[USAudio]

Fortunately folks like legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig are on the right side in the Loudness War:
"Hopefully this whole loudness war thing that we’ve been through with the CD, there’s no more room to go any louder. These things are just stupidly loud and annoying to listen to. There’s quite a big backlash."
Mixonline Exclusive Interview: Bob Ludwig | Expanded Version of Mix Editor Sarah Jones' December 2008 Interview with Bob Ludwig

So there is hope that things might soon change.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

I haven't heard the old or the new version of Synchronicity (I'm not a fan of The Police). The waveform of the remastered version though doesn't look too butchered by loudness. It still could be a little overly compressed. Hard to say without listening.

But besides just the loudness war issues, new remasters also tend to get a little bit (or in some cases a lot) of extra snap in the drums along with a cleanup of the bass and other things. The compression tools (software) and EQ have gotten much more sophisticated. They are able to do things like zero in the attacks of every drum hit and sharpen them up with compression. Sometimes that can result in drums that sound hyper-sharp and sharper than they should in real life. The tools now available let them do lots of different things to the sound. Some of those things can add excitement and punch without actually adding loudness, but at the same time make the music less enjoyable on the ears.

 

[Commanderloochy]

Here's another great example. On top is the CD version, below is a vinyl rip.

Them Crooked Vultures ~ Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up

 

[hardRAWKR]

Hate Eternal would be a decent band (assuming you like Death Metal) if their mastering wasn't so disgusting. And they've gotten worse on every album. It's gotten to the point where you might as well listen to white noise. It's even worse than Death Magnetic.

Here's the waveform for Hell Envenom from their latest album-

 

[Adreneline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rederanged /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, that is horrid. British rock bands have some of the worst mastering. That Arctic Monkeys album Favourite Worst Nightmare seems like it would have been pretty good if the music were audible under the distortion.

Yeah for sure. I listen to the AM too.

Muse realized this and their latest album, while still affected by the loudness war, sounds a LOTT better, and probably their best sounding album ever. It sounds great production wise.

 

[Laokid18]

bad brains debut album is probably the worst sounding album ever.

 

[Speex]

Just got The Police's Ghost in the Machine and Reggatta de Blanc. The waveforms are not subtle. Thankfully, the mastering guys were not retards and did not jack everything to clipping levels.

 

[necropimp]

even a black metal giant suffers

Gorgoroth - Under the Sign of Hell

1999 Century Black (good possibility the original 1997 Malicious Records release is the same)

2007 Regain Records "remaster"

the 2005 Season of Mist release is similar to the Regain Release but with less clipping... i'll try to find someone who will let me borrow their copy

also...

Death Magnetic

someone else's image of the retail

same song from GH3 version

and finally Fidelman strikes again... World Painted Blood

 

[DaveBSC]

Megadeth - Endgame. Aside from the bad song writing, the loudness certainly does it no favors.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Sorry but Endgame is nowhere as bad as some of the other examples shown in this thread. I know we are all just throwing in new albums that are loud, but posting waveforms of Endgame after Death Magnetic and World Painted Blood almost makes it look like a decent master

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry but Endgame is nowhere as bad as some of the other examples shown in this thread. I know we are all just throwing in new albums that are loud, but posting waveforms of Endgame after Death Magnetic and World Painted Blood almost makes it look like a decent master

Alright then, here's one that's much worse, sadly from an album that I like a lot more than Endgame - Black Gives Way To Blue.

 

[raceagainsttime]

whew...this is giving me a headache!

 

[Acix]

Most of the times the artist/musicians want the mastering to sound louder and better than what he laid down in the studio. BTW, the artist need to approve the mastering to be printed. The pressure come from the musicians side and not from the mastering engineer.

 

[lozanoa11]

Catch 22 version of Keasbey Nights (top) v.s. Streetlight Manifesto's version (bottom)

 

[floydman]

I wish Steven Wilson produced everything...