[juman231]

I've been realizing a lot more these days that no matter how high the bitrate an mp3 file has, or whether the song is ripped directly from a CD into lossless, a badly mastered recordings still sound bad! I sometimes even found lower bitrate mp3 files provided a sort of a safe haven for me, as it somewhat blurred out the annoyance (the random ticking sound, static noises in the background are the ones that kills the experience for me...) I found on lossless files!
 
So, the topic of this tread is, what BUGS you the most in badly mastered music, in your listening experience?

 

[Confispect]

Snare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jonas5]

Loss of dynamics caused by use of compressor. Ruis to many records these days.

 

[drewfus420]

Clipping
compressed dynamics
bad channel imbalance

 

[salannelson]

Instrument separation. In a lot of pop music all of the sound just melds together and the entire song/album just sounds like an enormous block of noise.
 
Oh and over-emphasized treble.

 

[Proglover]

instrument separation, dynamics

 

[fatcat28037]

Vocalists that sound as if they're standing behind the band.

 

[juman231]

Other than the bad mastering, I think I'm further limited by my ath-m50 to hear any instrument separation, as it is a closed headphone...I really want to try out the HD650s for their natural sound and great soundstage.

 

[lozanoa11]

Drums! 
If I can't feel the drums I get board. 

 

[jbluzb86]

vocals not matching the live or recorded instruments, high emphasis on treble

 

[buddhashenglong]

Digital distortion is my biggest beef with many new recordings, its so ugly.

 

[juman231]

I got one. Revisiting Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion's "The Prayer" duet reminded me how much I hate static noise in recordings...Otherwise a beautiful music... I can't believe there is just so much distortion. Actually, I'm planning to return my ath-m50 I have right now and get a new pair as a replacement, just to check if it is the recording and not my headphones...Going down the kbps gives me less static noise, but there's also less life to the song! AHHHHHH Curse you bad recording studios and whoever's doing the studio job -_-

 

[Confispect]

My biggest gripe is definitely sharp treble, snares hurting your ears as well as hi-hats. I guess snares because they hurt worse especially on a phone that doesn't hide anything/shows what's there.

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Vocalists that sound as if they're standing behind the band.

This. Good example is Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for cutie. Compared to the aural beauty of Transatlanticism it's a huge step backwards. I can hardly hear Gibbards sweet voice

 

[juman231]

I notice this generally in albums of a British Indie band called One Night Only...I wouldn't say the voice is behind the band, but it so not prominent that it just blends in with the instruments...