Death by Production

[abdo123]

I'm dedicating this thread to music that we really like, but is absolutely murdered by the mastering / production.

This is song could have been country perfection. but listening to it on a remotely competent system makes you want to put bleach in your ears.

I can't tell if her vocals on the chorus are distorted as fuck or is it just clipping or something.

 

[Helicopter]

I'm dedicating this thread to music that we really like, but is absolutely murdered by the mastering / production.

This is song could have been country perfection. but listening to it on a remotely competent system makes you want to put bleach in your ears.

I can't tell if her vocals on the chorus are distorted as fuck or is it just clipping or something.

Most of the distortion I hear is just the guitar, and it seems intentional to me. She grinds her voice a bit, but I don't think that's bad or a result of the mastering, and the vocals are not nearly as dirty as the instruments. I agree the distortion is overdone, but I don't think it's just compression and clipping.

 

[abdo123]

Most of the distortion I hear is just the guitar, and it seems intentional to me. She grinds her voice a bit, but I don't think that's bad or a result of the mastering, and the vocals are not nearly as dirty as the instruments. I agree the distortion is overdone, but I don't think it's just compression and clipping.

you think It is a creative choice for the instrumentals to be as grating as we're hearing it?

 

[Helicopter]

you think It is a creative choice for the instrumentals to be as grating as we're hearing it?

Not the choice I would have made, but yes. The other tracks on the Love Stuff album are mostly the same way, and there are some parts, like the intro to Where The Devil Don't Go that have vocal solos that sound good until the instruments start playing. The drums sound terrible too. The banjo and vocals sound good in the intro to Kocaine Karolina too. Actually, the distorted guitar isn't bad in that track either... no question about this being compressed and mixed super loud, i just don't think that is the primary cause of how the guitar sounds and why it clashes with her voice.

 

[abdo123]

Not the choice I would have made, but yes. The other tracks on the Love Stuff album are mostly the same way, and there are some parts, like the intro to Where The Devil Don't Go that have vocal solos that sound good until the instruments start playing. The drums sound terrible too. The banjo and vocals sound good in the intro to Kocaine Karolina too. Actually, the distorted guitar isn't bad in that track either... no question about this being compressed and mixed super loud, i just don't think that is the primary cause of how the guitar sounds and why it clashes with her voice.

I'm not sure if it's my speakers or not, but listening to Tidal's version starting from the chrous, I really hear static noise resembling the guitar coming from my left speaker.

It was kind the first red flag i heard.

 

[mhardy6647]

Oh, I thought this was about death by overwork (i.e., produce, produce, produce!).

https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-11-02

On topic.
Moody Blues Go Now. Awful recording.

 

[escape2]

you think It is a creative choice for the instrumentals to be as grating as we're hearing it?

I think it's definitely intentional. There is a whole 1 hour video on how this track was produced.

here is a short excerpt:

BTW, I analyzed this track in Audacity - there's no clipping.

 

[abdo123]

I think it's definitely intentional. There is a whole 1 hour video on how this track was produced.

here is a short excerpt:

Now I wanna watch the whole 1 hour video!

 

[escape2]

Now I wanna watch the whole 1 hour video!

Yeah, I think he's gonna make you pay to watch how he slaughtered this track.

 

[Helicopter]

In the preview video yoi can see a device called a 'Distressor.'

 

[abdo123]

In the preview video yoi can see a device called a 'Distressor.'

That's what Amir's nightmares are made of.

 

[escape2]

If you want to hear some serious distortion, listen to 60s - 80s hindi music. Back then it was due to poor recording techniques, but they got so used to this kind of sound that they intentionally add it to even modern hindi music. Streaming stations overdrive content on purpose because they think it sounds cool. Here is one example:
http://stream.zenolive.com/q9xkvxc2tfeuv
http://tun.in/sfmjG

 

[abdo123]

If you want to hear some serious distortion, listen to 60s - 80s hindi music. Back then it was due to poor recording techniques, but they got so used to this kind of sound that they intentionally add it to even modern hindi music. Streaming stations overdrive content on purpose because they think it sounds cool. Here is one example:
http://stream.zenolive.com/q9xkvxc2tfeuv
http://tun.in/sfmjG

I ...

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

[richard12511]

On topic.
Moody Blues Go Now. Awful recording.

Damn, now that's bad

@abdo123 I actually don't think that song sounded bad. Listened to the whole album. I did think the first song(forget the name, Devil something) sounded a bit bright once the beat and guitars started. Couple of the later songs did hurt a little bit, but nothing terrible. I didn't hear anything I really hated. Imaging was great throughout. Could also be that my ears attenuated to the excess treble during that first song .

I do hear the distortion you're talking about, but it also kinda sounds to me like they're going for that "classic rock" sound, so may be intentional.

I'm a bit weird, though, it seems. I actually find modern pop to be one of the - if not the most - consistently excellent genres in terms of sound quality. Super compressed, but sound quality is rarely terrible. It's not my favorite music genre, but I use it often for demo material.

 

[raif71]

If you want to hear some serious distortion, listen to 60s - 80s hindi music. Back then it was due to poor recording techniques, but they got so used to this kind of sound that they intentionally add it to even modern hindi music. Streaming stations overdrive content on purpose because they think it sounds cool. Here is one example:
http://stream.zenolive.com/q9xkvxc2tfeuv
http://tun.in/sfmjG

Maybe for some songs. Take for instance this 80s Bollywood song

I don't detect any distortion yet.

Edit: this was in 1998, sorry

 

[abdo123]

@abdo123 I actually don't think that song sounded bad. Listened to the whole album. I did think the first song(forget the name, Devil something) sounded a bit bright once the beat and guitars started. Couple of the later songs did hurt a little bit, but nothing terrible. I didn't hear anything I really hated. Imaging was great throughout. Could also be that my ears attenuated to the excess treble during that first song .

I do hear the distortion you're talking about, but it also kinda sounds to me like they're going for that "classic rock" sound, so may be intentional.

I'm a bit weird, though, it seems. I actually find modern pop to be one of the - if not the most - consistently excellent genres in terms of sound quality. Super compressed, but sound quality is rarely terrible. It's not my favorite music genre, but I use it often for demo material.

I don't really bring out the song for obvious flaws in production, but rather because of the striking difference I heard when I played it on my system after i heard it on social media somewhere.

This is honestly a very common trend with pop music, I usually don't mind. But going from a 10/10 to a 7/10 when played on a decent speaker was really disappointing.

 

[escape2]

Maybe for some songs.

What I meant was that new songs are recorded properly, but then some dumb ass radio/streaming stations ovedrive them when playing to achieve that old school effect because it sounds "grand".

 

[Katji]

I'm dedicating this thread to music that we really like, but is absolutely murdered by the mastering / production.

If it's so bad, I delete them. Or it is so bad, so obvious, that I don't download them in the first place. Probably also with something I know and like, but it is usually - the way I listen to music - Soundcloud, and >95% mixes, typically 1 hour or 2 hours.

 

[Soniclife]

I find it impossible to listen to the recent Angel Olson stuff, this is rare for me, the All Mirrors album is horrible on everything I've played it on.

What do others think?

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

What do others think?

I think I can hear distortion in some places though it is fairly subtle. In general I think they should ease up on the bass.

Distortion is pretty audible on this one, mostly when all instruments kick in.

You can hear the distortions even through the rather horrible compression artifacts lol.