Californication is an awful sounding album, but solid tracks, save a few.

By the way sounds remarkable good, but a little narrow in regards to imaging and soundstage. Sure, it's bright but clean and doesn't have the same over-compressed issues Californication has. It's definitely a more solid album too in regards to the songs featured, i found myself enjoying every tune on it eventually.

 

[pne]

Me too! my ex girlfriend bought me this album and being a chilipeppers fan i was pretty happy, until i stuck it into the cd player.

It's a dam shame because their music is really good. Another thing that pisses me off is theres no 'can't stop' on this album! What the heck! Greatest hits without can't stop? Methinks not.

 

[onionblaster]

Yeah, if it was up to me I'd replace "Parallel Universe" and "Save the Popluation" with "Can't Stop" and "The Zephyr Song."

But I know what you mean about the recordings...and it is a shame. It sucks to have to decide between the music and the sound quality, because it's a harder decision than you may think.

 

[Wil]

Hm.

i totally agree with you onionblaster. At the end of the day i figure that the bad recording doesnt allow me to concentrate on the music ( my mind will be on the sibilance = P ) and after a very brief listen i just give up!

* to side track a little. Im listening to Led Zep , BBC sessions, and heck, even that sounds better than RHCP records!

 

[pne]

ironically i just missed the chili peppers show last year, still kicking myself for that one. =(

 

[raif]

They aren't all that great live either, unless you happen to catch them in the sweet spot.(i.e. far enough into the tour to sound tight and together, but not so far that they have lost the passion again)

It is too bad about the sound quality on the albums, By The Way had a lot of tracks that would have been great to demo with. Luckily, it was in my car stereo 24/7 at the time, so I didn't have a sterile enough listening environment to notice all the sibilance and compression.